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Big Brother

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About this listen

‘A gutsy, heartfelt novel’ Sunday Times

‘[Shriver’s] best novel yet’ Independent on Sunday

‘A surprising sledgehammer of a novel’ The Times

‘Shriver is brilliant on the novel shock that is hunger… glorious, fearless, almost fanatically hard-working prose’ Guardian

‘Lionel Shriver's Big Brother has the muscle to overpower its readers. It is a conversation piece of impressive heft’ New York Times

‘Shriver is wonderful at the things she is always wonderful at. Pace and plot. . . . Psychology’ Independent

‘The latest compelling, humane and bleakly comic novel from the author of We Need to Talk about Kevin’ Evening Standard

‘Her best work… presents characters so fully formed that they inhabit her ideas rather than trumpet them’ New Republic

When Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at her local Iowa airport, she literally doesn’t recognize him. The once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened?

Soon Edison’s slovenly habits, appalling diet, and know-it-all monologues are driving Pandora and her fitness-freak husband Fletcher insane. After the brother-in-law has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: it’s him or me.

Rich with Shriver’s distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother is about fat: why we overeat and whether extreme diets ever really work. It asks just how much sacrifice we’ll make to save single members of our families, and whether it’s ever possible to save loved ones from themselves.

©2013 Lionel Shriver Contemporary Fiction Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire Marriage

Critic reviews

Praise for Big Brother:

‘Big Brother is brilliant, very different from Kevin but equally compelling. A great tale of a challenging modern problem and the power of sibling devotion’ Dawn O’Porter

‘Glorious, fearless, almost fanatically hard-working prose. Nothing here feels half-hearted or accidental. There is so much to revel and enjoy…and the result is writing of a beauty and character that is lamentably missing from so much literary fiction’
GUARDIAN

‘Her best novel yet…who would have thought that a novel about a diet could be so moving, and so suspenseful?’
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

‘Shriver is wonderful at the things she is always wonderful at’
INDEPENDENT

‘Shriver is a brilliant writer. She has a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice. The characters are strong. The tensions – and hope, and disappointments, and struggles – are well done . . . so moving it will make you want to gasp or cry’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘From the start I was gripped by its story. Once again, Shriver has provided much food for thought’
DAILY MAIL

‘Lionel Shriver’s Big Brother has the muscle to overpower its readers. It is a conversation piece of impressive heft’ THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘Piercingly bleak in tone and formally original in execution. It takes the reader by surprise, reminding us, not a moment too soon, that Shriver is a novelist as well as a polemicist. The push-and-pull of a marriage is something that Shriver continues to write exceptionally well. Shriver turns the story on its head and brings a novelist’s panache to the true-life tale’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Big Brother finds the funny – and the pathos – in fat’
USA TODAY
All stars
Most relevant
This turned out to be a very worthwhile and enjoyable listen that tackles the themes of obesity and its effects on those around you, and crash diets and whether they are the answer to losing weight in the long term. When Edison comes to stay with his sister Pandora, her husband and her stepchildren, after some time apart, she gets a real shock at how much weight he has gained. Now morbidly obese, Pandora and her family all react in different ways to Edison’s plight, ranging from revulsion to acceptance. Pandora really wants to help her brother, so much so, that she is prepared to put her marriage on the line for him, which in itself seemed to be a bit inconceivable but also selfless.

It would appear that Edison is not the only one who has a dysfunctional relationship with food. Pandora, herself has gained some weight over the years, and her husband, Fletcher is obsessed with healthy food choices and cycling for miles. This contrast leads to many clashes between Edison and Fletcher, which often leaves Pandora stuck in the middle.

For me, I found the first hour and a half difficult to follow, and was struggling to engage with the author and her “wordy” approach to prose. But once the main character of Edison made his entrance, it quickly got better and eventually had me fully absorbed and moved. Even though nearly all of the characters were unlikeable to some degree (with the exception of Cody), they were nonetheless very believable and real.

I did not see the twist at the end coming, and was not sure whether this was a satisfying finale. Nonetheless, I would still recommend this work, and the narration was spot on.

The Ripple Effect Of Obesity

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Lionel Shriver's writing is always good, and this was definitely enjoyable. Listened almost continually. Just didn't leave me with that 'wow' feeling afterwards like some of her other novels.

Enjoyable, easy listen.

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I really enjoyed this book. Really believable characters and it certainly left me with plenty to think about. Narration very good too.

Fascinating story!

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Performance was tedious and slow which impacts the delivery of the story. Wasn't keen on the ending either, however some current relevant topics covered and handled in typical Shriver style. Leaving no stone uncovered, possibly because it hits close to home.

Performance was tedious and slow

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The author's motivation for writing this book was the premature death of her grossly obese brother. She has constructed a story of a sister's herculean efforts to slim down a brother who had grown massively obese. The book is a mixture of lots of details about crash diets and thoughts about what makes people eat to such excess that they gain a massive amount of weight and as a consequence lose mobility, suffer from all sorts of unpleasant ailments that endanger life. Although this sounds a grim listen the author does manage to create characters that capture the attention, even those whom I didn't like. I was infuriated by the self-centredness of the brother and found it hard to believe the degree of the sister's dedication to help her brother lose weight. I felt sympathy for her husband and step-children Lionel Shriver is adept at dissecting family interactions and human emotions that ring true, even though, in this story, they are exaggerated for dramatic effect.
I'm interested in the subject of obesity, but think that the ruminations about food and diets, that dominate the book, some may find this tedious.

A though-provoking book about people's relationship to food in an environment of plenty.
The reader is excellent.

The foundations of obesity dissected

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