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  • The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047

  • By: Lionel Shriver
  • Narrated by: George Newbern
  • Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (312 ratings)
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The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 cover art

The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: George Newbern
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Summary

The brilliant new novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin centres on three generations of the Mandible family as a fiscal crisis hits a near-future America.

It is 2029. The Mandibles have been counting on a sizable fortune filtering down when their 97-year-old patriarch dies. Yet America's soaring national debt has grown so enormous that it can never be repaid. Under siege from an upstart international currency, the dollar is in meltdown. A bloodless world war will wipe out the savings of millions of American families. Their inheritance turned to ash, each family member must contend with disappointment but also - as the effects of the downturn start to hit - the challenge of sheer survival.

Recently affluent Avery is petulant that she can't buy olive oil while her sister, Florence, is forced to absorb strays into her increasingly cramped household. As their father, Carter, fumes at having to care for his demented stepmother now that a nursing home is too expensive, his sister, Nollie, an expat author, returns from abroad at 73 to a country that's unrecognisable. Perhaps only Florence's oddball teenage son, Willing, an economics autodidact, can save this formerly august American family from the streets.

This is not science fiction. This is a frightening, fascinating, scabrously funny glimpse into the decline that may await the United States all too soon, from the pen of perhaps the most consistently perceptive and topical author of our times.

©2016 Lionel Shriver (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

What listeners say about The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047

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Epic economic meltdowns of the near future

If, like me, you came to this book because you're a huge fan of We Need to Talk About Kevin, expect your expectations to be confounded. But while the subject matter is completely different, the brilliant observation and spine-tingling narrative tension mean you will not be disappointed. As you would expect from Lionel Shriver, the characters are richly drawn and the slow-building suspense is compelling, but what I really love about this book is the way it takes real issues of the modern world - inherited riches, family politics and economic meltdown - and tweaks them to convincingly terrifying visions of the near future. Our present day is the book's immediate past, marked by schools named after Barack Obama and Ed Balls' cameo as UK prime minister, among others. It's a brilliant listen, but also a warning.

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6 people found this helpful

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A dreary disappointment

I hate to give bad reviews - and hate to abandon a book, but halfway through chapter 2 I just can't face the thought of listening any more. The manner in which we are being introduced to the characters is so drearily done that no-one's name or position in the family clan properly registers - and nor do the descriptions of the changes in technology and way of life in this near future world. Perhaps everything gathers momentum as the story progresses but I just don't have the commitment to give it a go. For me it was a great idea wasted.

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5 people found this helpful

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Boring, tedious

This book was recommended to me. I’m so sorry I started it as I always want to finish what I start, however in this case I gave up about four hours before the end, I just couldn’t take anymore. Perhaps a financial enthusiast might fine it interesting!

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    3 out of 5 stars

a bit of a dissappointment.

a rather hollow argument against a social welfare state, it reads a bit like Ayn Rand - where there is an idealogical point to be made about selfish individualism which means that there is no real critique of the state as a monopoly, on violence but as a poor redistributor of wealth. It is more of a prepper's fantasy than a well researched prediction of how the world might be as the near future unfolds. the readers poor pronounciation of any word beyond a 13 year old reading level grates and I have no idea why any author would allow an audio book reading to be published without better direction.

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Disappointed

What was most disappointing about Lionel Shriver’s story?

It is frustrating when a dystopian novel uses the present day as the past, and then skips forward 15 years to a new future but with no bridge of events on the way. The book is murky and confused.

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Skilled writing but I’m not interested in economics

Look shivers and excellent writer no doubt but I was disappointed because the character development snd interplay took second place to endless dialoging about economics and finance. If you’re interested in this stuff you’ll love this novel. I ditched it after 4 very tedious chapters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Staggeringly Smart Economic Horror Story

🧡 First things first: Loved We Need To Talk About Kevin. This. Is. Not. That. Completely different. That dispensed with, a few thoughts…

💚 Chilling, but told with wit and through interesting characters, this shows the world as we know it falling apart in a way that seems too realistic to dismiss. Through one family, Shriver explores how people adapt to change and how far that change can go., Definite similarities shared with The Ministry For the Future.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 I managed to listen to this while going ‘bout my business, but it wasn’t easy. Lots of characters, one narrator throughout, meant that I did struggle to follow at times.

🎧 With that said, the narrator in question, George Newbern, is thoroughly engaging. He has a great way with dry humour and is a bit of a master at subtly ribbing the aloof nonchalance of privilege.

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Don't give 'em your gold

The Mandibles by @ShriverLionel read by @georgenewbern. This book is definitely a grower... not a show-er. It took some time for me to get involved in the story but once I was in, I was able to grapple with the serious financial questions and consequences posed in the novel.

Set in the near future, a massive devaluation of the dollar wreaks havoc over a bewildered America. The purchasing power of the dollar becomes fucking useless: $100 could get you a blowjob but not even a decent one.

Without a strong currency, the #Mandibles are a family that find themselves living in a country that has become lawless. The concepts envisaged in this novel are futures I can see playing out in the world at large. For example, China buying up U.S. treasury bonds anyone?

Ultimately gold bugs seem to win in the end as the characters smuggle gold across the border. As an audiobook 🎶 @georgenewbern told the story in a smooth and sophisticated manner 📚5/5 ⭐️#BookReview

Follow me on Twitter @zennyreadsalot

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Very prescient

Be warned, this book tells the future!! A good way to see what’s in store for us all…

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    4 out of 5 stars

Wickedly entertaining, very prescient, bit long

I loved Shriver’s lightly sketched rather archetypical characters, and the deep plausibility of the overall plot has stayed with me ever since I first read this a year ago, on a train to Kiev.

After my second ‘reading’ (post Jeremy Hunt and 11 per cent inflation) I feel moved to review.

One thing I’d say against it as a work of drama is that the final quarter is redundant. The action should end with the end of the immediate crisis. Everything else feels like epilogue, and while entertaining, isn’t gripping.

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