New Releases by Lionel Shriver

Big Brother is a striking novel about siblings, marriage, and obesity from Lionel Shriver, the acclaimed author the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin. For Pandora, cooking is a form of love. Alas, her husband, Fletcher, a self-employed high-end cabinetmaker, now spurns the “toxic” dishes that he’d savored through their courtship, and spends hours each day to manic cycling. Then, when Pandora picks up her older 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. What happened? After Edison 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: an issue both social and excruciatingly personal. 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.

Lionel Shriver realiza uma espécie de genealogia do assassínio ao criar na ficção uma chacina similar a tantas provocadas por jovens em escolas americanas. Aos 15 anos, o personagem Kevin mata 11 pessoas, entre colegas no colégio e familiares. Enquanto ele cumpre pena, a mãe Eva amarga a monstruosidade do filho. Entre culpa e solidão, ela apenas sobrevive. A vida normal se esvai no escândalo, no pagamento dos advogados, nos olhares sociais tortos. Transposto o primeiro estágio da perplexidade, um ano e oito meses depois, ela dá início a uma correspondência com o marido, único interlocutor capaz de entender a tragédia, apesar de ausente. Cada carta é uma ode e uma desconstrução do amor. Não sobra uma só emoção inaudita no relato da mulher de ascendência armênia, até então uma bem-sucedida autora de guias de viagem. Cada interstício do histórico familiar é flagrado: o casal se apaixona; ele quer filhos, ela não. Kevin é um menino entediado e cruel empenhado em aterrorizar babás e vizinhos. Eva tenta cumprir mecanicamente os ritos maternos, até que nasce uma filha realmente querida. A essa altura, as relações familiares já estão viciadas. Contudo, é à mãe que resta a tarefa de visitar o "sociopata inatingível" que ela gerou, numa casa de correção para menores. Orgulhoso da fama de bandido notório, ele não a recebe bem de início, mas ela insiste nos encontros quinzenais. Por meio de Eva, Lionel Shriver quebra o silêncio que costuma se impor após esse tipo de drama e expõe o indizível sobre as frágeis nuances das relações entre pais e filhos num romance irretocável.

Shep Knacker sempre economizou para a “Outra Vida”: um retiro idílico no Terceiro Mundo, onde um modesto pé-de-meia poderia durar para sempre. Os engarrafamentos de Nova York seriam substituídos por tempo para “falar, pensar, ver e ser” – e por horas de sono suficientes. Quando ele vende sua empresa de consertos domésticos por um milhão de dólares, parece que seu sonho finalmente será realizado. Ainda que Glynis, com quem é casado há 26 anos, sempre arrume desculpas e diga que nunca é o momento certo para partirem. Cansado de trabalhar como um peão para o idiota que comprou sua companhia, Shep anuncia que está de mudança para uma ilha na Tanzânia, com ou sem a esposa. Recém-chegada de uma consulta médica, Glynis também tem um anúncio a fazer: Shep não pode ir a lugar algum. Ela está doente e precisa desesperadamente de seu plano de saúde. Mas o convênio cobre apenas parte das despesas incrivelmente altas do tratamento, e o pé-de-meia de Shep para a Outra Vida parece se desfazer a cada dia. Um romance brutalmente honesto, Tempo é dinheiro acompanha as transformações de um casamento que é posto à prova ao mesmo tempo que se fortalece com as exigências de uma doença grave, e se revela uma inesperada oportunidade para a ternura, a renovação da intimidade e o humor ácido. Em uma pesada crítica aos sistemas de saúde, Lionel Shriver se atreve a fazer a temida pergunta: quanto custa a vida de uma pessoa?

