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Should We Stay or Should We Go

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Should We Stay or Should We Go

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
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About this listen

A best fiction book of 2021 for The Times

‘Hilarious… Fiery phrases spit and crackle. Disgust expands and bursts into belly laughs… a very funny book’ Sunday Times

‘Thought-provoking, timely, and extremely funny’ Metro

‘Shriver said that her favourite novels are those that pack both an intellectual and emotional punch. With Should We Stay or Should We Go, she’s added triumphantly to their number’ The Times

‘Witty and thought-provoking’ Woman’s Weekly

‘I think Shriver’s novels are wonderful… fun, smart and, perhaps because of their author’s unconventional political views, unlike anything else you’ll read’ Financial Times

‘Entertaining and poignant’ Daily Mail

‘Very moving… Shriver has the magic ability to make the reader invested in the fate – fates, I should say – of her characters’Daily Telegraph

‘Wickedly witty’ Spectator

‘Decidedly timely’ Scotsman

‘This sharp-elbowed satire is also a brusquely tender portrait of enduring love’ Washington Post

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Determined to die with dignity, Kay and her husband Cyril – both healthy and vital medical professionals in their early fifties – make a pact: to commit suicide together once they’ve both turned eighty.

A lot can change in thirty years, however…

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. Do they honour their agreement? And if not, will they live to regret it?

‘Some books become so popular that the lucky author can thereafter churn out any old cobblers, confident in the knowledge that it will be published and find an audience. Lionel Shriver never took that easy route’ Irish Independent

©2021 Lionel Shriver (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Medical Political Satire Comedy Witty Funny Thought-Provoking
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Really interesting with its alternative scenarios. Very poorly read, with mispronunciations, bad phrasing and stresses.

Thought provoking

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A very provoking book with multiple end of life scenarios. Great for book club and pub discussions - a lot to talk about and explore. Certainly made me think about planning old age. I would recommend reading the book versus the audio version….narration style a bit odd and way marking on chapters not straight forward.

Provoking story

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I quite like the structure of this book, the first half is the story and then the second half is a number of alternative endings to the first half. It's quite a good device and makes for an interesting story and interpretation, but for me, at least two of the alternative endings should have been cut altogether and some of the others should have been edited down to be shorter.

The reader has a pleasant enough voice but there are so many mispronunciations that it begins to grate a bit. Ideally the reader should know how to pronounce fairly commonplace words, but if not the production team should pick up the error and get that section re-recorded.

Reasonable story but too long and poor production

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The different scenarios were interestingly thought provoking but for somebody who struggles with ‘suspension of disbelief’ in novels generally I found the regular need to re-interpret characters and events, whilst assuming them to be the ‘same’ people - slightly irritating.

Mmmm….

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I really enjoyed the creativity of the author and the relevance to anyone dealing with issues of ageing- your own and/or someone else's . i just wished the narrator had checked the pronunciation of a few words eg aldburgh. but that's a small complaint overall.

thought provoking and witty at the same time

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