Lionel Shriver’s The Post-Birthday World makes me think of the Gwyneth Paltrow movie, Sliding Doors. The movie is about two parallel worlds, one in which the protagonist just misses a train, and one in which she manages to get on just before the doors slide closed. Her life changes drastically, depending on which of these seemingly trivial events occurs. Shriver’s novel is likewise divided up into parallel universes. Children’s book illustrator Irina McGovern is the character around whom all scenes revolve. There is two of each chapter, each telling a different version of an identical period in time. The differences are all derived from the effects of Irina’s one decision of whether or not to kiss a handsome snooker player while her long time lover is out of town on business.

The story has a slow start, and for the first hundred pages I kept thinking that this was done already (and done better) in Sliding Doors. Gradually, however, the characters drew me in and I was compelled to read on. Shriver skillfully unifies the book by sometimes repeating exact phrases in the opposing chapters, although the character saying the lines of dialogue might be different. She also has Irina create children’s books with stories that echo what is happening in the two versions of Irina’s life. The men Irina love in each version of her story are as different as can be. Lawrence, working in a think tank corporation that fights world terrorism, is steady and dependable, with caustic wit and great intelligence. Ramsey, an egotistical, uneducated snooker player, draws her in with his great passion and a strong sexual attraction. With either man, Irina is consistent: self-depreciating, anxious to avoid conflict.

As with Shriver’s other book, We Need to Talk about Kevin, The Post Birthday World ends with a dubious hopefulness that made me feel sad. ( )

Reading this book is a bit like taking a really big bite of something really chewy. Taffy maybe, and not your favorite flavor, either, although definitely one you like. It's good, but you might feel like you have to work too hard.

Shriver takes her cue from the multiple universe idea that there exists a separate reality that has sprung from each decision. There's a universe in which you did X, and a universe in which you didn't do X (or did Y). Fortunately, she doesn't try to examine this theory to its fullest, but takes a single decision made a single person, and expands her universes from there. What drives this book, then, is not "did she or didn't she" (she both did and didn't, in alternate chapters), but what is the result of both decisions.

Shriver employs some very clever techniques to help her explore this theme. As the parallel chapters progress along the same time line, we see how similar the two universes are, but also how wildly different, as sometimes identical dialogue is spoken, but in vastly different contexts, or even by different characters. Shriver even gives her reader occasional anchors in time (helping to tie parallel chapters in time) by relating how the characters in each universe respond to international news events, such as the death of Princess Diana and the September 11th attacks.

Shriver also does a great job of keeping her main character consistent through both story-lines. It's easy (easier, at least) to write a character who responds to a single set of events, than it is to write a character who must respond to two parallel sets of events and yet remain believable as a single character. Shriver absolutely gets this part right. But that is also part of what makes reading this book seem like hard work - every time you get somewhere in the narrative, you are instantly sent back to the beginning of the timeframe and must go through it all again, with the same mindset, if different details. Even the best of characters might get a little tiresome through all that. The real triumph is perhaps that we care about what happens in both realities, and can't easily say which choice was the right one. ( )

Beautifully written. ( )

This was the first book my book club read. It is one of the worse books I have ever read.

Irina and Lawrence are Americans living in London in the late '90s. Lawrence is a terrorism expert with a think tank, and Irina is an illustrator of children's books. They seem content with their life and all of their rituals as a couple until one fateful night when Lawrence is out of the country on business and he urges Irina to have dinner with a friend of theirs because it is his birthday and it is one of their traditions. The friend is Ramsey Acton, a famous snooker player in England. After an enjoyable evening, Irina finds herself in a situation where she very much wants to kiss Ramsey. After that, in alternating chapters, the book describes Irina's life if she had kissed him and if she had decided not to go that route. The beginning of the book and the end are great, but the middle does drag a bit with too many descriptive sex scenes and pages of Irina's innermost thoughts that don't serve to move the story along. It was a good read but, based on the reviews, I had hoped for an excellent read. ( )