Should We Stay or Should We Go
Lionel ShriverAfter 10 years of Alzheimer's Kate Wilkonson's father dies. The period prior to his death makes the Wilkinsons come to a decision. They know all about the cost of caring for "veggie patients". Now in their early fifties they decide they don’t want their three children to have to live through possibly the same ordeal they experienced when caring for Kate's father. Together they decide to fix a date to take their own lives on their eightieth birthday. The reader is taken through various scenarios, with lots of failed attempts by the couple to commit suicide. Although the subject of this novel is often sad, the author also presents the reader with hilarious situations, ruthlessly describing the circumstances of the residents (‘inmates’) in a nursing home. This story may remind readers of similar experiences in their own lives.