Lionel Shriver

La mejor tragicomedia política de nuestros tiempos. En un 2011 no del todo inconcebible, la sociedad ha abrazado la Paridad Mental, una ideología que proclama la igualdad intelectual absoluta y amenaza con redefinir la esencia misma de la inteligencia. Bajo sus nuevos postulados, palabras como listo o tonto se convierten en tabu, y combatir la discriminacion de las mentes menos favorecidas pasa a ser el caballo de batalla de una renovada lucha por los derechos civiles. Las universidades censuran las lecturas obligatorias para evitar cualquier sugerencia de superioridad o inferioridad mental, y hasta clasicos como El idiota de Dostoievski se consideran problematicos solo por lo que parecen insinuar sus titulos.Pearson Converse, profesora universitaria de Literatura, observa con creciente escepticismo esta tremenda deriva hacia la homogeneidad intelectual y la restriccion del lenguaje, y el dia que su hijo Darwin es amonestado en el colegio por tachar de estupida la camiseta de un compañero, dice basta. Con una aversion atroz a cualquier tipo de dogma desde que los testigos de Jehova marcaran su infancia, Pearson no esta dispuesta a que las nuevas tesis de la Paridad Mental aplasten el espiritu de sus hijos ni el de sus alumnos.Cuando sus controvertidas decisiones docentes y su empeño por preservar la libertad de pensamiento en un mundo que amenaza con apisonar todas las diferencias la situen en el centro de una tormenta ideologica, Pearson se refugiara en su mejor amiga, Emory, con la que puede despacharse a gusto y compartir sus ideas socialmente reprochables sobre el movimiento paritario. O eso cree Enfrentada a la censura, el ostracismo de sus colegas e incluso a la intervencion de los servicios sociales, Pearson debera encontrar la mejor estrategia para alzar su voz en una sociedad en la que la disidencia y la meritocracia intelectual se castigan como una vieja herejia.Con una prosa incisiva y su sarcasmo marca de la casa, Shriver vuelve a la carga con esta lucida e inquietante novela sobre un presente y un futuro en los que la lucha por mantener la integridad se hace mas necesaria que nunca. Una distopia divertidisima, mordaz y aterradoramente verosimil.

La mejor tragicomedia política de nuestros tiempos.En un 2011 no del todo inconcebible, la sociedad ha abrazado la Paridad Mental, una ideología que proclama la igualdad intelectual absoluta y amenaza con redefinir la esencia misma de la inteligencia. Bajo sus nuevos postulados, palabras como listo o tonto se convierten en tabu, y combatir la discriminacion de las mentes menos favorecidas pasa a ser el caballo de batalla de una renovada lucha por los derechos civiles. Las universidades censuran las lecturas obligatorias para evitar cualquier sugerencia de superioridad o inferioridad mental, y hasta clasicos como El idiota de Dostoievski se consideran problematicos solo por lo que parecen insinuar sus titulos.Pearson Converse, profesora universitaria de Literatura, observa con creciente escepticismo esta tremenda deriva hacia la homogeneidad intelectual y la restriccion del lenguaje, y el dia que su hijo Darwin es amonestado en el colegio por tachar de estupida la camiseta de un compañero, dice basta. Con una aversion atroz a cualquier tipo de dogma desde que los testigos de Jehova marcaran su infancia, Pearson no esta dispuesta a que las nuevas tesis de la Paridad Mental aplasten el espiritu de sus hijos ni el de sus alumnos.Cuando sus controvertidas decisiones docentes y su empeño por preservar la libertad de pensamiento en un mundo que amenaza con apisonar todas las diferencias la situen en el centro de una tormenta ideologica, Pearson se refugiara en su mejor amiga, Emory, con la que puede despacharse a gusto y compartir sus ideas socialmente reprochables sobre el movimiento paritario. O eso cree Enfrentada a la censura, el ostracismo de sus colegas e incluso a la intervencion de los servicios sociales, Pearson debera encontrar la mejor estrategia para alzar su voz en una sociedad en la que la disidencia y la meritocracia intelectual se castigan como una vieja herejia.Con una prosa incisiva y su sarcasmo marca de la casa, Shriver vuelve a la carga con esta lucida e inquietante novela sobre un presente y un futuro en los que la lucha por mantener la integridad se hace mas necesaria que nunca. Una distopia divertidisima, mordaz y aterradoramente verosimil.

