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Lionel Shriver

Biography

Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver's fiction includes THE MANDIBLES; PROPERTY; the National Book Award finalist SO MUCH FOR THAT; the New York Times bestseller THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD; and the international bestseller WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, adapted for a 2010 film starring Tilda Swinton. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other publications. She’s a regular columnist for the Spectator in Britain and Harper’s Magazine in the US. She lives in London and Brooklyn, New York.

Lionel Shriver

Books by Lionel Shriver

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction, Literary Fiction

In an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity movement takes hold. Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence. Because everyone is equally smart, discrimination against purportedly dumb people is "the last great civil rights fight." The constitutionally rebellious Pearson Converse has an aversion to dogma of any kind. Made impotent in the university classroom, she’s also enraged by the crushing of her exceptionally bright children’s spirits in primary school. Fortunately, she enjoys the confidence of a best friend with whom she can speak frankly about her socially unacceptable contempt for the MP movement. Or at least until one day the political chasm between the two women becomes uncrossable, and a lifelong relationship implodes.

by Lionel Shriver - Essays, Nonfiction

Novelist, cultural observer and social satirist Lionel Shriver is among the sharpest talents of our age. A writer who embraces “under-expressed, unpopular or downright dangerous” points of view, she filets cherished shibboleths and the conformity of thought and attitude that has overtaken us. Bringing together 35 works curated from her many columns, features, essays and op-eds, along with some unpublished pieces, ABOMINATIONS reveals Shriver at her most iconoclastic and personal. Relentlessly skeptical, cutting and contrarian, this collection showcases Shriver’s piquant opinions on a wide range of topics --- including religion, politics, illness, mortality, family and friends, tennis, gender, immigration, consumerism, health care and taxes.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction

When her father dies, Kay Wilkinson can’t cry. Over 10 years, Alzheimer’s had steadily eroded this erudite man into a paranoid lunatic. Both medical professionals, Kay and her husband, Cyril, have seen too many elderly patients in similar states of decay. Although healthy and vital in their early 50s, the couple fears what may lie ahead. To spare themselves and their loved ones such a humiliating and protracted decline, Cyril proposes that they agree to commit suicide together once they’ve both turned 80. When their deal is sealed, the spouses are blithely looking forward to another three decades together. But then they turn 80. SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO portrays 12 parallel universes, each exploring a possible future for Kay and Cyril.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction

After an ignominious early retirement, Remington announces to his wife, Serenata, that he’s decided to run a marathon. This from a sedentary man in his 60s who’s never done a lick of exercise in his life. As Remington joins the cult of fitness that increasingly consumes the Western world, Serenata’s once-modest husband burgeons into an unbearable narcissist. Ignoring all his other obligations, he engages a saucy, sexy personal trainer named Bambi, who treats Serenata with contempt. When Remington sets his sights on the legendarily grueling triathlon, MettleMan, Serenata is sure he’ll end up injured or dead. And even if he does survive, their marriage may not.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction, Short Stories

Intermingling settings in America and Britain, Lionel Shriver’s first collection explores property in both senses of the word: real estate and stuff. These 10 short stories and two novellas illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction

In 2029, the United States is engaged in a bloodless world war that will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Overnight, on the international currency exchange, the “almighty dollar” plummets in value, to be replaced by a new global currency, the “bancor.” In retaliation, the president declares that America will default on its loans. What little remains to savers is rapidly eaten away by runaway inflation. The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their 97-year-old patriarch dies. Once the inheritance turns to ash, each family member must contend with disappointment, but also the challenge of sheer survival.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction

For Pandora, cooking is a form of love. But her husband, Fletcher, now spurns her “toxic” dishes and devotes hours each day to manic cycling. Then, when Pandora picks up her brother Edison at the airport, she doesn’t recognize him. In the years since they’ve seen one another, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. After Edison has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: It’s him or me.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction

Lionel Shriver's new novel teases out the intimate relationship between terrorism and cults of personality, explores what makes certain people so magnetic, and reveals the deep frustrations of feeling overshadowed by a life-of-the-party who may not even be present.

by Lionel Shriver - Fiction

Eva never really wanted to be a mother --- and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage.