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Mania

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Mania

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: Abby Craden
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About this listen

'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

‘Viciously funny… an exhilarating satire’ THE TIMES

'Merciless… a welcome distraction' ECONOMIST, Best Books of 2024

What if calling someone stupid was illegal?

In a reality not too distant from our own, the worst thing you can call someone is 'stupid'.

Everyone is equally clever, and discrimination based on intelligence is 'the last great civil rights fight'. Exams and grades are discarded and you don't need a qualification to be a doctor.

When best friends Pearson and Emory find themselves on opposing sides of this new culture war, their relationship begins to fracture. And soon, Pearson’s determination to cling onto the 'old, bigoted way of thinking' begins to endanger her job, her safety and even her family…

Hilarious, deadpan and scathing, MANIA is a frighteningly plausible glimpse into what the world could become – or is already – from the pen of a master storyteller.

©2024 Lionel Shriver (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Dystopian Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Psychological Satire Science Fiction Witty
All stars
Most relevant
Always enjoy Lionel Shriver work
This was the best one yet!
Laugh out loud funny couldn’t stop listening

Funny well written

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Lionel Shriver takes it head on and scenarios the consequences of unchecked ideology par excellence

Courage Reason and Practicality in face of a dominant absurdity

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I liked the early chapters containing dialogue but couldn’t get passed the dense didactic section of the story, which seemed to go on and on.

Disappointed

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Well written, well read, a scathing attack on the levelling instincts of the few applied to the many - and at the same time, managing not to be partisan. I enjoyed it more than I had expected.

Entertaining and incisive - and not entirely what you expect.

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Such a clever book, normal people who abhor the absurdity of recent years will love this book highly recommend.

The 1984 of our time

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