- 304 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
"A rare voice, someone who challenges orthodoxies in the way that many journalists and public intellectuals claim to do but don't. It is bracing to spend time in the company of such a smart, plain-spoken and unpredictable person."â Wall Street Journal
A striking collection of essays from the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Should We Stay or Should We Go, So Much for That, and The Post-Birthday World.
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 thirty-five works curated from her many columns, features, essays, and op-eds for the likes of the Spectator, the Guardian, the New York Times, Harper's Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, speeches and reviews, and some unpublished pieces, Abominations reveals Shriver at her most iconoclastic and personal.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.
In her characteristically frank manner, Shriver shrewdly skewers the concept of language "crimes, " while chafing at arbitrary limitations on speech and literature that crimp artistic expression and threaten intellectual freedom. Many an essay in Abominations reflects sentiments that have "brought hell and damnation down on my head, " as she cheerfully explains, and have threatened her with "cancellation" more than once.
Throughout, Shriver offers insights on her novels and explores the perks and pitfalls of becoming a successful artist. In revisiting old pieces and rejected essays, Shriver updates and expands her thinking. "Enlightened" progressive readers will find plenty to challenge here. But they may find, to their surprise, insights with which they agree.
A timely synthesis of Shriver's expansive work, Abominations reveals this provocative, talented writer at her most assured.
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Table of contents
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I: The Private Sector
- Women of Letters Talk for Ubud Readers and Writers Festival
- âPutting Away Childish Thingsâ
- âTerminal Friendshipâ
- âMy Teenage Diaryâ
- âThe Big Storyâ
- Greg Shriverâs Memorial Tribute
- Part II: âWhat Did You Do in the War, Mommy?â
- âFiction and Identity Politicsâ
- âLiberals Now Defy the Etymology of the Wordâ
- âWriters Blockedâ
- âCruel and Unusual Punishmentâ
- âLefty Lingoâ
- Part III: Confessions of an Expat
- âBye-Bye Belfastâ
- âNo Exitâ
- âPatriosâ
- Part IV: Getting the Blood Running
- âOde to the Hackerâ
- âLondonâs Unofficial Olympic Sportâ
- âYour Gym Routine Is Worthlessâ
- Part V: Against the Grain
- âI Am Not a Kookâ
- âIkeaâs Real Geniusâ
- âOur Institutions No Longer Understand What They Are Forâ
- âDear WriteNowâ
- âHe, She, and Itâ
- âA Monumental Matterâ
- âWould You Want London to Be Overrun by Americans like Me?â
- âThe Criminalization of Making Moneyâ
- âQuote-Unquoteâ
- âLionel Shriver Is Grateful for Pandemic Quarantine (No She Isnât)â
- Part VI: End Papers
- âIn Defense of Deathâ
- âI Was Poor, but I Was Happyâ
- âFriendship Agonistesâ
- ââIâll Never Put Up with Life in a Care Home,â and Other Lies We Tell Ourselvesâ
- âJust Because Weâve Been OK Doesnât Mean Weâll Stay That Wayâ
- âCatastrophizing Is My Idea of a Good Timeâ
- âThe Nobody at Cannesâ
- âSemantic Driftâ
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Also by Lionel Shriver
- Copyright
- About the Publisher