Abominations

<p><strong>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.--<em>Wall Street Journal</em></strong></p><p><strong>A striking collection of essays from the prize-winning <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of <em>Should We Stay or Should We Go So Much for That </em>and <em>The Post-Birthday World.</em></strong></p><p>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.</p><p>Bringing together thirty-five works curated from her many columns features essays and op-eds for the likes of the <em>Spectator</em> the <em>Guardian </em> the <em>New York Times Harper's Magazine </em> the <em>Wall Street Journal </em> speeches and reviews and some unpublished pieces <em>Abominations </em>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.</p><p>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 <em>Abominations</em> 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.</p><p>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.</p><p>A timely synthesis of Shriver's expansive work <em>Abominations</em> reveals this provocative talented writer at her most assured.</p>