So Much for That by Lionel Shriver

Shep Knacker is a nice guy trying to live his dream of heading off to a simpler life in Pemba in Africa. He has sold his business and his home and has been researching possible locations for years. Finally he is about to bite the bullet … and his wife gets cancer. So begins Lionel Shriver’s searing analysis of the American health system, albeit in the guise of a novel. This book took some reading because there were times when, like the characters, I almost felt I couldn’t go on. But it was compelling at the same time, especially the secondary story of Shep’s mate Jackson whose daughter has a rare genetic disorder that is slowly killing her. There’s no escape for these people, and by inference anyone else in the US, where the system exists to serve the profit driven operations of the insurance companies and where employees are stuck in jobs because they need the otherwise unaffordable health insurance that comes along with the gig. The lack of government assistance is chilling. People who don’t have insurance, or whose money runs out because of the incredible 40% co-payments required, are faced with on-the-streets option, something almost unthinkable for an Australian with such a wonderful health care system and a safety net to boot. Shriver has done her usual careful research: the detailed descriptions of the system, the diseases and their effects on people’s lives ring utterly true and are extremely discomfiting. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the ending, which I simply didn’t buy.

On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry

I absolutely loved Barry’s earlier book The Secret Scripture, which I wrote about on this blog some time ago. This one is a good follow-up, the story of a young Irish political refugee who flees to America and lives a life dogged with tragedy. I find it interesting that she refers to the suffering her employer has endured during her life, although she never specifies it, but at the same time she seems not to recognize the truly hideous tragedy of her own life. She reminds me a bit of Bert Facey in A Fortunate Life. Lilly’s first husband is killed, the second deserts her, her son is lost to her and then her grandson kills himself – yet shining through all of this is her beautiful soul, her acceptance of the vagaries of life and her complete lack of self pity. Barry is a poet. He weaves words and phrases in such a melodic way I suspect him of being Irish himself – he may, be, I’ve never checked.

The Quarterly Essay by Mark Latham

The Quarterly Essay by Mark Latham This is really just a record of my having read it. Mark Latham is incredibly matured, incredibly impressive, and incredibly sensible in this must-read piece. I couldn’t possibly summarise the essay here but a lot of it crystallizes what I had been thinking for the last couple of years about what is wrong with the government and what can be done to fix it.