Big brother
Subtitle: a novel
By: Lionel Shriver
Edition: First Harper Perennial edition.
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 373
ISBN-13: 9780061458606
Copyright date: 2013
Subjects: Obesity; Families; Brothers and sisters; Fiction
Description: When Pandora picks up her older brother Edison at her local Iowa airport, she literally doesn't recognize him. In the four years since the grown siblings last saw one another, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. What happened? Worse, Edison's slovenly habits, appalling diet, and know-it-all monologues drive her health-and-fitness freak husband Fletcher insane. After the big blowhard of a brother-in-law has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: it's him or me. Putting her marriage and two adoptive children on the line, Pandora chooses her brother -- who, without her support in losing weight, will surely eat himself into an early grave. BIG BROTHER tackles a constellation of issues surrounding obesity: why we overeat, whether extreme diets ever work in the long run, and how we treat overweight people.
Notes: Includes reading group guide.