Thoughts from the Midst of The Post-Birthday World
I rarely comment on a book until I’ve finished it; I’m still a little bitter about the ending of Smilla’s Sense of Snow. But I’m very much enjoying Lionel Shriver’s Post-Birthday World. Irina faces down a momentous decision on a friend’s birthday: to begin an affair, or go back to her long-time partner. After that scene, the book is told in alternating “what if” chapters.
One of those many interstitial sequences that didn’t tell well: Lawrence left for work in a jacket that wasn’t waterproof, and I ran after him in the rain with his overcoat and lunch. Little wonder that Irina began dinner with friends like Betsy at a loss for stories. But these moments were the stuff of life and they were the stuff of a good life.
I smiled at the above passage when I read it, because it’s something that the author at Mental Multivitamin often reminds readers: life isn’t the exclamation points, it’s the stuff in between. So cherish it.
I also had a wry smile for this passage, since it encapsulates the defensive-mommy zeigeist:
Tatyana had embraced domesticity with the same extremity as she had ballet. She was eternally quilting, canning, baking, upholstering, and knitting sweaters nobody needed. Her officious conduct of motherhood gave off that whiff of defensive self-righteousness characteristic of contemporary stay-at-home moms. She was stifling, fussy and overprotective, for if children were to redeem her existence, they would redeem it with a vengeance.
What I’m most enjoying about the book is Shriver’s uncanny ability to delve into the muck of secret thoughts and emotions. It feels rather as if she rummaged around in the dark corners of my mind. The alternating chapters could come across as precious, but I don’t find them so. Instead, they display (thus far; I’m about 3/5 the way through) an admirable complexity, with intriguing comparisons and contrasts. When I’m away from the book I am eager to get back to it. I wonder about the characters, and what they’re doing between the covers of my book. In addition to mesmerizing me, the book has also made me very eager to finally read Anna Karenina.
August 16th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Oooooh! Mentioned in the same paragraph as Lionel Shriver?!? I *heart* Girl Detective.
*big grin*
Melissa
August 16th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I read this for my bookgroup earlier this year, and had similar feelings to you as I was reading it. Will be VERY interested to discover your thoughts on completing the book. Have you read “We need to talk about Kevin?”
As for Anna Karenina, I found Kitty and Levin’s stories much more interesting than Anna and Vronsky’s, but then I’m not a romantic.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Melissa, I found this book chock full of Mmv-isms such as celebrating routine and rhythm, and doing what one loves, not what other people think you should do. I really loved the book, and wondered if you saw as much of your blog themes in it as I did.
LC, I haven’t read We Need to Talk, and wasn’t going to, but now plan to. The idea that she wrote it as sort of an apologia for not having a kid bugged me, but given her finesse with dark, nonPC emotional stuff, I think I’d like to read it.
Post-Birthday World Spoilers ahead: I’ll write a review entry of it, but in the end I loved it. I was exasperated at my advanced reading copy, because I wondered if the last part of the penultimate chapter was supposed to be in italics. I didn’t realize at first, then went back to confirm that the last chapter could be the end for either story arc, though it fits better with the “runs off with Ramsey” one. I liked her idea that no choice is right or wrong, just different. By the end, though, I think the “running off with Ramsey” choice topped the other one; it seemed to bring her great joy at times, rather than just quiet satisfaction. But maybe I preferred it because I AM a romantic (even if I try to hide that behind a curmudgeonly and misanthropic demeanor.)
August 20th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
What really bothered my friends and me was that Irina put up with a LOT of so-so sex with Lawrence, and him not wanting to kiss her? Urgh. It was easier to be more sympathetic with her relationship with Ramsey, though I don’t think either man was a particularly good choice!
August 21st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I liked the observation at the end that Lawrence and Ramsey together would make the perfect man, and I think so many relationships are like that–no one person is a perfect mate or friend, so we have other friends who balance out what’s missing. Sadly, I’ve known many women who’ve been in crummy sexual relationships and stayed because they loved the man otherwise, or they didn’t believe there was anything better out there, and both these jive with Irina’s character. I also thought her tolerance of him in the one thread and her eventual affection for him in the other were consistent with her perception of him, and acceptance of him, as flawed and needy.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I just finished the book and thought it was quite clever. Ok, some things seemed a bit too coincidental - like both Ramseys being at the awards dinner in NYC and two different characters having identical speeches in each world. And I wanted to scream at Lawrence’s Irina to open her eyes and not be such a doormat, and at Irina’s Ramsey to stop acting like such a baby and grow up when he would endlessly berate her over nothing. Having said that, it wasn’t as predictable as I feared it would be and was worth the 500+ pages of reading.
By the way, it wasn’t just your preview copy of the book that had a whole section in italics. I got my copy from the library and it was the same way. I think it’s an error. The paragraph that precedes the all-italicized words ended in italics - it’s when Ramsey says to Irina in the version that she stays with Lawrence, “Timing is everything.” After that, it’s all italics.