Should We Stay or Should We Go

Name: Should We Stay or Should We Go
Author: Lionel Shriver
ISBN: 9780008458560

Lionel Shriver

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Should We Stay or Should We Go

Lionel Shriver

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Lionel Shriver's new novel explores what it means to be a good parent—and a good person—when you've been told you have only a few years left to live. Kay and Cyril have built a life together: a marriage of more than forty years, two grown children, and a comfortable home in the English Cotswolds. Then Cyril is diagnosed with a terminal illness. The couple decides to end their lives together before the disease can fully take hold, and they set a date. But as that date approaches, Cyril's condition stabilizes. He isn't getting worse. The question of whether to stick to their pact becomes urgent, and the answer is far from clear. Their adult children—one of whom has never approved of their parents' unconventional choices—must grapple with what their parents are planning. And Kay must confront the possibility that she might have to live on alone, and reckon with what that means. As the family navigates this impossible situation, Shriver explores the nature of commitment, the philosophy of how and when life should end, and the love that both binds families together and sets them at odds.

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