The Post Birthday World (Reprint) (Paperback) by Lionel Shriver

About the Book

Irina McGovern enjoys a quiet life in London with Lawrence Trainer, a smart, loyal, disciplined intellectual. Their relationship is rock solid--until the night Irina finds herself dying to kiss another man. This enchanting work depicts Irina's alternating futures with two very different men.

Book Synopsis

This dazzling new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin takes a psychological and deeply human look at love and volition

Does the course of life hinge on a single kiss? Whether the American expatriate Irena McGovern does or doesn't lean into a certain pair of lips in London will determine whether she stays with her smart, disciplined, intellectual American partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey--a wild, exuberant British snooker star the couple has known for years. Employing a parallel-universe structure, Shriver follows Irena's life as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men. In a tour de force that, remarkably, has no villains, Shriver explores the implications, both large and small, of our choice of mate--a subject of timeless, universal fascination for both sexes.

From the Back Cover

American children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a secure, settled life in London with her smart, loyal, disciplined partner, Lawrence--until the night she finds herself inexplicably drawn to kissing another man, a passionate, extravagant, top-ranked snooker player. Two competing alternate futures hinge on this single kiss, as Irina's decision--to surrender to temptation or to preserve her seemingly safe partnership with Lawrence--will have momentous consequences for her career, her friendships and familial relationships, and the texture of her daily life.

Review Quotes

"...candid..."--Entertainment Weekly

"...enjoyable..."--Sunday Times (London)

"Best novel of '07."--Entertainment Weekly

"Extraordinary...Before it was co-opted and trivialized by chick lit, romantic love was a subject that writers from Flaubert to Tolstoy deemed worthy of artistic and moral scrutiny. This is the tradition into which Shriver's novel fits."--Entertainment Weekly

"Ingenious...delightful...[Shriver] has produced a novel that's equal parts entertainment and psychological massage."--Philadelphia Inquirer

"Original and involving...convincing and beautifully told. Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"Provocative....The Post-Birthday World is...as unflinching as they come."--New York Times

"Shriver has a gift for creating real and complicated characters and putting them in less-than-simple situations...Highly engrossing novel..."--San Francisco Chronicle

"...fascinating..."--Christian Science Monitor

"...hot..."--Time magazine

"...unique..."--South-East Advertiser (Australia)

"[A] tour de force in literary structure and mastery of language...engrossing."--Sunday Telegraph (Australia)

"Compelling...ingenious...inspired."--The Evening Standard (London)

"Daring [and] dazzling."--More Magazine

"Hugely entertaining...tackles the dueling human needs for passion and security with fierce, witty honesty."--Vogue

"Ingenious....there is an impressive freshness in her treatment. The writing is intelligent, the characterisation thoughtful, the insights into love, sex and snooker sharp. After her acclaimed 2003 novel, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Shriver confirms her reputation as an original talent."--Mail on Sunday

"Provocative...stunningly intense."--New York Daily News

"Shriver is a terrific, intelligent writer."--Bookseller (London)

"Shriver is very obviously a perceptive observer and clever chronicler of the human condition, in all its messy, unresolved glory."--The Nelson Mail (New Zealand)

"Shriver writes with elegance and a loaded intensity...she is a brilliant, witty storyteller and the book is utterly compelling."--Weekend Australian

"Shriver writes with much intelligence and wryness....The twofold nature of the plot...makes for enlightening reading."--Irish Times

"Shriver's an extraordinary writer. Her perceptiveness of male-female relationships is unsettling, dangerous, familiar and voyeuristic. [The Post-Birthday World is] impossible to put down."--Daily Telegraph (Australia

"The Post-Birthday World is a...radical book."--The Scotsman

"This is a compulsive, clever, wise and witty novel."--The Times (London)

"Witty, formidably bright author...Lively parts..."--Denver Rocky Mountain News