Lionel Shriver is mean, unflinching, direct, and eviscerating. She writes the moments and insights that readers (OK, that I) flinch from in real life. And not in a Jodi Picoult way--there are no kidnapped children or siblings with cancer here. Shriver writes, in the post-birthday world, about the innumerable small choices, concessions, measurements, triumphs, assertions, avoidances, and realities of day-to-day married life.
Though the novel has --rightly--gotten more notice for its Sliding Doors toggling futures structure, what's amazing to me is Shriver's ability to unearth the tiny moments none of us want to admit to in our relationships.
Matt and I have had a few stark talks since I've been reading the novel. Has anyone else found the post-birthday world a helpful, if disconcerting, marital tool?
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