SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD PB: Hilarious new literary fiction book from the award-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin

Lionel Shriver always finds interesting moral/societal issues on which to base her novels and she has done it yet again with this book. And very cleverly, as her writing progresses the topics seem to become more personal to her without ever crossing the line into memoir or autobiography.Euthanasia is a subject on which many will have strong views and it is interesting to see how views change as the individual ages themselves and the end gets closer. There is a presumption in middle age that we should be spared an old age with horrible medical interventions and overall loss of dignity. Here we are asked to considered two people facing this dilemma.The book is 269 pages, split into 13 chapters.There is always something in characters written by Lionel Shriver with which readers can engage. I can see a lot of myself in Kay at the start, particularly in her reaction to her father's death.Both characters are intelligent and it is easy for the reader to slip into their discussion and feel part of the debate - at one point they are discussing the difference between "caring about" and "being interesting in" which I pondered for a long time. This then feeds into some thought about the consequences of that subtle shift in attitude.LS takes us through many options for the death of these characters, most appearing to be plausible and well thought about.Much of my delight with this book is that nearly every chapter made me exclaim out loud - shock, laughter or surprise, it was all there.Some of the sentences I wanted to read over and over again - "the calculated caution that had characterised the conduct" is so wonderfully alliterative and almost demands to be read out loud.The trick of the author in this book is to persuade the reader that they can recognise the emotions in Kay and Cyril, then acknowledge it when something of yourself is reflected back. LS does this very successfully and I empathised with them both in every scenario - flipping from one to another when their views conflicted.The variety of outcomes are mind-blowingly disimilar and, to add to the reader's disorientation, each chapter starts at a separate point in their journey.Of course, LS references the pandemic many times and also seems at one point to partially predict the Ukraine refugee situation even though the book was written before this happened.Darkness descends as the book progresses and a post apocalyptic world is exposed.The outcomes advance firmly into science fiction and the reading experience becomes much more unsettling, forcing the reader to think more about the negatives of wanting to extend life and the effects on society of doing this.It's fascinating to see how the brain can adapt so easily to these two characters being recreated as slightly different people over and over again. Each time they appear, behaviour subtly changes giving wide ranging consequences.The atmosphere builds to a crescendo of hysteria and then is brought back down as it heads towards a very satisfying conclusion. The final chapter in wonderful , referencing many of the options worked through in the novel.This is fiction within fiction as it winds around the possibilities of different actions.There is always an intensely personal feeling to this novel which is amplified by the final section in the book - I'm sure you'll agree when you get there.

Hard to put this down, each chapter being it’s own scenario you want to know what happens in the next one! I’d recommend reading Shriver’s essay which was published in the Guardian on release of this book, as it only enriches the story further as you can see where she drew from her own experiences watching her parents grow older.If you’ve read any of Shriver’s previous works you know you’ll be faced with grim reality and be prepared to challenge your own way of thinking, life choices and legacy!

An absolutely bonkers novel, but oddly enjoyable.The best chapter is You're Not Only Getting Older, You're Getting Better, which works as a standalone science fiction story, set in a world where the secret of immortality has been found. Granted eternal life in the bodies they had at 25 by a new drug, Kay and Cyril travel to every country on planet earth and meet up with characters from Lionel's previous novels, like the lovely Shep and Carol from So Much for All That, who are married! Even Lionel herself makes an appearance.One narrative detail I found a bit jarring is that Kay and Cyril refinance their huge house in Lambeth (surely to the tune of at least £2m) and then supposedly spend it all on a handful of vacations that wouldn't have cost more than £300k.Another unrealistic section is the chapter in which they take out a care plan and work until they're 70, then immediately move to an assisted living facility and become institutionalised. I just don't think this would have happened to them so quickly.Dementia is a major theme in this novel and one that isn't always handled accurately. There would have been plenty of time for Cyril to discuss ending it all and being understood before Kay fell into permanent confusion, and many of those with dementia do commit suicide before the disease takes away their ability to understand what suicide is.And finally, much is made of Cyril and Kay's love of lie-ins, even aged 80. Older people don't tend to have the ability to sleep endlessly and usually wake up early whether they want to or not. Lionel is still writing from the perspective of a sixty-year-old.Some of this had an elegiac quality and I hope it doesn't mean that this is Lionel's final novel. Surely she has more to say about the pandemic and can't resist creating a few more characters who judge each other by their weight. Kay fatshames merrily, just like Lionel, Serenata, Willie et al, and the unsympathetic characters like Hayley and Mimi are always 'overweight', 'pudgy' etc.

This is supposed to be amusing. It is not so funny when you are 70 years old. Read it while you are still young.

Beautifully written, clever conceit, by turns playful, dark, tender. Best not choose this one if you're living in a care home . . .