Lionel Shriver is never one to shy away from controversial subjects and her new book, Mania, is no exception. Set in an alternative near past, the USA is following a new belief in Mental Parity (MP), where all brains are believed to be equal and no person judged to be more intelligent than another. The idea has quickly become accepted throughout society and dominates all areas, with language carefully policed so no judgement is felt (Shriver has a lot of fun with this, particularly the kinds of words no longer allowed, eg dimmer switches). The system is now impacting everything, including the standing of the US in the world.

The main character, Pearson, is a University lecturer, an environment utterly changed by the lack of entrance requirements or marking standards. She opposes the entire ethos but this is becoming more and more difficult to express without huge consequences. She feels the situation particularly harshly as she has in the past become a single mother to two children through IVF, especially choosing a sperm donor based on intelligence and now raising two very gifted children who are getting limited opportunities as a result of MP. Her best friend, Emory, is a TV presenter who has gone from mocking the situation to becoming a true believer (although we are never entirely sure whether this is truly felt or a means of building her career).

It's a clever reference to the culture wars and the effects of a lack of freedom of speech which can be easily applied to all sorts of issues around today. Pearson has, in her childhood, escaped a fundamentalist religious family to have more freedom and the parallels with required behaviour in relation to MP are clearly drawn. The fear of saying the wrong thing, the consequences of this and the division it causes among friends and family is well drawn and I enjoyed the fact that none of the characters is perfect. Pearson has a third child with her tree surgeon partner, one she considers to be less intelligent and treats differently as a result, exacerbated by the fact that the child has only ever known the world of MP and believes it fully, happy to report members of her own family if they step out of line, making even home feel dangerous.

Lionel Shriver is a superb writer and she has built a world that feels entirely plausible (in some ways she spends almost too long on the details and playing with the idea – this could have been a little more defined and a brilliant short story). It’s very thought provoking and an interesting take on group think, the dangers of accepting beliefs without considering the wider impacts, and the effects this can have on society. This book will certainly be divisive (and is intended to be, I’m sure!) but it’s a great read and has kept me thinking about it long after I finished.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

A very unique and well written novel set in a black mirror esque world where it’s illegal to call someone “stupid”.

Really interesting and thought provoking plot line. Although the characters did annoy me a little but it was well written and fun. Although a little slow at times.

Recommend to anyone who likes an unusual satirical novel with social commentary.

Mental Parity is the new political correctness afflicting the free world. It is a slur to call someone stupid, punishable by loss of job or friends. Exams and tests are things of the past, anyone can go to university but no one has any meaningful qualifications, so no one can do anything competently any more. Pearson and Emory grew up together but are now on opposite sides of the argument, Emory strongly pro-MP and able to proselytise in her job as a media pundit on the rise. Pearson is a college lecturer, with a mortgage and three small children. As their friendship begins to unravel so do their lives, relationships and jobs. While you are thinking that all this is so stupid it couldn't possibly happen you have to admit its not so much more improbable than half the stuff people get agitated about today. Well written, funny and riveting - excellent!

I love Lionel Shriver's work, particularly her skill in highlighting worrying trends in society through her fiction. In this subversive and thought-provoking alternative history story, 'mental parity' has taken hold in America. Everyone is considered to be equally smart, and discrimination against less intelligent people is ‘the last great civil rights fight.’ Tests, grades, and employment qualifications are all discarded, and children are expelled for saying the S-word (“stupid”) and encouraged to report any parents who use it at home. Surgeons don't need to understand what they're doing when they operate on you, tree surgeons don't have to have the skills to safely wield a chainsaw, and politicians should be as dumb as possible.
Shriver skillfully demonstrates how ideologies, that may seem absurd, or dare I say it, 'stupid', can all too easily take hold, how destructive blind obedience to the madness can be, and how the bravery required to stand up against such ideologies deters all but the most determined or reckless.
While some of the points being made felt slightly repetitive at times, almost speech-like, I really liked this book, and its acerbic comment on the culture wars. It's a testament to Shriver's skill, that while the story feels all too familiar, and slightly scary, it's also enjoyable, witty, and entertaining.
With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC.

