YouTube: Lionel Shriver on Her New Novel 'Big Brother'

By Bluestalking @Bluestalking

I need to get my hands on a copy of this novel. Read the description and tell me you don't find it compelling.

A sister abandons her husband in order to help her morbidly obese brother because she's afraid his life depends on her intervention.

But is she a reliable narrator? What's her true motivation?

It's timely, relevant and centered on food issues, not to mention judgment of ourselves and others.

From the Back Cover

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.

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