Review: The Motion of the Body Through Space, Lionel Shriver

So I admit I've never before read a Lionel Shriver book. I can't even talk about how we need to talk about Kevin.

I came to her latest with no expectations, just a humble wish not to read anything too heavy and this blurb fit the bill.

It's about Serenata, a former fitness junkie whose need for knee replacements has stopped her running.

The consolation has been her marriage with Remington: a real marriage of minds, with easy affection, easy banter, delicious in-jokes and mutual snobbery.

That is, until Remington, forced into early retirement from his job at the city transport department by an unfortunate HR situation, shows for the first time an interest in fitness. More than fitness: marathon running.

Running is Serenata's thing, now denied her, and this small act of betrayal puts a crack into their partnership that soon spreads and threatens to shatter their whole life as Remington's blind obsession grows.

It's both a bitingly funny look at the modern preoccupation with fitness, and a deeper study of how people move, either with their feet, a bike, or a city's paths and roads, and what happens when that freedom is taken.

It's about how people form their identities through their physical health and achievements, and their jobs; and what happens when these too are denied them.

Threaded through it all is a droll and biting portrait of modern gender and race politics.

What struck me above all about Shriver's writing was its sheer intelligence, its ability to spin complex arguments through pacy plot, and the dialogue – by turns touching, humorous and utterly maddening – between not only Serenata and Remington but between Remington's new fitness-mad friends, including the unforgettable Bunny, who comes complete with lady six-pack and pink leotard.

With all this going on intellectually, and only a couple of vaguely likeable characters – the warmest thing about Serenata is her care for her elderly father-in-law – I felt for a time as though it lacked a little heart.

But there is a satisfying emotional punch and sincerity to both the climax and the ending. Overall, an exceptionally clever and entertaining novel.