I love Lionel Shriver's writing and her cynical, intelligent, brave take on human idiocy (can I even write that? I was going to say "stupidity" but that is definitely and perhaps reasonably not woke). She is truely a unique writer (and speaker, if you ever get the chance to hear her). Oh those apparently true stories we hear about teachers having to support kids who insist they are a dog (today, perhaps they'll be a cat tomorrow?); woke gone wacky. It is a must-read for any thinking rational person, and not only is it so refreshing it is also laugh-aloud funny (Gallows humour perhaps?) Shriver's Mental Parity (MP) Movement is scarily likely...and in the US let's face it, Trump is considered by a lot of folk to be a the best presidential candidate and it sure has nothing to do with his "intelligence". I say, Shriver for president (except she is far too 'intelligent' to want that!

I'll start by saying that this is a beautifully written book and Shriver's vocabulary and phrasing are second to none. Many of the passages were a pleasure to read over again due to their wonderful usage of the English language. Having said that I now continue with the downside. I have no idea why this book is described as funny as I don't think I found a single thing to laugh about. Shriver drives her point home relentlessly and repetitively until there's no chance that it could possibly be missed. Her protagonist, Pearson, comes across as an egotist who cares more about her principles than about her family; her temper gets the better of her and she breaks the rules leading to extreme hardship for them all. When she's sent on a 'Cerebral Acceptance and Semantic Sensitivity' course the book almost veers towards being amusing but the ridiculousness of the language changes demanded by the 'Mental Parity' movement were again laboured to the point of boredom. Overall it's a clever premise and a book that will prompt discussion and will be great for book clubs but only 3-stars from me.

I really enjoy Lionel Shriver's novel and this was no different, this book was definitely not 'stupid'!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

A brilliant, thought provoking story that really makes the reader think, a superb book that I would absolutely recommend

Where to start... boy is this book gonna be marmite... I can already tell that from the few reviews that I have just read. It's gonna be a great boo club book. On the face of things, the content of this book should be bonkers. Totally hatstand. Which is what I would have said 5-10 years ago. Nowadays though, it, to me anyway, comes across as potentially perfectly credible. And scary. And possibly already happening in some small way...
So in an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity (MP) movement, which has been bubbling under since publication of a certain book, really starts to gain traction. Their main mandate is that everyone is equally intelligent and therefore should all be treated the same. No more school tests, no exams, no qualifications, no refusing to hire someone cos they simply can't do the job. Words like stupid, idiot and dumb are outlawed.
We follow Pearson Converse (great name) as she tries (and fails) to navigate these choppy waters. Starting in 2011 and going forward, we also then hear from her past. Her childhood and upbringing. How she managed to escape an incredibly controlled environment, only to have her new found freedom stolen back from her with the uprising of MP.
What I actually loved most about this book, and I am sure it is very much by design, was that all the way through the author uses some really rather cracking obscure words that I actually had to stop and look up. Yay for an eReader, it's so much easier these days. I found that pretty funny in a book that is postulating the equality of human intelligence in all people...
I also loved the way that she took real events and slightly twisted them to fit the narrative without these tweaks coming across (to me) as being in any way disrespectful.
What I didn't quite love was the ending. That didn't quite work for me. I tried to put in words without spoilers but, after loving (mostly) the book all the way through, I was hoping that the ending would leave me on a high, but instead I felt a bit flat.
It also, truth be told, took me quite a while to really get into the book, the characters, the situation, and the style of writing. I had an epiphany about a third of the way in and, after that, it was pretty much a race to the end.
All in all, a strange one for me, but a book I really did enjoy and, after a while, I might even re-read. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is the harrowing story of a country sliding into a state of collapse through the eyes of Pearson, our opinionated protagonist . Forced by the weight of public opinion and new laws to accept the concept of mental parity, she finally succumbs to self righteous indignation and takes affirmative action refusing to accept intellectual egalitarianism and alternative programming: Putting every part of her family life at huge risk and a relationship with partner and children in jeopardy. The account of the dumbing down of every facet of society is chilling in the extreme. This book goes a massive way to demonstrate by fictional means the ease in which group mentality and group think takes over universal common sense by demonstrating the ease in which mindsets can be influenced using comparisons in history and more recent political events. Also awareness of the speed to accept dogmatic mantra without questioning the consequences for individuals, society and any country’s ability to remain functional both at home and on the world stage. A thought provoking fiction based on recent events that entertains on a fictional level, using a relatively normal family thrust into Armageddon, whilst educating the. reader in the dangers of acceptance and complacency. A 5* read on every level by an author at the top of her game. Many thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for this hugely rewarding advanced review copy.

Oh boy. I love Lionel Shriver. Or rather, I love her novels. I've not met one yet that hasn't made me laugh, gasp, growl or cry to some extent.

