Lionel Shriver’s Mania is set in an alternative reality where the “Mental Parity” movement has gained control -the world has prejudiced stupid people for long enough and now’s the time for correction! I read this in mid-2025, and this satirical critique of the woke cancel culture and its effect on meritocracy already seems dated.
The novel is clever, the writing fluid and gorgeous, but the thin premise was stretched to a microscope thickness. The final 20% definitely, where Mania became a book within a book, definitely needed some editing and a heavy trim.
Still, worth a read for the writing alone. It’s inspired me to pick up her earlier “The Motion Of Body Through Space”. A solid 4.