Why Liv? by Jon Sebastian Shifrin
Jon Sebastian Shifrin didn’t step too far away from reality when he wrote Why Liv? (Bublish). There are marauding groups of protesters asserting their patriotic allegiance — with posters, cheers, jeers and violence — to an orange-hued, right-wing radio host with “a pompadour of dubious authenticity” and a permanent tan, “except around his eyes, presumably where he wore goggles when bronzing.” Their slogan? Make America Great Again.
The economy, politics and even the weather in Shifrin’s debut novel mirror what the United States is dealing with right now, which makes this story unsettlingly inspirational.
Our protagonist, a successful Manhattan millennial named Livingstone (friends call him Liv), has everything going for him except his attitude. For the first half of the book, he’s a perfect example of the money-doesn’t-buy-happiness adage. At first glance, the title might be mistaken for “Why Live?”, something Liv himself may have been wondering. Part I is aptly entitled DUSK.
We soldier on with our man Liv as he tolerates what he considers nonsensical initiatives at the office, a self-absorbed girlfriend, his thwarted sex life, peripatetic parents (also self-absorbed), a friend’s awe-inspiring misogyny and the (apparently) endless pouring rain.
Here is where all that money we thought didn’t buy happiness comes in handy. Liv has enough to quit his job and move to Spain for a couple of years, ostensibly to polish up his Spanish, but more likely to polish up his soul.
And just in time, because just before Liv boards the plane to Barcelona, he catches a newscast on the screen at the gate. The over-tanned, curiously coiffed right-wing radio host, flanked by his ex-stripper current wife, has just announced that he’s running for president, promising to, if elected, Make America Great Again.
Part II is called DAWN and chapter titles are reminiscent of the stages of grief: “Resignation.” “Hope.” Chapter 11, however, juxtaposes the US of A’s riots and political skullduggery with the fresh — but lonely — life Liv has chosen for himself in Barcelona.
This is fiction, of course, and luckily, Shifrin calls the shots for the character he created. Why Liv? isn’t exactly a foolproof guide to a meaningful life for everyone, but there’s enough motivational philosophizing to encourage some of those who have been hesitating to metamorphize.
As wondrously satisfying as it is to empathize with Liv in the first half of the book, the storybook escapism of the second half is almost more so. After all, who wouldn’t enjoy a healthy dose of escapism?
