Big Brother audiobook

Library Overdrive Audiobook....read by Alice Rosengard plus, my already ebook copy which I own. I absolutely love Lionel Shriver - yet there are still many books of hers I haven’t read - even though over the past few years - I’ve purchased several of her books I’ve missed. This wasn’t going to be my first choice ‘next’ Shriver book....but while on my way for searching something else - I downloaded “Big Brother” for kicks since it was readily available ( not the first time I’ve impulsively done this). The only thing I remember hearing about this book - being completely honest here - is that is was a ‘dud’.... her ‘bomb’ book...’NOT GOOD’....so you can understand why this wasn’t high on my list to read. I had absolutely no idea what the story was about and no idea what the picture on the cover was about. “Big Brother”?.....isn’t that a reality TV show? Well, I thought this was a very engaging book. Perhaps not perfect....but definitely a STRONG 4 Stars....and worth reading. So....I blindly started listening to this book. Paul even got hooked into this narrator reading to us.....and honestly- he usually has a zillion other things to do than to get sucked into my fiction books on tape. For starters....LIONEL SHRIVER IS A TALENTED - SAVVY- THOUGHT PROVOKING author! Had I forgotten how good she writes. She had so many killer-awesome sentences - I ‘had’ to open up my ebook and read her words - I almost wished I had the physical book. This woman gets us thinking! So? What’s this story about? In a nutshell .... one VERY FAT ‘Loved’ brother......and his younger sister who tries to help him loose weight by taking matters into her own hands - creating a controlled weight loss environment. Dietary restrictions are extreme. Yet -my ‘nutshell’ description is a trite simplified statement....it’s just not enough. It doesn’t convey the the emotions ABOUT NOT UNDERSTANDING OBESITY, the denial, the relationships within a family, addiction itself, the ‘walking on eggshells’ of suppressed communications, the huge food budget, food, from hunger from the lack of it. Shriver’s protagonist- and younger sister to ‘Big Brother’, *Edison*, is named *Pandora* ( is that not a cool name?/!). Pandora is 40 years old. Married - to Fletcher. She’s a stepmother to two teenagers.She also has a very unique successful business making and selling novelty ‘dolls’....( I laughed...they were so creative!). Buyers paid big bucks for these dolls. Fletcher makes high-end custom furniture- but his business is much less successful. Fletcher ‘is’ successful at being obsessively fit—he rides his bike hours a day and wouldn’t consider eating white flour. Edison comes for a visit.....LONG VISIT. Pandora used to look up to her older brother...successful musician. The last time she saw him - 4 months ago - Edison was thin. How does a thin man become MORBIDLY OBESE in just 4 months? His first night with Pandora- her husband and teen kids had everyone in shock but nobody says anything is so raw & real. The next day at breakfast- well, ......I was shaking my head. What would I do? Could I do? It was a noticeable out-of-the-box-normal breakfast for this family. Edison.....oh my .... I just need to say .... there were scenes with him in this novel that were so visual to me - TOO VISUAL - I can’t get them out of my mind easy......A FEW REALLY SHOCKING UNEXPECTED SCENES! It ‘is’ a book about weight - dieting - (which becomes SUSPENSEFUL), .....but this novel is about soooo much more: siblings - sibling responsibility? - intervention — ethical? - or damaging? .....As for the ending of this book - I didn’t see it coming .....that’s all I’ll say!But......what is REALLY SAD TO ME — [I had NO IDEA] .....Although this is a fiction story .....it’s inspired by Lionel Shriver’s brother and his obesity-linked death. 4.5 Stars

It's 21st century Iowa, and Pandora, in her 40s, running a profitable unique business, married to perfectionist, careful eater and fitness fanatic Fletcher, with his modern art furniture business not doing lickety-spit; and Pandora is step mum to his two kids. She hasn't seen her moderately successful jazz musician brother for 4 years, and when she sees him doesn't recognise at all, as he's become morbidly obese! How will this change how she treats her older brother who she has hero worshipped most of her life?As ever Shriver's prose his peerless, as it is absorbing as she draws in to this first person, Pandora narrated tale of looking for something to really live for; of families and if there's a line past which we can't help them; and the impact of our nurture. A pretty engrossing and at times heartbreaking read with a finish which, I kind of saw as a cop-out, so'll be interested to hear / read what others think. Shriver (privileged political views aside), is such an awesome writer though, she just drags you in. 8 out of 12.