Estados Unidos, 2029. Un siglo después, ha vuelto a suceder. El dólar se desploma, la inflación se dispara, el país se dirige hacia la bancarrota.Y la familia Mandible, protagonista de esta sagaz y feroz novela distopica que, llevandonos al futuro, nos habla de realidades muy reconocibles, va a padecer las consecuencias.Prosperos y sofisticados, aunque tambien disfuncionales, los Mandible esperan la herencia del nonagenario patriarca. Pero como fallece en plena crisis, la lluvia de millones con la que contaban hijos y nietos se disipa en el aire. Y los miembros de esta familia de clase alta se ven envueltos en situaciones para ellos inauditas: Carter, incapaz de afrontar el pago de la residencia de su senil madrastra, se ve obligado a acogerla en su casa; Avery se indigna porque ya no puede permitirse comprar aceite de oliva; su hermana Florence tiene que alojar a familiares que se han quedado sin hogar en su pequeño apartamento; a Nollie, escritora que ha vivido felizmente expatriada en Paris, no le queda mas remedio que regresar a un pais que le resulta irreconocible... Solo la generacion mas joven, representada por el adolescente Willing, bicho raro y economista autodidacta, es capaz de buscar salidas imaginativas a la crisis.Lionel Shriver, con su colmillo retorcido y su mala baba marca de la casa, mueve c...

A Shep Knacker no le ha ido nada mal en los negocios, pero desde la adolescencia sueña con retirarse todavía joven a un paraíso tercermundista, donde sus dólares valdrán mucho más y le durarán para siempre. Shep ya tiene el capital necesario para hacer real su sueño, pero su esposa, a quien el suponia comprometida con su proyecto, ha ido demorando la partida con distintos pretextos. Pero ahora Shep ha quemado las naveso eso cree ely ha comprado billetes, solo de ida, para la isla de Pemba, cerca de Madagascar. Y entonces ella le revela que tiene una enfermedad rara y de muy mal pronostico, un mesotelioma peritoneal, y que el no puede dejar su trabajo porque ella necesita su seguro medico para los tratamientos todavia experimentales que pueden salvarla... Una novela sobre el esplendor y las miserias de la clase media-baja americana, escrita con un notable despliegue de talento y ferocidad. Una novela vigorosa (Terry Apter, Times Literary Supplement). Un grito furioso... La autora va mucho mas alla de las fabulas hollywoodienses y pide cuentas a la sociedad americana y a un sistema que profundiza las desigualdades sociales (Christine Ferniot, Lire). Shriver, una escritora arriesgada y con una imaginacion proteica, nos presenta otra novela deslumbrante y provocativa (Publishers Weekly).NOTAS PARA ISBN:El autor es ingles.

Una novela feroz y explosiva, repleta de temas candentes, que toma el culto a la forma física como mirador desde el que observar la sociedad americana. Alérgica a toda clase de actividades grupales, Serenata Terpsichore, la protagonista de esta novela, es una artista de voz en off que ha dedicado su vida a hacer ejercicio fisico, a correr, a nadar, a montar en bicicleta.Ahora, al cumplir sesenta, tanta actividad le pasa una dolorosa factura en forma de artrosis. Por su parte, Remington Alabaster, su siempre sedentario marido, acaba de ser prejubilado a la fuerza del Departamento de Transportes de Albany tras un confuso enfrentamiento con su nueva jefa, y decide escoger precisamente ese momento para descubrir las bondades de la gimnasia y correr una maraton. Tras apuntarse a la fiebre del fitness, cada vez mas presente en el mundo moderno, el una vez moderado Remington se convierte en un narcisista insufrible, y contrata a una estricta (y seductora) entrenadora personal, junto a la que participara en competiciones cada vez mas exigentes: despues de la maraton, medio Mettleman, el triatlon completo Tan furiosa como preocupada, Serenata descubrira que no conviene subestimar la tenacidad de un prejubilado con mucho tiempo libre que se empeña en desafiar a la edad.Astuta y penetrante, en El movimiento del cuerpo a traves del espacio la acidez de Lionel Shriver tiene un nuevo objetivo: el culto a la forma fisica, la entrega desmedida al ejercicio, que sirve de mirador desde el que observar tendencias, fallos y manias de la sociedad norteamericana de nuestros dias, con sus tensiones culturales y raciales. Una novela feroz y explosiva, repleta de temas candentes (los sinsabores del envejecimiento, la masculinidad en crisis, las tensiones en la pareja, la correccion politica), cuya mirada extremadamente aguda no elude ni una polemica, ni deja un mito sin desmontar.

