She Treads Softly: A Better Life

Sunday, February 22, 2026

A Better Life

A Better Life by Lionel Shriver
2/10/26; 304 pages
HarperCollins

A Better Life by Lionel Shriver is an exceptional, very highly recommended domestic drama and fictional dystopian treatise on contemporary immigration issues. Shriver has always kept her own council and never shied away from controversial topics, which is appreciated by this reader. A Better Life will be on my list as one of the best books of the year.

Gloria Bonaventura, 62, is a divorced mother of three living in Brooklyn. Both of her daughters, Palermo and Vanessa, are living on their own, but her son Nico, 26, is still living in the family home, and has never looked for employment after college. When NYC starts a program called 'Big Apple, Big Heart' that would pay people to take in a migrant as a boarder, Gloria is thrilled and applies. Martine Salgado, a Honduran immigrant, arrives and immediately ingratiates herself with Gloria, as well as Palermo and Vanessa, taking on household chore. Nico is skeptical and believes she has ulterior motives. When Martine's uninvited brother, Domingo, arrives things begin to go south and Nico's concerns become realistic.

This fictional account hits all the problems and nuances concerning open borders and immigration on both sides of the issue. Along the way there are some incredible human flaws, humor, and foolishness portrayed. Pointing out defects in a system or program is not anti- anything; it is using your mental acuity to examine an issue logically and realistically. There were times while reading that I wanted to yell at the characters, especially Gloria, to stop accepting the exploitation, realize that there are people who don't mean well, and take action, especially when Domingo showed up. This all begged the question, How much is one expected to tolerate to conform to ever changing arbitrary societal views?

What I have always appreciated about Shriver is that she is an incredibly gifted wordsmith. Her novels are intelligent, well-reasoned, impeccably written, and the correct word is always utilized. She also likes to tackle a specific topic in her books, the plot is well researched, clearly presented, and believable. Shriver never kowtows to the changing politically correct landscape, and I am all in for what ever topic she chooses. This would be a perfect choice for a book club that enjoys lively, perhaps heated, discussions.

The characters, likeable or not, are all presented as fully realized, complicated individuals with strengths and weaknesses. In this case, you will know these people or have met their doppelgangers on an almost daily basis. They can be foolish or perceptive, but they are all honestly portrayed as realistic individuals.

A Better Life is a perfect choice for those who can appreciate novels on contemporary topics and enjoy Lionel Shriver's novels.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.