I will read anything that Shriver writes. I am completely tuned in to her sensibility. She always picks topics and themes that other authors tend to ignore or who will write about sensationally. Shriver does not shy away from politicizing or making bold statements, but she does so in such a matter-of-fact, specific (yet humanizing) that her books don't feel sensational. That she also takes her stories from her own experiences helps that along. I felt Pandora's revulsion when she picks her brother up from the airport, I felt Pandora's conflict between doing what was right for her brother, at times at great sacrifice to her family and it made perfect sense that the lengths to whcih she went to save her brother both failed and (view spoiler)[were a total fantasy on her part (hide spoiler)]. The Post-Bithrday World remains my favorite Shriver work, but this pulls a close second.

Despite 'Big Brother' finishing on a sad note, and dealing with sensitive issues like eating disorders and family disputes, it is still a more lighthearted story than her bestselling novel 'We Need To Talk About Kevin'. Shriver managed to pull off a more enjoyable novel without abandoning the serious element of her writing. In between the drama and humour, she writes intelligently about harsh realities, in a way that can have a profound sense of realization on the reader. And yes, her broad vocabulary - which some readers are ambivalent towards - features on almost every page of the book. The only criticism I have is for the twist near the end. It was cheap and contrived, and come to think of it, the story could still have had the same ending and impact without the twist.

I had to stew on this for a few days before deciding how to rate this book. Honestly, the entire first part was boring, and a lot of the language used throughout was completely unnecessary. I am all about utilizing the English language intelligently, but sometimes it's more impressive to read a book that is simplistically beautiful than one that feels artificially full of large words. In fact, I sometimes wondered if the author was just trying to hit a word count rather than make a point. That being said, when you strip away the pretentious language and often unnecessary meandering of the author, there was an incredibly poignant and beautiful story that paints the stark reality of obesity in many modern families. As someone who works a day job that is at the forefront of the obesity revolution (as a manager of a health club run by former Biggest Loser contestants), I've seen so many of the moments in the book first hand and realize the complexity of what fighting obesity entails. Without revealing any spoilers, I was initially disappointed with the ending - but then I stepped back and realized that the ending was right for this book and made a good and yet sad commentary on the realities of our culture.Overall, if you can get past the verbiage to the heart of the story, I think you'll enjoy this book.

I love this author! Review to follow...

This book is really a 4.5 The only reason it's NOT a 5, is that I had difficulty with the premise of the plot, which actually resolves itself in the last 15 pages. It's written in first person from Pandora's perspective. Pandora has an older brother who is a Jazz musician. He dropped out of high school when he was 17, moved to NYC to become famous. Which, he was able to do. Pandora is the middle child of a man who has a TV series in the 70's, somewhat like the Brady Bunch, only it's about a family of divorce. The father bases the show loosely on his own family. The children hate the show and become to loathe their father. At any rate, the book begins when Pandora's brother comes for a vista to her home in Iowa. Last she saw him, he was 5'11", handsome, and weighing 163 lbs. Now, he comes off the plane and she doesn't recognize him. He's 363 lbs and has lost 3 inches due to spine compression of all that weight. He is obnoxious and not very likable. He breaks furniture, eats them out of house and home, and encourages Pandora's 17 year old son to drop out of high school and follow his passion of being a screen writer in Hollywood. Pandora feels sympathy for him, and want to help him. She has a successful business and therefore has monetary means. The plot is that she is going to leave her two teenage children and her husband, get an apartment nearby, live with her brother for a year to help him lose his weight. All through the book, I kept thinking "send him to a fat farm! send him to a hospital that deals with the morbidly obese!" I couldn't fathom why a woman would leave her teens and husband to help this obnoxious man who did it to himself(even if he is her brother and they suffered during childhood). Yet, during the 353 pages, Shriver makes the reader see all the problems of the obese: how they got to their obese weight; what a devastating life it is; how society treats the obese; how truly difficult it is to lose weight. It makes the reader challenge some of societies own assumptions about weight, body image, and how we "see" the obese. Shriver is also very witty and writes incredibly well. In the last 15 pages, she clears up all my misgivings in what I will describe as a surprise ending. And the book does ask: can we really "help" the obese? Can you force someone to lose weight? Can someone that big really take the weight off and keep it off? How responsible are we to loved ones when they eat themselves to death? Can you "force" someone to be more healthy? Shriver begins the book with a quote: The dieting industry is the only profitable business in the world with a 98 percent failure rate" And it gets funnier and wittier from there………..

