The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver:

This novel follows the story of a middle aged married couple, Seranata and Remington. Seranata has always enjoyed exercise, but not of the group variety, she prefers to run, or cycle, or swim on her own, to escape the stresses of modern day life. Her husband has never exercised, but when Seranata injures herself and can no longer do the things she once could, Remington announces he wants to enter a triathlon. His sudden change of heart both annoys, frustrates and taunts Seranata. I found this novel to be very entertaining, as well as quite drily funny in places. It really spoke to me, as someone who is a bit of an exercise freak myself, and I felt for Seranata, even though she wasn’t always the most likeable of characters. Shriver deftly reflects our modern day, first world preoccupation with health and fitness and beauty, and causes us to question what’s really important in life.
Hilarious, perceptive and moving, The Motion of the Body Through Space is Lionel Shriver writing at the top of her game.

A cutting send up of the cult of exercise told with real humour and all the intelligence you'd expect of a Shriver book.

Serenata is in her sixties and has always exercised, running, cycling and doing other workouts long before it was 'cool'. Now, with a looming knee replacement operation forcing her to slow down, her husband Remington inexplicably develops a sudden desire to run a marathon, having never before shown any interest in exercise.

We watch from the sidelines with an increasingly exasperated Serenata as Remington dons lycra, joins a cultish exercise group headed up by a beautiful Amazonian personal trainer named Bambi, and proceeds to spend thousands of dollars and endless hours in the pursuit of 'Mettle Man', a super-length triathlon of Iron Man persuasion - despite the fact that he's just not very good at it.

The book is funny and thought provoking and very witty.

I always look forward to the latest Lionel Shriver.

The characters are well drawn and understandable and not really likeable, but as usual with Shriver I can always traits of myself in Shriver's characters.

An interesting satire on the fitness boom.

One criticism - why are the chapters so long? I found myself often having to stop at a convenient mid-chapter point because I just did not have the time to read further.

It didn't engage me as much as some of Shriver's previous novels and I found it a bit hard-going, hence only four stars this time.

Lionel Shriver is a classy writer and I have enjoyed everything I’ve read by her. This latest novel is no exception, I loved every word of it. She makes razor-sharp observations and expresses them so well. One subject she tackles is political correctness in the workplace and she writes Remington’s employment tribunal brilliantly - excruciating stuff. The preoccupation with physical challenges that has sprung up in societies that have enjoyed peace and prosperity for decades also comes under fire. Even more interestingly for me, she looks at the effect on long-term partners when one of them takes up an interest that the other cannot or will not share. The sparring between Serenata and Remington is a joy to read.

‘They had always been a talky couple, but the danger of all those words was talking around feelings, or over feelings, or about feelings by way of avoiding actually feeling feelings, and the real moments between them took place in the interstices between the words. This interstice was more than a crack; it was widening to a maw.’

The other characters are fascinating, too - I’m thinking mostly of the monstrous fitness guru Bambi (whose true colours are shown devastatingly right at the end) and the Alabaster children.

Her thoughts on pain and incapacity touched me. The fact that those lucky enough to have reached old age relatively free from illness or injury should be surprised when they start to have difficulties physically. I am guilty of this and found her insights sobering.

‘Pain put you in a lonely place, for if you weren’t feeling it you didn’t believe in it, and if you were feeling it you couldn’t really believe in anything else. The state was so separating that it amounted to a form of solitary confinement.’

This is an interesting read that deals with issues around marriage, family, fitness and obsession and, most particularly, how aging can change our relationship with those things. The book had many positives: it was well written with a balance of humour, irony and pathos and the themes were very much recognisable to those of us now making up the older component of the staffroom! The book was observational and often amusing in its nature but also felt quite intense and you did really feel the tension in the room at times.
However, it took me a while to settle into the book and it didn't hook me straight away, perhaps because, whilst I found them intriguing, I didn't really warm to the main characters, (with the exception of the some of the supporting characters that you love to hate!) However, that is a personal response so I would still not hesitate to recommend this novel.

