The Post-Birthday World

I loved Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World. I read it on a visit home to see my mom and it was completely absorbing; I was drawn into the characters' world totally. On the other hand, I recently tried to read Shriver's previous book, We Have to Talk About Kevin, and while I admired its rigor and quality of writing, it was just too intense for me. I had to abandon it. Here's my review from the Oregonian.

2 men, 1 woman split in 2

Sunday, March 25, 2007

MIRIAM WOLF

I rina, the heroine of Lionel Shriver's new novel, "The Post-Birthday World," is happy with her life. A children's book illustrator, she lives in London with her longtime boyfriend, a think-tank researcher. Their relationship is steady, boring and utterly comfortable. Irina cooks gourmet meals and waits for Lawrence to come home. Each night they eat a big bowl of popcorn while they watch TV: "Preparing their traditional pre-dinner popcorn, Irina was thankful for another routine of perfectly balanced variation within sameness."

And if Lawrence sometimes takes her for granted or subtly belittles her in public, and their sex life is smothering in its sameness and lack of intimacy, that's a small price to pay for contentment, isn't it?

Into this cocoon of domestic bliss walks Ramsey Acton, Britain's aging, flashy king of snooker. The husband of a children's book writer Irina collaborates with, Ramsey has, in the few times the four have gone out to dinner over the years (an accidental tradition, always on Ramsey's birthday), always made Irina feel nervous, giggly -- and sexy.

One year, however, things are different. Ramsey and his wife have divorced, and Lawrence is on a fact-finding mission in Sarajevo. Against her better judgment, Irina allows Ramsey to take her out anyway. In what feels more like a date than a companionable dinner, the two feast on pristine sushi, drink too much and partake in intimate conversation. When she realizes she's about to kiss Ramsey, she knows she stands on the brink of "the most consequential crossroads of her life."

The results of that moment are so shattering that they cause the very narrative of the book to split in two. And for the rest of the 528-plus pages, Irina's story is told in alternating chapters, each of which holds an alternate reality. In one, she has kissed Ramsey Acton and thrown her old life to the winds. In the other, she has not.

In the hands of a lesser writer, this technique would cry out "gimmick," but Shriver, who won Britain's prestigious Orange Prize for her last novel, "We Have to Talk About Kevin," does more than just pull it off. With a gimlet eye for detail, emotion and irony, Shriver turns a trope into a triumph.

With Ramsey, Irina has traded security for passion. As she's dragged around the world on snooker junkets, she has to fight to hold onto a sense of herself as anything more than a "snooker wife." Meanwhile, the Irina who stays behind takes ever-increasing pleasure in her domesticity, even as Lawrence begins spending less and less time in the cozy home she has created for them.

The chapters overlap and intertwine in interesting ways. A Christmas trip to Irina's mother's home in Brighton Beach turns out very differently depending on who is accompanying Irina. Both Irinas decide to write a children's book. The book written by Ramsey's wife is full of passion and color. About a boy who loves snooker, it doesn't sell well, but wins a prestigious children's literature prize. The book Irina writes under Lawrence's influence is a computer-drawn story that makes pots of money. Its moral is "Between betraying and being betrayed, the anguish may be a toss-up."

How often do we get to see "what might have been" in our own lives? With "The Post-Birthday World," Shriver gives us a satisfying window into the trade-offs and trials of two main characters in one.

Shriver reads from "The Post-Birthday World" at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St.

Miriam Wolf is the managing editor of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture.