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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2013/09/big-brother.html
Big Brother is a book about a dysfunctional family and about obesity. Pandora lives in Iowa with her husband, Fletcher, and her two stepchildren. Edison is Pandora's brother.
Pandora owns a business that makes custom dolls. People send in a picture of a loved one and a set of phrases or comments that the person repetitively says. Pandora's company embodies those in a doll. (Not something I would want and just a little bit creepy, in my opinion). Fletcher makes furniture that no one buys. Edison is a jazz pianist whose is down on his luck. Also included are memories of Pandora and Edison's unusual childhood.
Pandora sends Fletcher a ticket for a visit out to Iowa. She and the entire family is shocked when Fletcher arrives. He has changed considerably since they last saw him. He is morbidly obese with habits that disgust the family and those around him.
Pandora takes it upon herself to help her brother lose weight. She leaves her family and moves into an apartment with Fletcher. They spend months turning his life and his weight around. At the end, however, a whole other twist is revealed.
Ostensibly, the book is a statement on obesity and its impact. That purpose, for me, was lost. For me, it's a story full of odd unlikable characters and an ending that leaves me with the reaction, "I read almost 400 pages for this. Why did I bother?" If you decide to read this book, do not read other reviews before hand. Most of them have spoilers. Then again, if I had read the spoiler, I probably would not have read the book.
Big Brother is a book about a dysfunctional family and about obesity. Pandora lives in Iowa with her husband, Fletcher, and her two stepchildren. Edison is Pandora's brother.
Pandora owns a business that makes custom dolls. People send in a picture of a loved one and a set of phrases or comments that the person repetitively says. Pandora's company embodies those in a doll. (Not something I would want and just a little bit creepy, in my opinion). Fletcher makes furniture that no one buys. Edison is a jazz pianist whose is down on his luck. Also included are memories of Pandora and Edison's unusual childhood.
Pandora sends Fletcher a ticket for a visit out to Iowa. She and the entire family is shocked when Fletcher arrives. He has changed considerably since they last saw him. He is morbidly obese with habits that disgust the family and those around him.
Pandora takes it upon herself to help her brother lose weight. She leaves her family and moves into an apartment with Fletcher. They spend months turning his life and his weight around. At the end, however, a whole other twist is revealed.
Ostensibly, the book is a statement on obesity and its impact. That purpose, for me, was lost. For me, it's a story full of odd unlikable characters and an ending that leaves me with the reaction, "I read almost 400 pages for this. Why did I bother?" If you decide to read this book, do not read other reviews before hand. Most of them have spoilers. Then again, if I had read the spoiler, I probably would not have read the book.
I had previously attempted Lionel Shriver's bestseller We Need to Talk about Kevin but just couldn't get into it, but someone recommended this book to me and I thought I'd give him another chance. And I'm very glad I did.
Pandora runs a doll company called Baby Monotony, which creates custom-made pull-string dolls that mock the person they imitate. Her husband Fletcher is committed to his cycling and spurns most of her cooking, preferring a bland diet of broccoli and brown rice.
When Pandora gets a call, she ends up buying her brother Edison a plane ticket to come visit her in Iowa. She hasn't seen him in several years, and she doesn't recognize him when he arrives at the airport. Her once-fit, attractive jazz musician brother is now morbidly obese. He ends up staying for months ("just until his European tour").
She watches her brother eat and eat and eat all the food she brings home. Edison clashes with her husband, not only because of diet/lifestyle differences, but because of personality clashes (Edison is kind of annoying).
Right before he's about to leave, Pandora realizes she wants to help her brother, and they commence on an extremely low-cal, meal-replacement shake diet. A different type of journey occurs in the second-half of the story, as we watch formerly unhealthy people (Pandora was slightly overweight too) strive to be thin.
This is a novel-length exploration of our relationship with food: diets, being fat, being thin, gaining and losing weight. We can all connect to some part of this story. Who doesn't know someone who struggles with their weight, or even is overweight themselves. A well-paced look at the extremes of the spectrum, from obesity to restrictive dieting. I absolutely loved the twist ending and thought it perfectly suited the book.
Pandora runs a doll company called Baby Monotony, which creates custom-made pull-string dolls that mock the person they imitate. Her husband Fletcher is committed to his cycling and spurns most of her cooking, preferring a bland diet of broccoli and brown rice.
