Lionel Shriver

I have been interested in Lionel Shriver's work for awhile. She's very high profile, opinionated and Keen to debate, so I was looking forward to my first reading of her book, Should I Stay or Should I Go.

I'm very disappointed. So is it me? I found the writing poor, clichéd, opportunistic and in areas dangerously bordering on antagonistic.

The structure of the book is a few chapters of a basic plot, fiftyish couple don't want to get old and infirm so agree joint suicide at eighty. Straight forward with lots of avenues to head down, euthanasia, law, medicine, morals etc. But she doesn't do that. After the first few chapters, the rest of the book is just iterations of where she left off and each new ending becoming evermore bizzare and disconnected from reality as to become untenable.

The book was published in 2021, and covers Brexit and early months of COVID so I'm guessing written in 2020. It feels and, to me, reads like opportunistic, clatter a novel out about all the terrible things happening in the UK, for a nice advance. Apparently the re-iteration is a commonly used device by Shriver.

I won't be reading anymore of her work unless I can be convinced otherwise. Is this really the quality of main stream contemporary fiction?