O mundo pós-aniversário aborda o relacionamento aparentemente sólido de um casal de americanos radicado em Londres. Ele é um disciplinado pesquisador de um instituto de estudos estratégicos; ela, uma acomodada ilustradora de livros que depara com uma vontade incontrolável de beijar outro homem: um velho amigo do casal, impetuoso jogador de sinuca que figura no topo do ranking do esporte, um dos mais populares entre os britânicos. Capítulo a capítulo, Lionel Shriver nos oferece dois desdobramentos do futuro dessa mulher sob a influência de dois homens radicalmente diferentes, e assim escreve duas histórias. A partir daquele único beijo, retrata alternativas para união e rompimento, e explora as consequências e as motivações mais íntimas de uma escolha. Determinar qual seria o melhor caminho não é óbvio nem fácil, mas a análise dos dois destinos em que a autora enreda os personagens e os leitores é memorável. Escrito com a sutileza e a sagacidade que são as marcas registradas da obra de Lionel Shriver, O mundo pós-aniversário é um apelo para aquele "talvez" que intriga e provoca todos nós.

International bestseller van Lionel Shriver over een moeder die worstelt met de gruwelijke misdaad van haar zoon. ‘We moeten het even over Kevin hebben’ van Lionel Shriver is het aangrijpende relaas van de zoektocht van een moeder naar de beweegredenen van haar zoon, die een gruwelijke misdaad heeft gepleegd. Is het haar schuld, omdat ze niet genoeg of misschien zelfs wel helemaal niet van hem hield? Of is het de schuld van zijn vader, die zijn zoon nooit heeft willen zien zoals hij werkelijk was? Lionel Shriver is schrijver van onder andere ‘De Mandibles’, ‘De weg van de meeste weerstand’ en ‘Tot de dood ons scheidt’. ‘We moeten het even over Kevin hebben’ was een internationale bestseller, ontving de Orange Prize for Fiction en werd in 2011 verfilmd met Tilda Swinton in de hoofdrol.

Den Alltagsärger hinter sich lassen, die Welt sehen, nachdenken – so hat sich Shepherd den Rest seines Lebens vorgestellt. Seine Frau Glynis kann ihm dabei nicht folgen – sie stellt ihn vor eine tragische Wahl. Nach ihrem mitreißenden Roman »Liebespaarungen« erzählt Lionel Shrivers neues Buch von den Wandlungen einer Ehe in schweren Zeiten. Und auch von dem Glück, das daraus entstehen kann.

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 él suponía comprometida con su proyecto, ha ido demorando la partida con distintos pretextos. Pero ahora Shep ha quemado las naves –o eso cree él– y ha comprado billetes, sólo de ida, para la isla de Pemba, cerca de Madagascar. Y entonces ella le revela que tiene una enfermedad rara y de muy mal pronóstico, un mesotelioma peritoneal, y que él no puede dejar su trabajo porque ella necesita su seguro médico para los tratamientos todavía 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 más allá de las fábulas 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 imaginación proteica, nos presenta otra novela deslumbrante y provocativa» (Publishers Weekly).

Acclaimed author Lionel Shriver—author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That, The Post-Birthday World, and the vivid psychological novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, now a major motion picture—probes the mystery of charisma in a razor-sharp new novel that 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. “Shriver is a master of the misanthrope. . . . [A] viciously smart writer.” —Time

À la veille de ses seize ans, Kevin Khatchadourian a tué sept de ses camarades de lycée, un employé de la cafétéria et un professeur. Dans des lettres adressées au père dont elle est séparée, Eva, sa mère, retrace l''itinéraire meurtrier de Kevin. Elle se souvient qu''elle a eu du mal à sacrifier sa brillante carrière pour devenir mère. Qu''elle ne s''est jamais faite aux contraintes de la maternité. Que dès la naissance elle s''est heurtée à un enfant difficile. Que l''arrivée de Celia, petite sœur fragile et affectueuse, n''a fait que creuser le fossé entre mère et fils. Qu''elle aura passé des années à scruter les agissements de Kevin sans voir que son ambivalence envers lui n''avait d''égale que la cruauté et la malveillance du rejeton. Et, quand le pire survient, Eva veut comprendre : qu''est-ce qui a poussé Kevin à commettre ce massacre ? Et quelle est sa propre part de responsabilité ? Orange Prize 2005

Quell''8 aprile era un giovedì, ma per Eva sarebbe diventato il giovedì, un giorno sospeso tra una vita normale e un incubo esploso nella realtà. Perché quel giovedì suo figlio Kevin, quindici anni, è andato a scuola come tutte le mattine, poi ha radunato sette compagni e un''insegnante nella palestra e li ha uccisi con lucida determinazione. Mentre la società reagisce a questa mattanza con un misto di rabbia e presuntuosa commiserazione, Eva non può sottrarsi al bisogno di trovare una spiegazione a un gesto tanto sconvolgente, cedendo all''istinto, proprio di ogni madre, di cercare la responsabilità in se stessa. Così, in una serie di lettere indirizzate al marito assente, Eva ripercorre gli anni che la separano da quel giovedì. Ricostruisce il rapporto con suo figlio, difficile fin dalla sua venuta al mondo, annunciata da quello che le era parso un urlo di rabbia più che un vagito di neonato. In perenne contrasto con il marito, sempre pronto a prendere le difese del bambino, e alla disperata ricerca di un gesto, una parola che smentisse la preoccupante indifferenza con cui Kevin affrontava ogni cosa, che spiegasse le sue incessanti malvagità, Eva ha trascorso quindici anni in un limbo, come circondata da un funesto presagio. Quello che dipinge è un quadro lacerante, sofferto, filtrato dalla sua lucida intelligenza e dalla sua profonda umanità.

Traditional Chinese edition of We Need to Talk About Kevin, the 2005 Orange prize novel. The movie was nominated for major awards in many renowned world film festivals including the SAG and Golden Globe. The story is about a dysfunctional relationship between a mother and her son Kevin who went on a killing spree in high school. In Traditional Chinese. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

Evas Sohn Kevin hat eine furchtbare Gewalttat begangen: in der Schule hat er mehrere Menschen getötet. Von allen verurteilt und von jetzt an sich gestellt findet Eva den Mut, sich in aller Offenheit quälenden Fragen auszusetzen: Hätte sie ihre Ehe retten können? Hätte sie ihr Kind mehr lieben sollen? Hätte sie das Unglück verhindern können? ''Wir müssen über Kevin reden'' ist ein ausserordentlich mutiges Buch, das in Amerika und England zunächst durch Mundpropaganda, ein Erfolg wurde. Lionel Shriver bekam für diesen Roman 2005 den Orange Prize, einen der wichtigsten internationalen Literaturpreise.

The inspiration for the film starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, this resonant story of a mother’s unsettling quest to understand her teenage son’s deadly violence, her own ambivalence toward motherhood, and the explosive link between them remains terrifyingly prescient. Eva never really wanted to be a mother. And certainly not the mother of a boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much–adored teacher in a school shooting two days before his sixteenth birthday. Neither nature nor nurture exclusively shapes a child''s character. But Eva was always uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood. Did her internalized dislike for her own son shape him into the killer he’s become? How much is her fault? Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with Kevin’s horrific rampage, all in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. A piercing, unforgettable, and penetrating exploration of violence and responsibility, a book that the Boston Globe describes as “impossible to put down,” is a stunning examination of how tragedy affects a town, a marriage, and a family.

From the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World comes a searing, ruthlessly honest new novel about a marriage both stressed and strengthened by the demands of serious illness. Shep Knacker has long saved for "The Afterlife": an idyllic retreat to the Third World where his nest egg can last forever. Traffic jams on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway will be replaced with "talking, thinking, seeing, and being"—and enough sleep. When he sells his home repair business for a cool million dollars, his dream finally seems within reach. Yet Glynis, his wife of twenty-six years, has concocted endless excuses why it''s never the right time to go. Weary of working as a peon for the jerk who bought his company, Shep announces he''s leaving for a Tanzanian island, with or without her. Just returned from a doctor''s appointment, Glynis has some news of her own: Shep can''t go anywhere because she desperately needs his health insurance. But their policy only partially covers the staggering bills for her treatments, and Shep''s nest egg for The Afterlife soon cracks under the strain. Enriched with three medical subplots that also explore the human costs of American health care, So Much for That follows the profound transformation of a marriage, for which grave illness proves an unexpected opportunity for tenderness, renewed intimacy, and dry humor. In defiance of her dark subject matter, Shriver writes a page-turner that presses the question: How much is one life worth?

Le jour où Irina accepte de dîner seule avec Ramsey Acton, célèbre joueur de snooker et ami de son mari, elle ne se doute pas que sa vie va basculer. Qu''un instant d''hésitation va mettre son couple en question. Et que sa routine londonienne va voler en éclats. Qu''advient-il si on cède à la tentation ? Et que se passe-t-il si on n''y cède pas ? La passion amoureuse est-elle un dérivatif à une vie de couple un peu terne ? Ou bien l''homme séduisant qu''Irina a eu, l''espace d''un moment, une envie folle d''embrasser est-il l''amour de toute une vie ?

“Ms. Shriver portrays [her characters] with psychological depth and wry humor, dramatizing a subject that’s rarely been exploited in fiction, and pulling off a novel that not only works, but rocks.” —New York Times Book Review From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, a tender, hilarious story of youth and envy, ambition and rock and roll, hero worship and heroism, and, especially, love Beautiful and charismatic, nineteen-year-old Checker Secretti is the most gifted and original drummer that the club-goers of Astoria, Queens, have ever heard. When he plays, conundrums seem to solve themselves, brilliant thoughts spring to mind, and couples fall in love. The members of his band, The Derailleurs, are passionately devoted to their guiding spirit, as are all who fall under Checker''s spell. But when another drummer, Eaton Striker, hears the prodigy play, he is pulled inexorably into Checker''s orbit by a powerful combination of envy and admiration. Soon The Derailleurs, too, are torn apart by latent jealousies that Eaton does his utmost to bring alive.

Following the death of her worthy liberal parents, Corlis McCrea moves back into her family''s grand Reconstruction mansion in North Carolina, willed to all three siblings. Her timid younger brother has never left home. When her bullying black-sheep older brother moves into "his" house as well, it''s war. Each heir wants the house. Yet to buy the other out, two siblings must team against one. Just as in girlhood, Corlis is torn between allying with the decent but fearful youngest and the iconoclastic eldest, who covets his legacy to destroy it. A Perfectly Good Family is a stunning examination of inheritance, literal and psychological: what we take from our parents, what we discard, and what we are stuck with, like it or not.

Set against the vivid backdrop of modern-day Africa—a continent now primarily populated with wildlife of the two-legged sort—Lionel Shriver''s Game Control is a wry, grimly comic tale of bad ideas and good intentions. Eleanor Merritt, a do-gooding American family-planning worker, was drawn to Kenya to improve the lot of the poor. Unnervingly, she finds herself falling in love with the beguiling Calvin Piper despite, or perhaps because of, his misanthropic theories about population control and the future of the human race. Surely, Calvin whispers seductively in Eleanor''s ear, if the poor are a responsibility they are also an imposition. With a deft, droll touch, Shriver highlights the hypocrisy of lofty intellectuals who would "save" humanity but who don''t like people.

“Shriver’s debut is a ''literary'' novel without an iota of pretentiousness. It reads with the grace of a well-written spy story, but conveys some of its author’s early wisdom about what our humanity both demands of and grants us.” —Washington Post The first novel by the New York Times bestselling author Lionel Shriver, The Female of the Species is the exotic and chilling story of a highly independent and successful woman’s late-life romantic education, in all its ecstasy and desperation Still unattached and childless at fifty-nine, world-renowned anthropologist Gray Kaiser is seemingly invincible—and untouchable. Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence. When sexy young graduate assistant Raphael Sarasola arrives on the scene, Gray is captivated and falls hopelessly in love—before an amazed and injured Errol''s eyes. As he follows the progress of their affair with jealous fascination, Errol watches helplessly from the sidelines as a proud and fierce woman is reduced to miserable dependence through subtle, cruel, and calculating manipulation.

Irina y Lawrence son dos americanos que viven en Londres. Él es un intelectual, experto en relaciones internacionales, que trabaja para un centro de investigación muy prestigioso y cercano al poder. Ella, que ha venido a Londres un poco a la zaga de Lawre

“Shriver shows in a masterstroke why character is fate and how sport reveals it.” —New York Times Book Review From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World, and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin comes a brilliant and unflinching novel about the devastating cost of prizing achievement over love Tennis has been Willy Novinsky''s one love ever since she first picked up a racquet at the age of four. A middle-ranked pro at twenty-three, she''s met her match in Eric Oberdorf, a low-ranked, untested Princeton grad who also intends to make his mark on the international tennis circuit. Eric becomes Willy''s first passion off the court, and eventually they marry. But while wedded life begins well, full-tilt competition soon puts a strain on their relationship—and an unexpected accident sends driven and gifted Willy sliding irrevocably toward resentment, tragedy, and despair.

Eva es una mujer satisfecha consigo misma. Es autora y editora de guías de viaje para gente tan urbana y feliz como ella. Casada desde hace años con Franklin, decide, ya cerca de los cuarenta, tener un hijo. Y el producto de tan indecisa decisión será Kevin. Pero, casi desde el comienzo, nada se parece a los inefables mitos familiares de la clase media urbana y feliz. Y cuando nace, Kevin es el típico bebé difícil que tortura a los padres. Y, con el tiempo, se convertirá en el terror de las niñeras, en un adolescente terrible, en el antihéroe a quien nada le interesa sino la belleza de la pura maldad. Y en ese trayecto que va desde los primeros desencantos de Eva hasta la sangrienta epifanía del joven Kevin, dos días antes de cumplir los dieciséis años, el niño es un enigma para su madre, que nunca le ha podido querer. «Excelente: por su inteligencia, su lucidez, su sentido del humor extraño, macabro a veces, pero siempre eficaz y también, desde luego, por la audacia con que ataca uno de los mitos, el de la maternidad feliz, más intocables de la cultura en que vivimos» (Laura Freixas).

“Complex and nervy, Shriver’s clever meditation will intrigue anyone who has ever wondered how things might have turned out had they followed, or ignored, a life-changing impulse.” — People (Critic''s Choice) This dazzling novel from the Orange Prize–winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin takes a psychological and deeply human look at love and volition Does the course of life hinge on a single kiss? Whether the American expatriate Irena McGovern does or doesn’t lean into a certain pair of lips in London will determine whether she stays with her smart, disciplined, intellectual American partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey—a wild, exuberant British snooker star the couple has known for years. Employing a parallel-universe structure, Shriver follows Irena’s life as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men. In a tour de force that, remarkably, has no villains, Shriver explores the implications, both large and small, of our choice of mate—a subject of timeless, universal fascination for both sexes.

FICTION-GENERAL

Τι συμβαίνει όταν η μητρότητα δεν είναι μια ονειρεμένη εμπειρία; Πώς νιώθει μια μητέρα απέναντι στον γιο της τον δολοφόνο; Ποιες είναι οι ευθύνες της; Εγκληματίας γεννιέσαι ή γίνεσαι; Η Ίβα ποτέ δεν ήθελε πραγματικά να γίνει μητέρα. Σίγουρα δεν ήθελε να γίνει η μητέρα ενός ψυχρού αγοριού που δολοφόνησε εφτά συμμαθητές του, έναν υπάλληλο της σχολικής καντίνας και μια δημοφιλή καθηγήτριά του λίγες μέρες πριν κλείσει τα δεκάξι. Δύο χρόνια μετά τα τραγικά γεγονότα, ήρθε η ώρα η Ίβα να αναλύσει με ειλικρίνεια τον γάμο, την καριέρα της, την οικογένειά της, τη σχέση της με τα παιδιά της, το φονικό ξέσπασμα του Κέβιν σε μια σειρά από αφοπλιστικά εξομολογητικές επιστολές που απευθύνονται στον χαμένο σύζυγό της, τον Φράνκλιν. Αφυπνιστικό και προκλητικό, το μυθιστόρημα αυτό αγαπήθηκε από εκατομμύρια αναγνώστες σε ολόκληρο τον κόσμο και προκάλεσε θύελλα συζητήσεων.