A review by minimicropup
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Energy: Indignant. Mendacious. Presumptuous. 
The Scene: 🇺🇸 The heart of small-town Iowa
The POVs: We follow a spouse and stepparent grappling with complex family dynamics when their sibling comes to stay for two months. 
 
🎬 Tale-Telling: First-person narrative of Pandora’s psyche. A combination of introspective monologues, family dramas, and a raw look at food addiction and self-delusion. Had a reflective, almost memoir-like quality, but it was pretentious. The pretension felt true to Pandora and how she’d speak and write, rather than the author's voice. Told in three parts: the background, the ideal, and the reality check. There are parts that felt too idealistic, particularly if you’ve known someone with food addiction, but I wouldn’t call this an idealistic book so stick with it if that’s all that’s bothering you about it. 
 
👥 Characters: The main characters are frustrating and flawed. They evolve with personal growth and regression…not necessarily in that order… If you hate insufferable characters this would be hard read. I didn’t like any of them but enjoyed the character study because it showed the consequences and didn’t sugar coat the outcomes. 
 
🤓 Reader Role: Like we’re sitting across from Pandora as she divulges her life's story, hearing all her complaints and self-congratulations. Could be a good book club discussion book since YMMV in how connected you feel to Pandora (if at all) and her decisions. 
 
🗺️ Ambiance: The setting is vividly familial. Easy to imagine the scenes even when horrific and disgusting. There’s an icky feeling sometimes between some characters… emotional incest or emotional affair vibes. 
 
🔥 Fuel: Why is Pandora’s brother eating so much? How far will she go to help him? Can either of them change? What will happen to Pandora’s life and marriage in the process? Lots of exploration of familial bonds, unraveling lives, the impact of past traumas, and weight struggles. 
 
🚙 Journey: A mess I couldn’t look away from—a mix of fascination, cringe, and impending disaster. It was thought-provoking, especially in its treatment of food addiction and the outlook for recovery. There are some outdated sayings and opinions from the 2010s but it works because that’s when it is set, and those characters would probably think that way even today. The ending will be divisive, I was not expecting that full-stop, what did I just hear conclusion. Not angry, I thought it was used well and left me with lots of feels. 
 
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🐕 Howls: Pandora's tendency towards pretension and her self-righteous monologues, especially in the second part. The emotional undercurrents of her relationship with her brother felt like it went beyond trauma bonding. 
🐩 Tail Wags: The unflinching, candid look at personal and societal challenges of obesity and addiction. The use of the characters' likability (or lack thereof) to provoke thoughts and feels. The personal myths the characters live by. 
 
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Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Contemporary 2010s fiction within a fiction, how-far-would-you-go-for-family
  • Sibling character study and reflection with autobiographical energy
  • Unravelling exploration of what-could-have-been
  • Commentary and themes about siblings, resentment, the meaning of family, emotional trauma and trauma bonds, loving someone with food addiction issues, challenges and prejudices of obesity, familial obligation, loyalty, ego, give and take, enabling, and love. 
 
Content Heads-Up: Fatphobia (comments, slurs, calorie counting; character opinions and actions). Body judgement. Body shaming. Eating disorder (binging, food addiction). Narcissistic parent. Trauma-bonding, co-dependency. Racial slurs, cultural appropriation. Body fluids, excrement. Loss of a parent. 
Rep: White Americans. Fat characters. Blended family. Cisgender. Heterosexual.
 
👀 Format: Library Audio
 
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