Published to coincide with Wimbledon What price do you pay for prizing success over love? 'Love me, love my game' says twenty-three year-old Willy Novinsky. Ever since she picked up a racquet at the age of four, tennis has been Willy's one love, until the day she meets Eric Oberdorf. She's a middle-ranked professional tennis player and he's a Princeton graduate who took up playing tennis at the age of eighteen. Low-ranked but untested, Eric, too, aims to make his mark on the international tennis circuit. But, as Eric's ranking climbs, rivalry turns to resentment, and Willy risks losing everything.

La Pandora i el seu germà, l’Edison, fa quatre anys que no es veuen. Ella viu a Iowa amb en Fletcher, un home vigorós i sever, obsessionat amb l’esport i la vida sana, i es guanya molt bé la vida amb

The new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin. Pandora has looked up to her older brother Edison since they were children. Now she revels in the anonymity of her suburban Iowa life, while her brother basks in the limelight as a New York jazz musician. But when Edison arrives in Iowa, suddenly in need of a place to stay, Pandora literally doesn't recognize him. The once slim, hip pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened? Soon Edison's appalling diet and know-it-all monologues are driving Pandora and her husband Fletcher insane. And it's only a matter of time before Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum, it's him or me. With Shriver's distinctive wit and ferocious energy, Big Brother not only examines why we overeat, but asks more pressingly still: just how much should you sacrifice for someone who refuses to be saved?

''Shriver''s intelligence, mordant humour and vicious leaps of imagination all combine to make this a novel that is as unsettling as it is entertaining'' FINANCIAL TIMES The brilliant new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk about Kevin. It is 2029. The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their 97-year-old patriarch dies.Yet America''s soaring national debt has grown so enormous that it can never be repaid. Under siege from an upstart international currency, the dollar is in meltdown. A bloodless world war will wipe out the savings of millions of American families.Their inheritance turned to ash, each family member must contend with disappointment, but also - as the effects of the downturn start to hit - the challenge of sheer survival. Recently affluent Avery is petulant that she can''t buy olive oil, while her sister Florence is forced to absorb strays into her increasingly cramped household. As their father Carter fumes at having to care for his demented stepmother now that a nursing home is too expensive, his sister Nollie, an expat author, returns from abroad at 73 to a country that''s unrecognizable.

From the award-winning novelist and short story writer, Lionel Shriver, comes a literary gem, a story about love and the power of a gift.When Weston Babansky receives an extravagant engagement present from his best friend (and old flame) Jillian Frisk, he doesnt quite know what to make of it or how to get it past his fiancee. Especially as its a massive, handmade, intensely personal sculpture that theyd have to live with forever.As the argument rages about whether Jillians gift was an act of pure platonic generosity or something more insidious, battle lines are drawnCan men and women ever be friends? Just friends?Described by the Sunday Times as a brilliant writer with a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice, Lionel Shriver has written a glittering examination of friendship, ownership and the conditions of love.