I loved this book. I found the characters to be so well defined and I loved the simple plot of one woman finding herself stuck between two, contrary ideologies. Lionel Shriver usually impresses me though. she finds relevant subjects to write about, timely, as if they had been ripped right out of that morning's headlines. and then, she doesn't jus show two sides to the story, she shows MANY sides. Sides to the story that I had never even thought about.Of course,the topic of obesity is a touchy one, much like cancer, because it is getting tough to find a person that is not somehow personally touched by someone else in their lives (or themselves) who is struggling with it as an affliction. Alas, we have all developed an opinion on the topic, usually one fuelled with emotion and personal observance, and quite a few of us are evangelical about expressing our opinion. So, the points of view that Shriver expresses through her characters may not be perfectly in sync with everyone's; however, I think she does an amazing job at capturing some of the more common opinions on the topic. I thought she took this issue and heightened it to be dramatic and funny and sympathetic and challenging. Its not a book that sugar coats the issues, and I for one appreciate that.4/5

(originally published at http://nomadreader.blogspot.com)The backstory: Lionel Shriver is an author whose work I've enjoyed immensely in the past. After raving about So Much For That (I gave it 5 stars), I also enjoyed We Need to Talk About Kevin (I gave it 4.5 stars) and The New Republic (I gave it 4 stars.) I'm utterly fascinated with both her work and her as a person, because her books and characters are so distinct. The basics: Big Brother is the story of Pandora, who grew up in Los Angeles with a father who starred on a popular 1970's family sitcom with parallels to her life. She now lives in Iowa with her husband Fletcher, a health nut, and his two children. When her brother Edison, an accomplished jazz pianist, arrives for a visit, Pandora cannot believe how obese her brother has become. My thoughts: I didn't realize this novel is set in Iowa until I began reading it, and it was a treat. From the point of view of this Iowa transplant, Shriver nailed the details, the positive and the negative, of everyday life in Iowa. Pandora, too, is a fascinating character. Life so many Shriver narrators, she is somewhat brash, refreshingly honest and insightful, and beautifully formed. I did, however, chuckle at her use of the phrase "But, to my horror," because I could imagine almost any Shriver character using that phrase, despite their differences. What Shriver characters also tend to have in common is a clear view of both the world and themselves.In addition to the fascinating character of Pandora, a woman I'm not sure I would actually want to be friends with, but one who fascinates me, is the powerful theme of family and obligation. As a stepmother and wife, Pandora in some ways feels she owes her brother more than her husband and his family:"He's a sponger you're related to by accident. I'm your husband by choice. If you 'love' that loudmouth it's a kneejerk genetic thing; I'm supposed to be the real love of your life."This tension is palpable throughout the novel, and it's one I keep coming back to. In most cases, of course, it's not a choice. Your 'chosen' family and the family you were born with can peacefully coexist. But how does it feel to have to choose, on some level, between the two? Shriver explores these ideas beautifully through Pandora, Edison and Fletcher. Each character's perspective makes sense, and their conflicting thoughts and feelings are beautifully realized.Yet as fascinated as I was with these characters, they never seemed quite real to me. As I read, I got caught up in the ideas more than the stories themselves. I couldn't shake the sense that Shriver had an agenda and is more interested in making her readers think than in telling a story. I'm not opposed to either, but this novel often felt more like an exercise in thinking than a captivating story. Shriver's writing and observations are often profound and challenging, but I can't quite shake the feelings of being somewhat manipulated as I read. Favorite passage: "If I held few opinions, I did cling to a handful--like the view that facts are not the same as beliefs, and that most people get them confused." The verdict: I appreciated Big Brother more once I finished it. Is it an accomplished, intelligent, thoughtful novel? Absolutely. Is it one I will continue to think of and ponder? Yes. Was it a novel I loved while reading? Not always. Ultimately, it's a novel I appreciate and respect far more than I enjoyed it.

