Summary and Reviews of The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

The Post-Birthday World

by Lionel Shriver
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  • First Published:
  • Mar 13, 2007, 528 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2008, 528 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Using a playful parallel-universe structure,The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men.

In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the implications, large and small, of whom we choose to love. Using a playful parallel-universe structure, The Post-Birthday World follows one woman's future as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men.

Children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet and settled life in London with her partner, fellow American expatriate Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual at a prestigious think tank. To their small circle of friends, their relationship is rock solid. Until the night Irina unaccountably finds herself dying to kiss another man: their old friend from South London, the stylish, extravagant, passionate top-ranking snooker player Ramsey Acton. The decision to give in to temptation will have consequences for her career, her relationships with family and friends, and perhaps most importantly the texture of her daily life.

Hinging on a single kiss, this enchanting work of fiction depicts Irina's alternating futures with two men temperamentally worlds apart yet equally honorable. With which true love Irina is better off is neither obvious nor easy to determine, but Shriver's exploration of the two destinies is memorable and gripping. Poignant and deeply honest, written with the subtlety and wit that are the hallmarks of Shriver's work, The Post-Birthday World appeals to the what-if in us all.

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Reviews

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To Shriver's credit, even though both men are in many ways polar opposites, they are never presented as simply right or wrong for Irena, let alone good or bad people in themselves. Both love Irena intensely, both mean well at heart and both are honorable if flawed men - and neither are quite the men that Irena thinks them to be...continued

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Beyond the Book



Snooker

Snooker is a very British sport, primarily played in the UK and various parts of the former colonies. The game bears some similarity to American Pool in that they both involve cues and balls, but Snooker is played on a table four times larger than the Pool table, the pockets are smaller and snooker players would say that the game is more subtle.

The essence of Snooker is to pot the balls to gain the highest score. There are fifteen red balls each worth one point and six colored balls worth from two points (yellow) to seven (black). A player's turn lasts until he fails to pot a ball, but he must alternate the potting of balls so that a red is followed by a higher-point ball, then another red, and so on.  The reds stay in the pocket, the...

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