In Mania (as far as I read it) we have the perfect allegory for our times. A new scourge called Mental Parity is the dish du jour. Everyone is equally intelligent. Smart people are no longer afforded better jobs or higher pay or any kind of benefit due to their IQ. In fact they are castigated for it. What does that leave you with - the whole of the US being run by mediocrities. And worse.

Lionel Shriver gives us a look at our world where just one law has meant dystopia. Since "everyone is equally intelligent" there are no need for exams or degrees -- or formal education. So what you say?

Well would you be happy being operated on by a surgeon who hadn't passed any kind of exam? Would you take drugs that were no longer tested? Would you accept a vaccine from a lab where no one is expected to be smarter than the average bear (sorry Yogi).

What is most horrifying about the world that Lionel Shriver has created is that our politicians are already acting it out. In the US and UK the rise of populism has given us leaders like Trump and Johnson (who may well have a degree but wallows in the bumbler persona he loves to portray).

Our protagonist Pearson Converse rails against this new anti-elitism with dire consequences whereas her best friend, Emory Ruth, embraces the new Zeitgeist. Mania is Pearson's faithful record of the fallout for everyone she knows and loves.

It's a brilliant novel. Even the acknowledgments are funny - all in a somewhat terrifying way. Mania is a chance to look at the world should the lunatics ever truly take over the asylum.

Loved it. Very highly recommended.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advance review copy. I am most grateful.

Lionel Shriver and her ilk often say that 'woke' types do an easy job of satirising themselves. I wouldn't be so sure. Based on this novel, satirising them seems to be a uniquely effortful job.

In 'The Motion of the Body Through Space,' Shriver made some points about tokenistic hiring practices and language policing that were recognisable and relatable, even if they made readers (including me) uncomfortable. In the alternative reality of this novel, it's more of a leap to imagine any of it happening, and particularly once we got to the U-turn at the end, I struggled to define the point of it all.

I liked the relationship between the heroine and her friend Emory, and the sections about her childhood as a Jehovah's witness were particularly strong. But the heroine's cruelty, including towards her own children, was a tough read and slightly reminiscent of 'Kevin' - a novel that was just crazy *enough*. This one jumps the shark a bit and strays into 'if someone can call themselves/identify as X, why can't I identify as a dolphin,' territory that Shriver seems to go for. And that might be a tough question to answer, but either way this novel doesn't do it.

4 stars for chutzpah.

When I used to take the Spectator magazine, one of the highlights was Lionel Shriver’s fortnightly column. She is acerbic, forthright and has no patience with people who engage their mouth before their brain. The main character of her new novel, Mania, is a woman who is acerbic, forthright and has no patience with people who engage their mouth before their brain. Hmmm….

The novel is excellent. Given the universal (and rightful) realisation that race, gender, nationality and many other characteristics are completely irrelevant to whether someone can perform a job well or not; and given society’s reluctance to challenge individuals’ perceptions of themselves, c.f. recent newspaper stories about teachers supporting children who insist they are a cat or a horse, it is conceivable that a movement could arise, insisting that intelligence should no longer be highly regarded. The Mental Parity (MP) Movement starts, like so many slippery slopes do, with reasonable requests: don’t call it a smartphone, just call it a phone. TV programmes such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire, University Challenge and Jeopardy promote the idea that smartest is best – they should be cancelled. And lo, they are cancelled or (we can’t say dumbed-down any more) “refreshed”. One question on Millionaire is “What is your name?”. The original series of Star Trek is withdrawn because of Spock’s obvious higher intelligence.

Pearson Converse was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness but ran away from home when a teenager. The parents of her best friend, Emory, took her in and the two girls / women have remained best friends ever since. Converse is a teacher at a local university and Emory is a TV presenter. They are both concerned about MP but Emory brings a boyfriend round for dinner at Pearson’s one night and Pearson’s world is rocked. It appears that Emory has embraced MP’s tenets and no longer mocks the movement but Pearson cannot do the same.

The novel follows this alternative world’s timeline from 2011 to 2023 with a coda set in 2027. Neither we nor Pearson can decide whether Emory really does believe in MP or whether she’s jumped on a bandwagon; and as MP’s demands grow, so does Emory’s support. The growth of MP is both believable and very, very chilling. If society puts the idea that brightest is best into history’s waste disposal unit, it follows that we should not laud intelligence and thus exams are a Bad Thing. Exams and all other tests should either be scrapped or no-one should ever fail them. If you can’t fail a test, why do any schoolwork – or take driving lessons? Intelligence and ability are no longer requirements for getting a job. If you don’t learn anything but you’re given a job as a musician in an orchestra, what consequences will that have for the quality of live music? What about motorways where no-one has passed a driving test? What about hospitals…?