At 95% I gasped aloud.At 99% I forgot about everything in my life -- work, children, home, mortgage, eating, laundry, hubby, everything... I was completely engrossed. What!? That ending! Huh??This book ate me up completely, pun intended. Here Lionel Shriver took on the issue of extreme obesity, something I actually don't remember reading about in fiction ever before. And then the story morphed into body issues at any size. It was thoughtful, intelligent, creative, complex and unique. I really loved this book, and I loved Shriver's writing. It was tight and impressive. I have another of her books on my shelf and will be reaching for it sooner than later. Worth noting -- I did the audio of Big Brother, and it was excellently done.

(4.5*)I should say at the outset two things: (i) We Need To Talk About Kevin is one of my favourite novels of all time, and (ii) dieting and weight gain and liquid protein diets is a topic I know all too much about. I also heard Shriver speak about this title at ChipLitFest recently, so I was dying to get into this book. Shriver for me is the perfect writer. She's literary enough to shine a new light on what you thought was an ordinary area of life, and show you something new about it. But her prose, while occasionally a bit wordy, is accessible, and so reading her books is easy, enjoyable. Not daunting like some more literary literary fiction, if that makes sense. Big Brother is one of her better ones, I think—almost as good (to me) as Kevin. And just as in Kevin, the rug is abruptly pulled from beneath your feet just before the end, leaving you devastated, mourning the book you thought you had been reading. This is a story about lots of things: siblings, addiction, food, but what I took from it was a line towards the end: "We are supposed to be hungry." For food, for success, for the achievement of our dreams, because when we have everything we want, what is there to look forward to? It's the part of achievement nobody discusses. What next? And here, as Shriver convinces the reader, it's the same with food: wanting it is the best part. The actual ingestion is forever going to be a disappointment, and that's where the trouble starts. I'm not on the side of the fence that thinks the fact that Shriver's own older brother died of complications from obesity in recent years means this isn't a fiction but an uncomfortable glimpse into the writer's true heart. It IS a fiction, and the circumstances of the author's brother only put more force behind its final punch. I don't even know how Shriver had the strength to write this book in light of her own story, but I'm so glad she did.I only knocked off half a star because for me Kevin is 5/5 and this fell just short, but still, a brilliant book that you'll be thinking about for ages. Highly recommended.

No time for a big review today but will come back to it later. Big Brother did not disappoint, and I have a huge bias with Lionel, she is my favorite ever since reading "We Need To Talk About Kevin", it made form an "art"form for me. I imagine a lot of readers struggle sometimes to relax and read, as her prose is pointy, particular and precise. It can be "work" to read Shriver - she likes to make you earn the story as you read. This book is easier than most of them, a return to a more confident stride, and I couldn't be more happier. When she is good she is sublime, but when she is just average, critics tear her apart. This only feds the attitude that I seek out her books, she knows about cruel edges to life, and delights in the articulation of them. For this book, the themes of obesity, self-respect, celebrity culture, health, family, unconditional love and it's infinite contract of self-sacrifice all come under laser like focus. Lionel still seems to embody a lot of her character's traits,it's subtle with the moments that you will laugh and cry - you come away with "food for thought" that depends on how much contemplation you put into your reading. Her writing always rewards meditation on the subject, normally the infinite nuances of human behaviour. If you are willing to explore; she will guide you. If you just want to be entertained - there are lighter books out there. It's certainly her best work for a while, she is not shy nor scarce in dishing out her scathing derision or smoldering wit regarding the everyday, and there are genuinely comical moments, that made me cringe and giggle uncontrollably. You will know the scene when you read the book, it's truly a nugget of gold ;)R