Customer Rating: 
Summary: subtle & compelling but bleak
Comment: I loved 'we need to talk about Kevin', and I loved this as well.
Shriver writes with unflinching, and at times uncomfortable, clarity and honesty about the fragilities and failings of the human condition, and whilst at times I found this book quite depressing, I also couldn't put it down.
I loved the parallel stories of Irina and the ramifications on her and the men in her life from that tipping point decision - I've had one of those myself, not quite as clearcut as being hinged on a kiss, but I still wonder what would have happened if I'd made the other choice...
I think the best books stay with you and make you reflect on their content and even better how that applies to your own life - and as Kevin made me think about motherhood, and whether I wanted to be a mother, so this has made me think about relationships, and whether I want to be in one.
As many here have already pointed out - Ramesey's accent is a deadful muddle I have to agree, however this minor point does not detract from what is a very well-wrtten and thought-provoking novel.
As an aside I think Ramsey was the best choice for her to have made, but I am an old romantic (despite or perhaps because I have settled for a Lawrence myself)...makes you think though doesn't it? Which is the whole point!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: We Need To Talk About Originality
Comment: I'm still having slightly mixed feelings about this book. Upon completion I dropped it onto my coffee table and muttered "What a disappointment" before grumping off to start something new. However, it was a disappointment in comparison to "We Need To Talk About Kevin", a book which I rather unfairly expected Shriver to match. It was possibly due to the blurbs all over the cover about how it was even better.
Basically, it's not a one star book. Shriver's writing is, as ever, fantastic. A lot of people dislike her "wordiness", but she tends to be quite flowing and easy to read. With "Kevin" it combined to make a gripping read. In "Birthday" it plods along quite well, but didn't seem capable of holding my attention. However, I don't think I could say the book was badly written, quite the opposite. It was enjoyable enough and it could hold my attention if read in a certain way. In "Birthday" you really need to read both versions of each chapter in the same sitting. If you do that then the differences between the two can be appreciated, and it is quite engaging that way. However, the same scenario being repeated can become a little unrelenting.
However, the book is definitely not five star material for me. No matter how high the quality of writing, it just didn't work. The concept was not the much - hyped original plot that it seemed to believe itself to be. It was Sliding Doors with Dick Van Dyke. The characters weren't likeable or, more concerningly, the same character. Irina magically changed in personality, as did Lawrence. The second chapter in particular irked all the way through. Lawrence's character was totally different in the two chapters, with the only possible cause of the change being that Irina was moody in one version and wasn't in the other. In one Lawrence was "nice and needy", whilst Irina was "moody, detached and uninterested", and then vice versa in the other chapter. This seemed to continue through the book, with the two of them mirroring the behaviour of the other throughout. It was particularly pathetic in the "climax" of the story of the Irina who stayed with Lawrence.
Irina herself was a character I had no sympathy with, and seemed to think herself all kinds of things that she wasn't. I'm afraid I didn't care one way or another what happened to her. Her attempt to pick up English slang was as woeful at the author's attempts to give Ramsey a cockney accent. It was painful.
I suppose to a prospective reader I'd give the advice that you should not expect "We Need To Talk About Kevin", which no one should really. It's entertaining enough if you can ignore the horror of Ramsey's accent and if you can stomach Irina as a character. The premise is already a little overdone; "what if" books seem to be everywhere; but it's an interesting way of looking at it. Just don't be surprised if you feel a little empty and disappointed afterwards.
Customer Rating:
Summary: long-winded and tedious
Comment: utter rubbish.
not original. about 500 pages too long and don't get me started on her accents...
i wasn't that keen on her previous book (we need to talk about kevin) and know i realise what was niggling away at me - she can't write very well. that simple.
many, many better books out there.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great disappointment
Comment: Having loved 'Kevin', I expected this later novel to be as gripping. However, as with Shriver's novels prior to 'Kevin', I found it to be tedious and 'overwritten'. As another reviewer has said, because of the way the novel is constructed, the premise of the story is incessantly repeated. The spoken English and British mannerisms are over-played and unrealistic. I was tempted to skip large chunks of overblown descriptive narrative in an attempt to get to the 'point'. Only after reluctantly ploughing through the first 100 or so pages did the story itself began to grip, and an interest in the eventual outcome provide the impetus to struggle on. In retrospect I would not have bothered. All in all a great disappointment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best modern novel I have read in ages
Comment: I just loved this book. I agree with the reviewer who said something like clear the decks and just read this book, because when I wasn't reading it I just wanted to get back to it. I was so pleased it was 600 pages long as I just didn't want it to end.
I thought it was so well planned, beautifully written and clever. I enjoyed Lionel Shriver's deep delve into relationships. The basic concept of the book is that in life, a crossroads may just appear - and the choice you make at that crossroads can totally change the course of your life.
You really wouldn't have to be into snooker to enjoy this book - but as I am, it enhanced my enjoyment of it even more. I loved the inclusion of real life snooker players such as Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry. It made me wonder what they thought of their portrayal in this book.
One tiny reservation - the cockney dialect was rather dodgy to say the least - but I could forgive Lionel Shriver anything in this book!
The ending - understated though it was - was thought provoking. I sat for a long time after I had finished the book, just pondering the way it ended.
Thank you to Lionel Shriver for writing this book - and I hope other readers will enjoy it as much as I did.
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