{"product_id":"9780008658670","title":"Mania","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Lionel Shriver\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eModern \u0026amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 11 April 2024 by HarperCollins Publishers (The Borough Press) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003ch4\u003eHardback | 288 pages\u003cbr\u003e242 x 161 x 27mm | 488g\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Seldom is a book as funny, important and timely … I was laughing out loud at the same time as my blood was running cold' JOHN CLEESE\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Viciously funny… an exhilarating satire’ THE TIMES\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  What if calling someone stupid was illegal?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  In a reality not too distant from our own, where the so-called Mental Parity Movement has taken hold, the worst thing you can call someone is 'stupid'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Everyone is equally clever, and discrimination based on intelligence is 'the last great civil rights fight'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Exams and grades are all discarded, and smart phones are rebranded. Children are expelled for saying the S-word and encouraged to report parents for using it. You don't need a qualification to be a doctor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Best friends since adolescence, Pearson and Emory find themselves on opposing sides of this new culture war. Radio personality Emory – who has built her career riding the tide of popular thought – makes increasingly hard-line statements while, for her part, Pearson believes the whole thing is ludicrous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e As their friendship fractures, Pearson's determination to cling onto the 'old, bigoted way of thinking' begins to endanger her job, her safety and even her family.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Lionel Shriver turns her piercing gaze on the policing of opinion and intellect, and imagines a world in which intellectual meritocracy is heresy. Hilarious, deadpan, scathing and at times frighteningly plausible, MANIA will delight the many fans of her fiction and journalism alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lionel Shriver","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56153765577029,"sku":"9780008658670","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0994\/3721\/6069\/files\/9780008658670.jpg?v=1762272646","url":"https:\/\/stripyduckbookshopcafe.co.uk\/products\/9780008658670","provider":"The Stripy Duck Bookshop Café","version":"1.0","type":"link"}