BIG BROTHER: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED 
BIG BROTHER

BY LIONEL SHRIVER

ABOUT THE BOOK:

From the acclaimed author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin comes a striking new novel about siblings, marriage, and obesity.
When Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at her local Iowa airport, she literally doesn't recognize him. In the four years since the siblings last saw each other, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened?
And it's not just the weight. Imposing himself on Pandora's world, Edison breaks her husband Fletcher's handcrafted furniture, makes overkill breakfasts for the family, and entices her stepson not only to forgo college but to drop out of high school.
After the brother-in-law has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: It's him or me. Putting her marriage and adopted family on the line, Pandora chooses her brother—who, without her support in losing weight, will surely eat himself into an early grave.

Rich with Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat—an issue both social and excruciatingly personal. It asks just how much we'll sacrifice to rescue single members of our families, and whether it's ever possible to save loved ones from themselves. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lionel Shriver is a novelist whose previous books include Orange Prize–winner We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Post-Birthday World, A Perfectly Good Family, Game Control, Double Fault, The Female of the Species, Checker and the Derailleurs, and Ordinary Decent Criminals. She is widely published as a journalist, writing features, columns, op-eds, and book reviews for the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Economist, Marie Claire, and many other publications. She is frequently interviewed on television, radio, and in print media. She lives in London and Brooklyn, NY. 

OTHER BOOKS BY LIONEL SHRIVER:

                   

                   

                  

PRAISE FOR BIG BROTHER:

“What would you do for love of a brother? For love of a husband? For love of food? In Big Brother, Shriver’s new and wonderfully timely novel, her heroine wrestles with these vexing questions. Only the scales don’t lie.”— Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy

“The fellowship of Lionel Shriver fanatics is about to grow larger, so to speak. Big Brother, a tragicomic meditation on family and food, may be her best book yet.”— Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story

“A searing, addictive novel about the power and limitations of food, family, success, and desire. Shriver examines America’s weight obsession with both razor-sharp insight and compassion.”— J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine and Commencement

“Brilliantly imagined, beautifully written, and superbly entertaining, Shriver’s novel confronts readers with the decisive question: can we save our loved ones from themselves? A must-read for Shriver fans, this novel will win over new readers as well.”— Library Journal

“An intelligent meditation on food, guilt, and the real (and imagined) debts we owe the ones we love.”— Publishers Weekly

“Shriver brilliantly explores the strength of sibling bonds versus the often more fragile ties of marriage.”— Booklist

“[Shriver] has a knack for conveying subtle shifts in family dynamics. . . . Ms Shriver offers some sage observations. . . . Yet her main gift as a novelist is a talent for coolly nailing down uncomfortable realities.”— The Economist 

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:

BIG BROTHER by Lionel Shiver is a brilliant book that grabs readers from the start and doesn't let go. Personally the fact that my own relationship with food is an issue, made me find BIG BROTHER even more heartfelt and utterly fascinating. Shiver certainly gives readers a different view of being “fat”, or overweight, than perhaps they had thought of before. She doesn’t shy away from the issue now at our nation’s forefront, but rather adds humanity and a face to it. The wonderful narrative draws you in and then the ending comes and oh, my! It was quite a shock to me as it wasn't what I expected. BIG BROTHER’s Edison is such a unique and well developed protagonist, that one easily takes him to heart and roots for him, despite his faults. Weight issues or not, the mere fact of how we look at overweight people is reason enough to read BIG BROTHER. But the narrative that Shriver has woven around the topic and characters is what really shines through.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO KATHRYN AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT HARPER WITH HARPER COLLINS, I HAVE

ONE COPY OF BIG BROTHER TO GIVE AWAY

TO ONE OF MY LUCKY READERS

 
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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 

6 PM, EST, JUNE 14

GOOD LUCK!