This book is a wake-up call for everyone who passively allows minorities to make unreasonable demands disproportionate to their constituent population. It is right that society should not stigmatise any minority – and there could probably be many improvements to the way we talk about and cater for minorities – but we should never placate those minorities by ignoring the needs of 99% of the population.

#Mania #NetGalley #LionelShriver

A scarily funny comment on current trends. Lionel Shriver in excellent and thought-provoking form in her latest look at modern life. A book which should not be ignored or written off lightly. Highly commended.

Lionel Shriver is an inconsistent writer - some of her novels are utterly brilliant, others are the literary equivalent of wading through concrete. Then there's her well publicised political views, many of which I find distasteful and which definitely affect how I think about her work. But her books are always memorable - even the ones I really didn't enjoy tend to stick in the mind. 'Thought provoking' is too mild a label - I find myself kept awake pondering the concepts in her books, and often arguing with myself over whether I love or hate her writing.

'Mania' sits somewhere between the two extremes of Shriver books. It lacks the brilliance of books like 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' (which is a novel so good it's unlikely to be bettered) but is much more readable than some of her more wordy and slow-plotted efforts. It feels well edited - whether by Shriver herself during the writing process, or by a separate editor I don't know. But some of the problems I've found with the writing style in certain of her other books didn't seem so apparent here.

The concept is an alternate reality 2010s USA in a world where 'mental parity' is all the rage in the 'western' countries of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia etc. The concept of varying levels of intelligence has been banned - every person is considered equally intelligent. Words like 'stupid', 'thick' or even 'dumbwaiter' are considered hate speech. Exams are no longer permitted, universities and even jobs can't select based on merit. It's exactly the sort of extreme idea that right-wing thinkers love to get worked up about.

The novel's narrator is the irritatingly named (one of my Shriver bugbears - why can't she give at least some of her characters regular names) Pearson Converse. Pearson is an opinionated loudmouth working as a university lecturer, a job that has become unbearable since it is no longer permitted to correct students, and students no longer need any qualification to attend. Pearson is also mother to three children - two of whom are highly intelligent and bookish, and the youngest of whom is... well, not. Pearson loathes toeing the 'mental parity' line, but as the enforcement of the concept becomes ever more draconian, she realises her opposition to the prevailing wisdom could end up costing her everything.

Shriver writes a convincing dystopia and her observations and wordings are sharp as ever. I did find the story quite gripping, and the early sections about Pearson's childhood growing up in a strict Jehovah's Witness family are particularly well written. Obviously the story is intended as satire, but that does make me feel slightly uneasy about what she is aiming to satirise. Is the 'mental parity' here just a cover for real-life equalities, and is all the proselytising about how awful it is to not be able to say certain words or having to treat everyone the same, really a way to criticise racial equality for example? The mental parity concept allows her to get away with putting forwards every criticism people level at the so-called 'woke agenda'. Because it's so blatantly trying to make something equal that isn't equal, and with such disastrous consequences, readers are almost inevitably going to take the 'isn't this silly' view. The difference is that real-life equalities are about removing inequalities that shouldn't be there - for example, based on race. This is an example of how knowing Shriver's right-wing leanings makes me question her novels in a way I might not if I was unaware of her real-life views. Knowing how she feels about things like immigration makes me see hidden agendas in her writing that might not be there at all.

If you enjoy literary fiction and don't mind/enjoy needing to look up the odd word, this is definitely worth a read. Whatever you think about it, you are bound to think something - Shriver is always provocative, even if what she provokes is anger. The story will be particularly enjoyed by those who dislike attempts to sanitise modern language and communications. But just remember - it's fiction. It's exaggerated. And ultimately, not calling people horrible names, even if they are technically true, is a virtue and not a vice.

I read We Need to Talk About Kevin back in school and ever since I've been intrigued by Lionel's work. Her books are unique and a bit odd, happy and sad, strong and powerful, and thought-provoking.

For some reason, I thought this would be a bit more light-hearted, a slightly more casual take on the topic - but I should have realised that Shriver's books don't do casual. It's really intense.

I liked what she was trying to achieve here, it really gives you food for thought, but it felt more like a lecture; like we were being talked at rather than to. It felt like we were being told what to think about the book rather than letting us think for ourselves.

