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In thisenjoyably abrasive novel, Lionel Shriver confronts the cult of extreme exercise. On a deeper level, its about belonging, ownership and the accommodations that are made in a long life and a long marriage. Shriver being Shriver, there are also a few sharp, contrarian volleys on race and political correctness. Its a compelling read if, like a marathon, somewhat relentless.

Serenata Terpsichore faces an excruciating double knee replacement after a lifetime of solitary running, cycling and callisthenics in upstate New York. Her hitherto sedentary husband Remington Alabaster chooses this moment to announce that, at 64, he plans to run a marathon. Character names are the only whimsical thing in the book. Serenatas response to Remington infringing on her territory is anything but serene.

Aloof and a loner, she sees exercise as a solitary chore, and despises the cultish zeal of Remington and his new-found brethren, especially when he moves on to a super-triathlon called MettleMan, encouraged by young, blonde trainer Bambi Buffer, whose body recalled the diagrams of human musculature in anatomy textbooks.

Shriver attributes Remingtons conversion to a crisis of masculinity far bigger than the usual midlife dip. As Serenata explains to her gruff working-class father-in-law, today women can be world-beaters and claim to be traumatized by a hand on our knee when helplessness is politically useful. Remington lost his beloved job in the Department of Transport at the hands of a young, privileged, stupid and combative black woman, Lucinda Okonkwo, who was promoted above him.

Property: A Collection by Lionel Shriver - review

Lucinda is a truly crass creation a wilfully provocative move by Shriver, who was accused of racism in her 2016 book The Mandibles and in various subsequent public interventions. Serenata, too, is losing work due to racial sensitivities. A voice artist who narrates talking books and video games, her skill at impersonating ethnic accents is suddenly problematic. I dont think this is a racist book, though it has an insensitivity born of Shrivers urge to face down her critics, and an undertow of white whataboutery. But race is one of the wounds in society she feels obliged to probe, brutally and without anaesthetic. Gender is in there too (a female triathletes husband despises her for out-guying him), and wealth inequality.

Contrarian: Lionel Shriver creates characters disdainful, unbending and who are refreshingly hard to like (Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd)

Above all, Shriver questions belief. Extreme sport commodifies faith in ones willpower as well as effort. Serenata and Remingtons daughter Valeria has become both a born-again Christian and a therapy junkie, convinced her own failings must be her parents fault. Even Serenatas own conviction in her physical and intellectual superiority takes a bashing. In a way, the book is about how we all deal with decline and death.

The writing is sardonic and elegant, although there are rather too many repetitive arguments between thecentral couple. Like many of Shrivers protagonists, Serenata is disdainful, unbending and refreshingly hard to like. Surprisingly, theres a happy ending. Or at least, as happy an ending as this mordantly confrontational writer is ever likely to allow herself.

The Motion of the Body Through Spaceby Lionel Shriver (Borough Press, 16,99), buy it here.

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Book review: The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver - Evening Standard