So Much For That (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Characters edit see section history

• Glynis Knacker: Main character diagnosed with cancer.
• Shepard Knacker: AKA Shep, husband of Glynis. The protagonist.
• Zach Knacker: Glynis and Shepard's son.
• Amelia Knacker: Glynis and Shepard's daughter.
• Jackson Burdina: Shep's coworker and friend.
• Carol Burdina: Jackson's wife.
• Heather Burdina: Child of Jackson and Carol.
• Flicka Burdina: Disabled child of Jackson and Carol. She suffers from Familial Dysautonomia, a rare genetic disease.
• Beryl Knacker: Shep's sister
• Philip Goldman: Glynis' internist.
• Randy Pogatchnik: Shep's employer, dba Handy Randy. Randy bought the business from Shep and Shep stayed on intended as a temporary employee. He's a jerk of a boss.
• Deb: Glynis' Born Again sister
• Dr. Knox: Glynis' oncologist
• Terry Schiavo: Referenced as her death was a current event in the novel.
• Eileen: Add a description of this character.
• Terr
• Chris
• Gabriel Knacker: Shep's father, retired Presbyterian Minister
• Petra Carson: Glynis' long time rival from Art School.
• Nancy: Knacker's kind neighbor
• Larry

Quotes edit see section history

• “"I mean, think about it - what's your first reaction when you see a cop drive by? 'Gosh, I feel so protected'? No! Anybody in their right mind is panicking, 'Am I doing anything wrong?' Or more like it, since chances are you're way too freaked out to be enjoying a moment of soul searching, 'Could I be perceived to be doing anything wrong?' The police are just one more predatory species, another dangerous animal in the environment, and the fact that you are personally paying for their damn donuts and refuelling their damn cars the better to stalk you and filch your wallet just adds insult to injury."”

  Jackson Burdina

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Collectively, the human race was growing ever more authoritative about the mechanics of the universe. Individually, the experience of most people was of accelerating impotence and incomprehension.

  Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers

• There is only the body. There never was anything but the body. “Wellness” is the illusion of not having one. Wellness is escape from the body. But there is no escape. So wellness is delay.)

  Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers

• How in the face of an end game there was virtually no limit to what did not matter.

  Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers

• Because when you get sick, I think that’s the hardest part: living in a separate universe from everyone else, like having been exiled to a foreign country.”

  Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers

• Jackson was fascinated to learn just how much money you could run through without appreciably improving your life or acquiring anything of value.

  Highlighted by 14 Kindle customers

• He’d never understood this impulse to be just like everybody else when everybody else was a fucking moron.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• You wouldn’t think that something you couldn’t do and were not doing would take any energy at all, but it did.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• Her poor husband had misguidedly hoarded his pennies, when the only currency they spent that had ever counted was time.

  Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers

• There’s something especially terrible about being told over and over that you have the most wonderful life on earth and it doesn’t get any better and it’s still shit.

  Highlighted by 11 Kindle customers

• As resentment produces the psychic equivalent of acid reflux, she resented the resentment itself. Never having had much of substance to complain about was yet one more reason to feel aggrieved.

  Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Elmsford
• Pemba
• Africa
• Berlin, New Hampshire: Childhood home of the Knackers.
• Lower Manhattan
• Westchester
• Brooklyn
• New York
• Alimta
• Zanzibar
• Columbia
• Swahili
• Tucson
• Fundu
• Arizona

Organizations edit see section history

• Familial Dysautonomia Foundation: Familial Dysautonomia (FD) is a rare genetic neurological condition that affects the sensory and autonomic nervous systems, causing severe gastrointestinal, cardiac, pulmonary, orthopedic, renal and ophthalmologic problems.

First Sentence edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• The fountain: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Lionel Shriver (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• National Book Award (Finalist, 2010: Fiction)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary