Motion Of The Body Through Space, The

Very very readable but IMO LS lets her general bitching at the state of the world just get the better of her here - the entire book and main character are a vehicle for aspects of modern life she loathes. She writes compellingly on the dispiriting aspects of ageing, and coming to terms with a body that will gradually weigh down on us and fail. The reason I love her books is because I share her views pretty much (particularly as I have been diagnosed with arthritis at 44) but I couldn't help feeling a little dirty and mean-spirited after finishing this one. A somewhat ineffective element is that the narrator and the main character are basically the same cynical voice, so there is no 'relief' when we step back from her - there is no neutral tone to retreat to. Even as someone equally angry at aspects of modern life, it can get too much for me if there is no escape to some kind of calm acceptance. Shriver's attempts at the end to tie it all up with a positive tone of 'life is meaningless but we've got to enjoy what we can' just doesn't wash. The entire novel until the pat ending, although extremely readable and at times laugh-out-loud funny, is a rant. This isn't surprising, it's what she seems to do best, but it makes me start to want a bit more imagination. The secondary support characters are not developed enough and in many cases are cardboard cutout with no nuance, just objects inserted to allow the 'heroine' to get more irritated, eg the daughter. LS has never surpassed the brilliance of 'Kevin', and one of the delights of that novel was how long it was. This is a tad too short and it felt as though she ran out of rant-energy at the end. Big Brother was more satisfying to me, and the Property stories just brilliant. Lionel, please give us something huge, more nuanced and set in London. I'm looking forward to it!

I was really looking forward to reading this. I love Lionel Shriver's writing and characters, and have found some of her comments around exercise obsession in previous novels to be pithy and interesting. This did not disappoint.Exercise is a subject rarely tackled in literature, perhaps being deemed too prosaic. But this novel uses exercise as a vehicle to examine so much more - the ageing body, our obsession with the self, and the dynamic of a long-term relationship.The protagonist, Serenata, can be dislikeable, and therein lies the joy of Shriver's writing. Her characters challenge you. In fact, many of Serenata's character traits are my own, just thirty years earlier, which made reading it rather close to the bone.This is an erudite, well-written story. Highly recommended.

Lionel Shriver is capable of writing books of sublime brilliance, but she's not consistent. This particular novel returns to topics touched on in other stories - health and ageing. The focus here is on exercise rather than diet (the latter being the centre of the much better 'Big Brother'). Serenata and Remington are a couple in their early sixties. Serenata, a lifelong exercise fan, has had to stop due to arthritic knees. At much the same time, Remington discovers a passion for extreme triathlons. His obsession with the sport threatens their marriage.There are several factors behind my two star rating - many of them present in Shriver's other works, but forgivable in the context of a good story. Firstly, the hugely dislikeable characters. I struggled to find one character in this novel that I liked or found believable, and most of them were loathsome. Secondly the ridiculous dialogue - no one in real life speaks like these characters. People don't have every conversation revolving around complex political and philosophical nuance. And if anyone does, I'm very glad I don't know them or have to converse with them.It's very overwritten and full of verbal showing off, which is fine if you're telling a good story, but here Shriver really isn't. An annoying couple have a falling out over exercise, culminating in the man running in a mega-triathlon. That's really all it is, dressed up and padded out by pages of poorly concealed right-wing ranting.There was a racist undertone to one of the storylines that I found very uncomfortable. Maybe it was an attempt to be satirical but it just read like a white author sneering at equality movements and sulking about the concept of white privilege. I felt quite embarrassed reading it. If I wasn't aware of the author's political views through her appearances on current affairs programmes, I might have thought she was making the opposite point i.e. showing how deluded people are when they get in a huff because someone points out they're fortunate not to have to experience racism. But I have an uneasy sense that's not the case. It plays on the narrative that white men are now as much if not more victims of prejudice than other groups - an argument that I'm no more convinced of (in fact, even less convinced of) having read it played out here. And it's perfectly possible to support equality without being a tedious overly-woke caricature like those described in the toe-curling employment tribunal scenes.Shriver has written some exceptional books, but this definitely isn't one of them.

I always look forward to her latest novel and at some point I actually hate what she is writing, to teeth grinding annoyance. Then something clicks and I re-read the last paragraph loving her for her brutal honesty and perception , of herself and us. I wanted to tell her this, and much more , but she is hard to find , so I am telling you lot instead. You might not like it at first but you will thank her at the end. It left me smiling and content . Thanks Lionel for being such a pain in the butt 😘🖖

Several reviewers have commented that they didn't like the main protagonist, but I thought she was a very original and realistic character. Not a typical woman in her sixties, she has kept herself fit since her youth but now has to endure arthritis of her knees and the prospect of surgery and disability, just as her husband suddenly develops an interest in running. The wife and husband have an interesting, rather intellectual but also honest relationship. There are very few cliches in this story, it doesn't follow lazy narratives. My only criticism would be that total knee replacement is portrayed as an awful, painful and disabling treatment which no one in their right mind would endure.Issues of racism and inappropriate political correctness are subtly dealt with. The irony is both comic and tragic. In the end, the thing I most appreciate about this book is that it illustrates how an obsession with exercise for health and fitness is shown as being as potentially dangerous as neglecting one's body by overeating and living a totally sedentary lifestyle. The cult of exercise, which encourages participants in mass events like marathons to challenge themselves with increasingly near-impossible goals so that they can feel superior and be able to look down on others, is exposed for its selfishness and for the way it is exploited commercially. All this in a beautifully written story that I found extremely refreshing.