First ever story collection from the inimitable Lionel Shriver This landmark publication, the first collection of stories from a master of the form, explores the idea of "property" in both senses of the word: real estate, and stuff. These sharp, brilliantly imaginative pieces 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. In the stunning novella "The Standing Chandelier" (`a brutal treat': Daily Mail), a woman with a history of attracting other women's antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his wife-to-be. In "Domestic Terrorism," a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a Millennial cause celebre. In "The ChapStick," a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In "Vermin," an artistic Brooklyn couple's purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once passionate relationship. In "The Subletter," two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over claim to a territory that doesn't belong to either. This immensely readable collection showcases the biting insight that has made Lionel Shriver one of the most acclaimed authors of our time, described by the Sunday Times as `a brilliant writer' with `a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice'.

First ever story collection from the inimitable Lionel Shriver This landmark publication, the first collection of stories from a master of the form, explores the idea of "property" in both senses of the word: real estate, and stuff. These sharp, brilliantly imaginative pieces 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. In the stunning novella "The Standing Chandelier" (`a brutal treat': Daily Mail), a woman with a history of attracting other women's antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his wife-to-be. In "Domestic Terrorism," a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a Millennial cause celebre. In "The ChapStick," a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In "Vermin," an artistic Brooklyn couple's purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once passionate relationship. In "The Subletter," two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over claim to a territory that doesn't belong to either. This immensely readable collection showcases the biting insight that has made Lionel Shriver one of the most acclaimed authors of our time, described by the Sunday Times as `a brilliant writer' with `a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice'.

What do you pack for the rest of your life? The explosive new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin Shepherd Knacker has been saving all his working life for a one way ticket away from the daily grind. When he sells his handyman business for $1million, 'The Afterlife' seems tantalisingly within reach. Yet his wife has concocted one reason after another why now isn't the time to go. Determined to take the plunge, Shep announces that he is leaving for an island off the coast of Tanzania: with or without her. However, Glynis has an announcement of her own -- she needs his health insurance. Illustrating how a marriage is both stressed and strengthened by medical crisis, So Much for That puts the uncomfortable fiscal question: how much is one life worth? Enlivened by Shriver's signature acerbity and political outrage, it's surely the funniest and most entertaining novel about illness and death one's ever likely to read.

LIONEL SHRIVEREver since Willy Novinsky picked up a racquet at the age of four, tennis has been her one love, until the day she meets Eric Oberdorf. She's a middle-ranked professional tennis player and he's a Princeton graduate who took up playing tennis at the age of eighteen. They marry. Married life starts well but soon gives way to full-tilt competition. Front Cover

The brilliant new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk about Kevin centres on three generations of The Mandible family as a fiscal crisis hits a near-future America. 'In God We Trusted' It is 2029. The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their 97-year-old patriarch dies. Yet America's soaring national debt has grown so enormous that it can never be repaid. Under siege from an upstart international currency, the dollar is in meltdown. A bloodless world war will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Their inheritance turned to ash, each family member must contend with disappointment, but also - as the effects of the downturn start to hit - the challenge of sheer survival. Recently affluent Avery is petulant that she can't buy olive oil, while her sister Florence is forced to absorb strays into her increasingly cramped household. As their father Carter fumes at having to care for his demented stepmother now that a nursing home is too expensive, his sister Nollie, an expat author, returns from abroad at 73 to a country that's unrecognizable. Perhaps only Florence's oddball teenage son Willing, an economics autodidact, can save this formerly august American family from the streets. This is not science fiction. This is a frightening, fascinating, scabrously funny glimpse into the decline that may await the United States all too soon, from the pen of perhaps the most consistently perceptive and topical author of our times.

From the Orange Prize-winning author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN comes a bold and savage story of the intersection of politics and human relationships, set in turbulent Northern Ireland.Having abandoned Philadelphia for the life of an international nomad, Estrin Lancaster has a taste for hot spots. She now finds herself in Belfast, a city scarred by twenty years of ritualised violence.As the former purveyor of his own bomb-disposal service, Farrell OPhelan courts the company of destruction. Technically a Catholic, he shuns allegiance of any kind.For these two, normal life is anathema; love is a trap. What ensues is an affair between two loners who are beset with a fear of domesticity and a hunger for devastation.

Eva never really wanted to be a mother; certainly not of the boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him.