A confident woman, comfortable in her own skin is coming to a period of life when her fitness and sporting ability intrinsic to her very being, is waning as age takes its toll. Simultaneously her husband is made redundant from a job that he has held for many years and personifies the very meaning of his self worth. A couple who have accepted their own strengths and weaknesses over a lifetime are now facing a collision course as they question the very foundations of their relationship. The straw to break the back of this loving couple is a simple yet earthmoving announcement. Remington is going to run a marathon. Serenata is only too aware that her couch potato husband is neither fit enough, young enough or committed enough to achieve this goal. And so we enter the disharmony, clash of personalities and unintended consequences of a fun filled episode in this marriage. Clever writing, humorous episodes and a mismatch of family members are all intrinsic in developing this hugely satisfying story which ceases to delight. A writer , Lionel Shriver at the top of her game, and with startling change of direction, yet again gives every page a depth of insight into the human psyche. Loved this story from every angle and impossible to rate it too highly. Magnificent. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

On the surface Lionel Shriver’s The Motion of the Body Through Space is a story about an aging couple’s individual obsession with extreme fitness. Serenata and Remington are a married couple in their sixties who are having difficulty coming to terms with the limitations of their aging bodies. Serenata, on the one hand, has spent her life in devotion of physical fitness, but now needs bilateral knee replacements, while Remington has only just discovered its elixir at the age of 64 after having been unfairly dismissed from his workplace. Going through a classic mid (or late) life crisis, and having shown little athletic interest or ability until now, he signs up for a triathlon in a slavish pursuit of a gruelling fitness regime. With cruel timing for Serenata, Remington enlists a personal trainer, Bambi, who has the kind of figure used to sell gym memberships.
Shriver’s writing is original and clever; she can take a mundane situation and turn it into an engrossing story that keeps you on your tiptoes in anticipation of how it’s going to pan out. In parts, it’s satirical, comical, deeply philosophical and intellectual. Rather than writing traditionally sympathetic characters, Shriver prefers to create characters who are hard to love. Serenata’s intellectual superiority can easily destroy and humiliate others’ arguments in the process and at times she seems tactless, but there are moments when she manages to bite her tongue and show tenderness. Remington has always been a good match for Serenata but has now become single-minded, selfish and narcissistic.
Shriver reflects on the dysfunctional family in her depiction of the couple’s daughter and son: their daughter’s brainwashed religious mania, back to back pregnancies and inexplicable lifelong resentment of her mother and their stunningly good looking, charismatic son with little moral compass and an anarchic streak, seem to have emerged from seemingly unrelated parents.
She also soberly reflects on long term marriage, aging, obsession and existentialism and is scathing about issues such as cultural appropriation and wokeness. But her approach is generally an intellectual poking of fun at such polar positions. On a superficial level, obsession with extreme fitness is an attempt to prolong life but it is ultimately an attempt to defy the inevitable approach of death. The story keeps touching on existential undertones, our striving for some personal success or meaning to life to justify existence, to give meaning where there is none.
I am in total awe of Lionel Shriver’s incisive writing prowess, her wealth of philosophical and cerebral observations and witticisms and would love to read more by this author. I would like to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read and review The Motion of the Body Through Space.

This book was a bit of a struggle for me. Having read Lionel Shriver before I was really excited to see her latest offering. The problem was, I didn't get it. Was it meant to be funny? Am I just at a different life stage to really understand the book? The premise of The Motion of Body Through Space, is that Serenata has religiously exercised without ever joining a cult, and yet in her middling years injuries mean she can no longer commit herself to such extensive exercise regimes. Her husband, Remington, however, has indoctrinated himself into the Mettleman cult and is a firm worshiper of all things fitness related. But ultimately this is a story about growing old together, and learning to adapt when life throws up unexpected curve balls. Do I disagree with Serenata about the madness of fitness groups? Maybe a little, but definitely not to the extent that is so vehemently betrayed within the book.

