So much for all that by Lionel Shriver

[bombay_to_goa]

The book is about a mustachian protagonist in NJ who plans to FIRE and move to a lower COL country, perhaps in Africa. His initial plan after selling the business and house is to go to Goa for a bit..

I found it at the library just as I was thinking of our plan to FIRE in goa (though we're a lot closer than NY!)

anyone else close to FI stumble across coincidences like this?

The book itself veers off into other issues - illness, health insurance.. And it's by the author of "we need to talk about Kevin", so it's going to be dark in parts, but a good read overall.

[MarciaB]

I absolutely loved this book when I read it a couple of years ago. It was heartbreaking to see the bank balance (which starts each chapter) diminish over time.

She faces a couple of serious issues square on, like serious birth defects and the thorny issue of choosing to have (or not have) a particular child when you have all the facts. Very brave writing!

[arebelspy]

Just finished reading this, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

The characters were very real. The author is good at writing believable people, rather than caricatures.

Her protagonist very much reminded me of Hank Rearden from Atlas Shrugged--the hard worker everyone else takes advantage of, who has to pay for everything while the other people on the dole complain as if they are the victims, and if he ever mentions anything it's all about money to him.

Very sad, and you could see what was coming in some parts, but others were a surprise. The author didn't purposefully pull at emotions, but was real.

The ending was satisfactory, which can be tough in books like this.

Overall very well done.