A Better Life

A Better Life by Lionel Shriver is an exceptional, very highly recommended domestic drama and fictional dystopian treatise on contemporary immigration issues. Shriver has always kept her own council and never shied away from controversial topics, which is appreciated by this reader. A Better Life will be on my list as one of the best books of the year.

Gloria Bonaventura, 62, is a divorced mother of three living in Brooklyn. Both of her daughters, Palermo and Vanessa, are living on their own, but her son Nico, 26, is still living in the family home, and has never looked for employment after college. When NYC starts a program called 'Big Apple, Big Heart' that would pay people to take in a migrant as a boarder, Gloria is thrilled and show more applies. Martine Salgado, a Honduran immigrant, arrives and immediately ingratiates herself with Gloria, as well as Palermo and Vanessa, taking on household chore. Nico is skeptical and believes she has ulterior motives. When Martine's uninvited brother, Domingo, arrives things begin to go south and Nico's concerns become realistic.

This fictional account hits all the problems and nuances concerning open borders and immigration on both sides of the issue. Along the way there are some incredible human flaws, humor, and foolishness portrayed. Pointing out defects in a system or program is not anti- anything; it is using your mental acuity to examine an issue logically and realistically. There were times while reading that I wanted to yell at the characters, especially Gloria, to stop accepting the exploitation, realize that there are people who don't mean well, and take action, especially when Domingo showed up. This all begged the question, How much is one expected to tolerate to conform to ever changing arbitrary societal views?

What I have always appreciated about Shriver is that she is an incredibly gifted wordsmith. Her novels are intelligent, well-reasoned, impeccably written, and the correct word is always utilized. She also likes to tackle a specific topic in her books, the plot is well researched, clearly presented, and believable. Shriver never kowtows to the changing politically correct landscape, and I am all in for what ever topic she chooses. This would be a perfect choice for a book club that enjoys lively, perhaps heated, discussions.

The characters, likeable or not, are all presented as fully realized, complicated individuals with strengths and weaknesses. In this case, you will know these people or have met their doppelgangers on an almost daily basis. They can be foolish or perceptive, but they are all honestly portrayed as realistic individuals.

A Better Life is a perfect choice for those who can appreciate novels on contemporary topics and enjoy Lionel Shriver's novels.
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Courageous contrarian and master of spoken idiom, Lionel Shriver hit the Zeitgeist with this novel describing the domestic turbulence of immigration from Honduras to New York City. The confrontation of generation Z slacker masculinity with Honduran macho, along with the pleasures and perils of generosity and hospitality are vividly rendered in this intimate portrait of a major political issue. The characterizations and conversations are dramatic masterpieces.

Shriver is, in my view, the finest contemporary writer. This novel grapples with the immigration crisis and a well-meaning progressive woman that attempts to fulfill what she believes is her duty to assist in transitioning an illegal to American life in a sanctuary city, with some adverse results for her and her family.

I haven't read anything by prolific American author Lionel Shriver since We Need to Talk About Kevin won the Orange Prize in 2005. In my reading journal, I prefaced my thoughts by declaring that it was the most horrible book I'd ever read, and though I've read too many horrible books since then, We Need to Talk About Kevin put me off reading anything else by this author.

But I stumbled on a YouTube interview with Shriver and one of the conservative commentators at the Manhattan Institute, where amongst other things she mentioned that although immigration is a hugely divisive issue throughout the West, literature about it is always about the refugee/migrant experience. She said that the narrative is always from that point-of-view and show more sympathetic to it, and not from the varied perspectives of the host nations. The novel is a response to what she says is a period during the Biden administration when the United States was overwhelmed by an influx of migrants in the millions and there was a Right to Shelter legislation in New York which imposed obligations on the city and its taxpayers.

And so her novel depicts an absurdist situation, with characters who represent a variety of responses to an influx of people from Honduras, ranging from cynical, to exploitative, to gullible, to sympathetic, to humane, to distrust, and to outright hostility. Shriver thinks that it's not a satire because it's actually a realistic depiction of the situation, but a review by Seth Barron at City Journal says otherwise . Since I don't know how much of the plot is or could be realistic, I'd leave that to other readers to decide.

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Lionel Shriver, you have really let me down. This book is really bad. The dialogue is horrible; the protagonist is an ugly character. From what I'd read, I thought this book was supposed to be "balanced." It's all nativism, and scheming scamming illegal immigrants. I appreciate your eagerness to take on the tough issues nobody wants to touch, but you're apparently not always up to the task.