I received an ARC of this book with thanks to HarperCollins Australia via NetGalley

The Motion of the Body Through Space is the story of Serenata and Remington Alabaster as they navigate ageing and retirement together. Serenata is dealing with the deterioration of her knees after a lifelong love affair with running. Her husband Remington makes her transition to a slower life more challenging when he decides to train and enter a marathon to fill his time since forced-retirement.

Shriver is a writer that always produces books of varying story and scope. She can be divisive, however she doesn’t pigeonhole herself and this is part of the reason I continually return to her work and love to read her books. I am always hooked by her writing. It always makes me feel something. Whether it’s passion, rage or empathy, I always come away from a Shriver book with very strong opinions (usually fractured) about the story and the characters. I never find her characters highly likeable, but I always love reading their witty and intellectual conversations. There’s always something about her characters I will relate to but there will also be something that frustrates me. For some strange reason I really love this aspect of Shriver’s writing. That she can divide me yet still impress me.

This book was no different. I didn’t especially love the ending. It felt a little rushed finishing the story with an afterword. But that would be my only slight criticism. Overall it gave me what I crave for with a Shriver book. Divisive social commentary, frustrating characters and quick-witted conversation.