Book #4: The Post-Birthday World

I just finished up “The Post-Birthday World” by Lionel Shriver. This book caught my eye when Entertainment Weekly named it the #1 novel of 2007, and, as I think I have mentioned before, I tend to pay attention when Entertainment Weekly makes declarations like that. The book is about a children’s book illustrator named Irina McGovern, who’s been in a long-term relationship with a boring but stable nerd named Lawrence. They have a friend named Ramsey Acton, who’s a dashing, handsome, rich snooker player (the book takes place in London, which left me thinking “shite” in my head the whole time I was reading it). One night, alone with Ramsey, Irina realizes that for the first time in her life, she wants to kiss a man that she’s not in a relationship with.

From that moment on, the chapters in this book alternate, with one set following what happens if Irina does kiss Ramsey, and the other half following what happens if she resists the urge. It’s a very clever concept, as you see the same events (for example, a trip to Irina’s mother’s home for Christmas) from both points of view. You see both the benefits and consequences of each choice, and there are neat little echoes from one parallel life to the other. In some ways, it seems, the decision doesn’t matter, and in other ways, it makes all the difference in the world which man Irina chooses.

This is the kind of book that if you had to read it for a college lit class, it would practically hit you over the head with essay topics. For example – in each of her lives, Irina writes a children’s book. One tells two stories diverging from a single decision, and the other features an ambiguous ending—so meta! But the only thing about this book is, I didn’t read it for a college lit class. I kinda wanted to be entertained by each alternate life, and to root for one guy over the other. Based on some things I read on the internet, I thought this would be somewhat light reading, despite the fact that it’s about such a life-altering decision. And it most definitely is not. I guess that makes it more grown-up and realistic, but it was extremely depressing to cringe along as lives are ruined and as expectations are dashed. Surely I’m not giving anything away to say that both good and bad things happen in each of Irina’s parallel lives, but there are definitely times (by which I mean hundreds of pages) when it seems more bad things happen than good. In the end, I was pretty frustrated that she only had two choices. But such is life, I suppose.