Should We Stay Or Should We Go A Novel

Lionel Shriver — 2021

When her father dies, Kay Wilkinson can't cry. Over ten years, Alzheimer's had steadily eroded this erudite man into a paranoid lunatic. Surely one's own father passing should never come as such a relief. Both medical professionals, Kay and her husband Cyril have seen too many elderly patients in similar states of decay. Although healthy and vital in their early fifties, the couple fears what may lie ahead. Determined to die with dignity, Cyril makes a modest proposal. To spare themselves and their loved ones such a humiliating and protracted decline, they should agree to commit suicide together once they've both turned eighty. When their deal is sealed, the spouses are blithely looking forward to another three decades together. But then they turn eighty. By turns hilarious and touching, playful and grave, Should We Stay or Should We Go portrays twelve parallel universes, each exploring a possible future for Kay and Cyril. Were they to cut life artificially short, what would they miss out on? Something terrific? Or something terrible? Might they end up in a home? A fabulous luxury retirement village, or a Cuckoo's Nest sort of home? Might being demented end up being rather fun? What future for humanity awaits--the end of civilization, or a Valhalla of peace and prosperity? What if cryogenics were really to work? What if scientists finally cure aging? Both timely and timeless, Lionel Shriver addresses serious themes--the compromises of longevity, the challenge of living a long life and still going out in style--with an uncannily light touch. Weaving in a host of contemporary issues, from Brexit and mass migration to the coronavirus, Shriver has pulled off a rollicking page-turner in which we never have to mourn perished characters, because they'll be alive and kicking in the very next chapter.

Reviews

Kristen Claiborn@kristenc

Jan 7, 2023

First, I’d like to thank Lionel Shriver and Harper Collins for the advanced reader copy of this book I received via a Goodreads giveaway. My views are entirely my own and in no way were they influenced by the author or publisher. This book follows a couple who contemplate their mortality after watching the wife’s father die slowly from dementia. They make a pact to do away with themselves when they reach the age of 80, regardless of what their health situation is like. The story then follows their lives up to the day of reckoning, after that it shows multiple paths and different story lines for a bunch of potential outcomes. It’s not just one story, it’s the possibility of a multitude of stories. While I found much of the writing pretentious and the speech patterns a tad foreign, this book is a wild read. Much of it borders on hilarious. The scenarios put forth are seemingly unlikely, yet at the same time we can all imagine what we want the end of our days to be like, so maybe not that unlikely at all. A few of the outcomes are downright enraging. Shriver certainly does make the reader sit and think about what they would potentially do at the end of their lives.