So Much For That by Lionel Shriver

A book about cancer, dying, degenerative disease and the american healthcare system. There's no denying that this book is a punch to the gut. The thing is, the preceding sounds like a recipe for a sanctimonious rant, a political platform or a morbid pretentious preach. So much for that is none of these things. Instead it is a powerful, acerbic and blackly humorous about subjects that we just don't want to talk about. For all that, Shriver's book tackles the central taboo of our culture - death and the process of dying.

From across the Atlantic it could be easy to look at this as an insightful dissection of a medical system based upon profit and not Hippocrates Oath (and it is) but that would be to caricature both the message and politics. Shriver makes no bones about the fact that medical care is only really available to those with cover in the US but she also plainly tells the story of what that care actually buys. She doesn't assume that medical care is worth having, even when it's available and asks us to think about whether extending life at all costs is as valuable as it might sound when we discuss it at dinner.

The book remains more than a tale about cancer though. It's about relationships, family and the dreams we live our lives by. It's about the value of a life well lived and what the impact of our smallest decisions may have on our lives. Most of all Shriver writes about people you can believe and about situations that strike home with plausibility and compassion.

And then there's Shephard Knacker; possibly the most humble man I've ever stumbled across. When his story ends and liberation comes I found myself inordinately pleased with an ending that could be described as heroic.

So much for that is about a difficult subject. I'm sure plenty of people won't want to read it. I wish they would and I hope that they do because it's a wonderful story.