It is thought-provoking, I will admit that, as the world changes and what things we can and can't say, what will get us cancelled, where is the line between common sense and stupidity or naivety.

I am glad it was short because whilst I found some of it interesting, I think it would have struggled to be any longer without it being too difficult to finish.

I do wish we had more characterisation. I've said before I prefer character development over plot, but this didn't really have either, for me. There is a plot, of course, but it's more the ideologies and outrage that drives the book. And I didn't feel I had a chance to get to know the characters either, they felt very 1 dimensional, and so I would have preferred if more time was given to flesh them out a bit.

What I did really like though is the idea that intelligence is not only proven with school grades and achievements. Just because you don't do well in an education setting, doesn't make you any less smart, and just because you ace school doesn't make you worldly intelligent. And that's important to realise in real life in order to encourage our younger generations, that marks and scores and grades and reports will only get you so far and they are not the be all and end all.

Whether a book is 1 star or 5 star (I generally don't do star ratings as it's such a personal choice), there's no denying the impact Shriver has on the literary world and wider society. She's always going to write books that divide and I think that is actually one of her strengths. We need books that challenge and get you thinking. Therefore I think it'd make a good book club read as there's lots of ideas to get your teeth into.

Whilst I quite enjoyed this new novel be Lionel Shriver I was constantly asking myself is this for real? I mean who could seriously believe that Mental Parity as government system could actually work. I know the author was probably writing tongue in cheek but for me it would have been more interesting if the author hadn’t been so extreme with the ideas posed.

Published 11 April 2024. Well, this is certainly a book to make you think. It is set in an alternative history, but picks up on issues that are almost part of what we have today - a sort of cancel culture, maybe. In this world, the Mental Parity movement decrees that everyone is intellectually equal. Words like 'stupid', 'dumb' and 'thick' are outlawed. Therefore, as everyone is equal - what is the point of exams, degrees, qualifications. Employers can no longer ask for qualifications as that would be seen as judging someone as intellectually superior and so America is gradually falling apart as industries are being run by the unskilled. The wealthy Americans are seeking medical care abroad because doctors no longer have qualifications while the general populace just have to cross their fingers and hop that their surgeon knows one end of a scalpel from another. A very contentious novel, but it certainly promoted a healthy discussion in our household. Our main character/narrator is Pearson, a university lecturer who sees no good in Mental Parity and in her own four walls is very vociferous against it. She sees it as detrimental to the development of her older children, who are very intelligent. At school they are no longer pushed/stimulated. Her youngest is not reading or writing because she doesn't have to - the school do not encourage her. Pearson's best friend, Emory, becomes CNN's spokesperson for Mental Parity and the two women clash. Is Pearson a reliable narrator? I'm not sure. We hear her point of view, her arguments and the opposing arguments we see her shoot down. It is an interesting read, so thought provoking and scarily, almost just around the corner.

Set in an alternative history, and yet pointedly picking up on what is certainly 'a thing' today, this is a novel that is definitely contentious - in fact it, or the premise of it screams contention. What I love about this novel is the sheer (as we say in my part of the world ) 'brass neck' (ie bravery - more than bravery) of it. Shriver is a first class writer, and, yes, she's using fiction to examine an issue that has crept into our culture: that of 'equality', or 'equality of opportunity' and how this is interpreted, and she has turned it into a sardonic look at the farce that *could* ensue. Her characters have been paralysed into not making judgments about others on the basis of their intelligence; certain words have become unacceptable (like 'stupid') and friendships are consequently affected. I found myself drawn into the philosophical nature of Shriver's (or rather, her character's) argument. If you, as you probably should do, read this novel as a muse on where society could find itself, what you have is a thought-provoking piece of work. I'm certain there will be people who dislike the premise of this novel, but hold on with that thought. Brilliant writing and, as ever. Very highly recommended. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC

This is a really interesting read.
In a novel that feels increasingly dystopian as it goes on, academic Pearson Converse and her best friend Emory Ruth are pitted against each other as ‘mental parity’ takes over society.
In this society, people are regarded as equally bright and capable. Words such as ‘dumb’ and ‘idiot’ are banned. And slowly society starts to fall apart..
It’s an intriguing novel which gains momentum as it progresses.
Once rooting for Pearson, one starts to realise she is something of an unreliable narrator.
At times this novel feels more intellectual and polemical than entertaining - that’s why I’ve held off giving it five stars - but it’s also fascinating and prescient.
I liked it more and more as it went on.
Summary: recommended. An intelligent and likeable but terrifying tale of our times.