I am not one for following crowds, so I empathise that this mass hysteria around fitness can be overwhelming, But I guess a part of me thinks it's great that people are out there and doing something, even if I don't want to join in.

One great thing about the book is the characters in this book were rich and deep. You dislike who you're meant to, and you have mixed feelings about everyone else, exactly how things are meant to be in life.

This is the first Lionel Shriver I have read, and I don't know why I haven't read any others.
Central to the book is the relationship between Serenata and Remington, a couple in their early sixties who have been married for 35 years. After Remington loses his job (straight, white male losing out in a world where diversity trumps competence... race and prejudice is a theme that often appears in the book), he looks for a way to fill his time and decides to run a marathon. He has never run before although Serenata, who has always been a keen runner, has had to give it up because of arthritic knees. Her envy soon becomes disquiet as she sees how much he is struggling, but he is determined. He then moves on to extreme triathlons, goaded by his trainer, Bambi, whose motives Serenata mistrusts (with good reason as we discover).
The central themes are prejudice, obsession and ageing. Shriver develops the characters beautifully to create a thought-provoking book, which is a great read

I haven't read any of Lionel Shriver's books previously, so I came to this with an open mind.

The writing style is very formal and you'll either love it or hate it. It can be hard going at times! The premise of a married couple, stead and rusty, doesn't reflect any I know, and the jealousy and spite around exercise and body condition seemed trivial.

I'm not sure how much is satire between this married couple and that's the biggest problem. You cannot be sure that certain elements of this book aren't downright offensive and, as the main character (and storyteller) seems to have quite old fashioned opinions, it can be a hard read. I kept putting this book down and taking a break, I persevered but honestly, I concluded that this book isn't aimed at me at all!

This is the first book I have read from this author but it will definitely not be my last. The writing style and use of language is simply superb. This is brilliantly written book and I would definitely recommend it

I knew from the first few pages this wasn’t for me. I felt like the author had tried to use as many long words in a sentence as they could and quickly became bored with their style of writing / sorry!

I have a friend who is hyper critical of everyone around him. He thinks that he invented every new trend that’s currently doing the rounds. Its exhausting and I do not see this friend very often.

Serenata reminded me of this friend so spending time with her in this story was hard work.

In general, I found none of the characters very likable, from Serenata who does everything NOT to support her husband, to her annoying daughter who thinks she discovered religion, not to mention the bratty children.

Only Remington was in any way tolerable, that is until I got to the section where he complained about his new boss. These sections felt borderline racist and sexist.

I am sorry to say that I stopped reading at 40%. I am clearly not the right audience for this type of writing as I suspect some of it was meant as satire but I did not experience it that way.

What a brilliant book.
I have seen and felt the same despair of ageing joints slowly eroding fitness levels. Your life with a long standing partner is constantly moving as you both age and you settle to a softer time so you think.
Oh the frustration then of having a previous sedentary partner take up the reins and become a stronger more challenging and single minded individual is beyond your comprehension. Throw in a massive spend on equipment ,to add insult a strong young female personal trainer who is an annoying presence and you have a great story.
Read with one eye on the ageing clock , it may be the push you need to leave that armchair and move more. On the other hand you may be laughing with the madness of it all.

On one level this book is about running. Marathon, triathlon and obsessed runners in particular, and how it’s easy to get sucked into some of the cults that spring up around it.

Poor runners.

On another it’s about marriage in its later years (depending when married of course), or maybe marriage in your later years, and coming to terms with the fact that what you were physically capable of once eventually and inevitably fades.

Fine, I can be specific. Serenata is married to Remington. Someone who exercised her whole life (discreetly and alone), she now needs a knee replacement. At the same time, her newly retired husband announces he’s going to run a marathon. It’s almost a slap in the face, to throw himself into the one hobby she can’t do any more, especially when he’s so vastly unprepared for it. But he wants to better himself - how can she argue with that? Nevertheless she tries, especially when he finds a young, attractive (annoying) fitness instructor who persuades him into a triathlon.

