Comments (16)

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May 09, 2023FrancesPrice rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Shriver's writing has produced some of my favourite reads over the past few years. I find myself rereading sentences due to their sheer beauty of expression. Characters are so well developed with depth and complexity in displays of the…
Feb 22, 2023eusebius rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
A fitfully interesting novel from a writer best known for We Need to Talk About Kevin. Obesity, like anti-Semitism, drug addiction, gambling and a raft of other obsessions is just not that interesting a subject for a book. The burden his…
Jun 03, 2021kaphings rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I liked this book and I like Shriver the author. I can relate to the story, many things hit home. I understood Pandora’s struggle, and the futility of changing course with the obesity problem. The “why’s” can be answered in incomplete…
Jul 27, 2020
The author is a character. Interesting, controversial person.
May 21, 2020redtayres rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Lionel Shriver doesn't shirk from difficult stories. She creates them and drags you through them and though I don't finish reading one of her books and want to move right on to her next, over the years I've read many of her books. Why? …
Jun 11, 2016Manateestarz rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I really loved the author's book The Post Birthday World,so I thought I would give this title a try. The way that the author deals with a social problem, the growing obesity epidemic, is interesting. But, while the relationship between…
Aug 10, 2015haileyj rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I thought the storyline was interesting and almost believable but the ending ruined the whole story for me.
Dec 06, 2014Lucky_Luke rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A novel about north American obsession - losing weight. What does it really take to lose half your weight? First of all, it takes family support, that somebody cares.
Sep 21, 2014Mazzba rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I agree with many of the other reviewers -- the book's final twist feels a bit like a cop-out. Still, I made it to the end, which says something. For me, the most interesting part of the book was the narrator, Pandora, who clearly suffers…
Dec 23, 2013betc2 rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Featuring unlikeable, one-dimensional characters and heavy-handed clichés with an obvious message, this book is a complete waste of time. Before long I'd had enough, I started skimming, and I have no regrets, especially when Shriver…
Dec 19, 2013gr1zz rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
While written in the same absorbing style as the hard-to-put-down We Need To Talk About Kevin, the final section of this engrossing novel deflates the excellence of the proceeding chapters. A thoroughly invigorating journey which arrives…
jeanner222
Oct 09, 2013jeanner222 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Pandora Halfdanarson is obsessed with two things: food and family. These obsessions are brought to light when her older brother, Edison, comes to Iowa for an extended visit. Once a successful jazz pianist, Edison is now down on his luck…
Jane60201
Oct 02, 2013Jane60201 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I thought the first part of the book was kind of conventional and almost stopped. However, it picked up in the second section and was, I thought, quite a believable success story. The third part was the philosophical comment on the first…
Sep 29, 2013DellaV rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
This is a dark and depressing, judgemental story. Gave it 50 pages; got more depressed by the minute, gave it up. Sad and dark book.
Sep 09, 2013dontbugmeimreading rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I gave it 85 pages and nothing was happening. Life is too short - time to move on to another book.
ksoles
Jul 15, 2013ksoles rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
No stranger to modern controversial issues such as teenaged violence, the American health care system and global terrorism, Lionel Shriver centres her newest novel around the obesity epidemic. Pandora, her husband Fletcher, and his two…