When Pandora gets a call, she ends up buying her brother Edison a plane ticket to come visit her in Iowa. She hasn't seen him in several years, and she doesn't recognize him when he arrives at the airport. Her once-fit, attractive jazz musician brother is now morbidly obese. He ends up staying for months ("just until his European tour").
She watches her brother eat and eat and eat all the food she brings home. Edison clashes with her husband, not only because of diet/lifestyle differences, but because of personality clashes (Edison is kind of annoying).
Right before he's about to leave, Pandora realizes she wants to help her brother, and they commence on an extremely low-cal, meal-replacement shake diet. A different type of journey occurs in the second-half of the story, as we watch formerly unhealthy people (Pandora was slightly overweight too) strive to be thin.
This is a novel-length exploration of our relationship with food: diets, being fat, being thin, gaining and losing weight. We can all connect to some part of this story. Who doesn't know someone who struggles with their weight, or even is overweight themselves. A well-paced look at the extremes of the spectrum, from obesity to restrictive dieting. I absolutely loved the twist ending and thought it perfectly suited the book.
This was the first book by Lionel Shriver that I have read and I had a real love/hate relationship with it throughout. The writing was great ----- that wasn't the issue and I gave the book 4 stars. The problem was my discomfort with the attitudes and behaviors of the characters. It's not easy to be an overweight person and hear the awful things some people think about you and then walk out in the world every day. I almost just couldn't keep reading, but I am glad I did. The book did make other personal connections for me as well and when I got to the ending, I ended up on the love side of my relationship with the book. I can't say much more without spoilers, other than to say that all of the ways Shriver portrayed attitudes in the book have a clear purpose in the end.
There are a lot of people who will be livid at the ending of this book, but to me, it's what added an extra star to my rating. Throughout the book, Pandora pissed me off with her passiveness and her doormat personality. Fletcher- he's such a petulant boy, but so is Edison. Pandora surrounds herself with boy-men. Hangers on, they want to be "in charge" they are SO annoying. How can she be so blind? It's obviously a reflection of who she is as a woman.
Lionel Shriver has created three dimensional characters here that are so different than the ones in "Kevin." As much as I liked that book, it was a bit droll, right? Flat, calm, almost aggressively passive and this one (although Pandora has some of that in her) certainly isn't. The relationship between siblings....tricky. Where does the line lie? Things that you'd never in a million years allow your friends to get away with, you ignore from siblings. Even when you're not close, be it geographically, socially or in age. Blood is thicker than water.
Lionel Shriver has created three dimensional characters here that are so different than the ones in "Kevin." As much as I liked that book, it was a bit droll, right? Flat, calm, almost aggressively passive and this one (although Pandora has some of that in her) certainly isn't. The relationship between siblings....tricky. Where does the line lie? Things that you'd never in a million years allow your friends to get away with, you ignore from siblings. Even when you're not close, be it geographically, socially or in age. Blood is thicker than water.
Could not decide on # of stars because I didn't like the characters but I was completely compelled to read it so it was highly readable just was the fourth book of characters that made me twitch... Which I suppose is good writing!!
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
My first book by Lionel Shrive; I will add others to my reading list. I gave this 4 stars based on the fact that I have discussed with others the issues that the book points out. I think it is more a 3 star for style and character development. I struggled a little at the beginning to get into this book as I really didn't like/feel deep connection with any of the characters. I liked that the 3 adults all faced difficulties with food and each character went through a journey about it; it was sad that only 2 were able to identify the emotions that impacted their eating habits.
I love her writing, but this book was too depressing. And ending kinda sucked.
Gah! Hoping one of my friends reads this soon so we can discuss it. Probably 3.5 or 3.75. Sometimes I thought it deserved more, sometimes I thought it deserved less. Such is my love/hate relationship with this book. I totally understand the ground she is mining, and GET the connection between food and eating and family relationships, maybe more than many readers. But I dunno. The book felt dogmatic at times, the narrator unappealing. At other times, I really liked what she was doing.
I was definitely intrigued with the plot of this novel-- sister goes on a mission to help save the life of her morbidly obese brother-- which sounded like it had the potential to be either really, really good, or quite preachy and overwrought. Thankfully, it was much more nuanced and thought-provoking than I had expected. Shriver is a master at character development, and she filled in these people on the page so well I felt like I knew them. The narrative stays far from preachy, offering thoughtful discussions and opinions about people's relationships with food and eating, and the troubles of obesity in our society, from multiple perspectives. Very well done and highly recommended!