What makes this book sing is the writing and the banter between Serenata and Remington. You may not agree with all she says and thinks, but she’s good at getting her point across. Sometimes so well she upsets her entire family, nearly-estranged children included.

I hadn’t read any Shriver since ‘Kevin’ but I’ll certainly read more now.

This got completely under my skin - it popped up in my daydreams and thoughts durin and in the days after I finished it. Real flawed characters and situations - a great writer.

As usual, Lionel Shriver’s writing is fiercely intelligent and the fashion for triathlons and uber-sporting challenges are cuttingly observed in this novel. She cleverly allows her protagonists to argue from both sides and leads her readers down a number of byways on the journey through the story. Convincing characters and believable situations make for yet another novel which is dense with discussion on a range of issues. Shriver’s writing is articulate, accessible and relevant. This is a meaty read with lots of food for thought.

Lionel Shriver writes characters that draw me in they are so real .A woman getting on in years is jealous of her husband a man who has begun exercising later in life .She was the runner the athlete till she suffered an injury.The characters are so well written the dialogue the interaction.This was a very entertaining novel of a long relationship growing older adjusting to life’s changes.#harpercollinsuk #netgalley

I get a fifth of the way through 'The Motion of the Body Through Space' by Lionel Shriver before deciding I couldn't read any more.

The book focuses on Serenata and Remington, an aging couple with adult children and grandchildren. Serenata's mobility has decreased significantly, and she is no longer able to do what she loves to do: run. Remington has been forced to retire from the DOT (Department of Transport) and in response to sudden feelings of impotence decides to take up marathon running.

'The Motion of the Body Through Space' is largely written from Serenata's POV. Much is told through her introspections and emotions are intellectualised. As a reader I felt like I was being told a lot instead of shown. This stopped me from getting drawn in, even though at times I found her an interesting and insightful character.

What really put me off though was when Serenata states "...Some men don't always feel up to being the responsible one, the expert, the authority. The one who has to be strong and confident. Always the protector, never the protected. That's a tall order. Women nowadays get to choose. We squeal and make men kill the water bug in the kitchen, and then when someone questions our courage in the face of threat, we can get on our high horse and act insulted. Pretty good deal, when you think about it. We can be world-beaters, and run whole companies and then claim to be traumatized by a hand on our knee when helplessness is politically useful. Men aren't really given that option..." Even though I know this is something the character in the novel has said, rather than the novelist, I couldn't read any more.

Lionel Shriver’s new novel is a clever satire and an incisive critique of modern society. It is a story about Serenata and Remington, a couple in their early and mid sixties, coming to terms with changes in their lives in different ways. Remington, recently forced into early retirement picks up running and this soon turns into an obsession with taking part in an endurance ultra-triathlon, while Serenata has to give up her lifelong and also somewhat excessive fitness regime due to arthritis. Serenata is jealous and dismissive of her husband’s new obsession, horrified at what it is doing to his body and also lonely since he now spends most of his time with his tri-club, led by physically perfect trainer Bambi.

Shriver’s fantastic at looking at this obsession with our bodies and extreme fitness, ‘fitness fundamentalism’, likening it to a religious cult. It is also complete self-absorption and, I suspect equally applicable to other recent trends like wellness for example, which some take to the extreme. Shriver also looks at the us vs. them mentality that inevitably results from taking a hobby or a lifestyle to the extreme, those who are not in the club are dismissed as slobs, plain, there is no medium ground.

Belonging to the baby boomer generation, Serenata and Remington also find aspects of modern society and their own sudden irrelevance somewhat baffling. It is as if Shriver took on the dismissive ‘OK Boomer’ phrase and ran with it, exploring how the generational gap, political correctness and polarization of views and opinions affect the older generation. This is brilliantly done and brave too considering how Shriver’s own views have been seen and interpreted in recent years.

The Motion of the Body Through Space is very good, thought provoking and funny too. Highly recommended. My thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advance review copy.