The author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is back with a series of essays culled from her voluminous writings for magazines and newspapers far and wide, here and across the pond. From religion to politics, gender and social norms, Lionel Shriver brings her bristling sharp wit and open heart and mind to this explosive array of work.

Since it’s my 28th wedding anniversary, my favorite quote in the whole book is this: “But something happens when you hold on to things: rather than weary of them, you grow more attached. Not unlike some husbands, come to think of it.” Now, of course, she is gently explaining to us how our throw-away culture is ruining the earth, and her attack here is on IKEA (did you know that they use 1% of all the processed wood on the planet?) This, though, is not a strange conclusion for someone with the writing whips of Shriver. She brings you the most mundane topic and finds some eloquent, very British way of giving a much more soulful response than perhaps she should have.

"ABOMINATIONS was a fascinating reading experience. It gave me such interesting fodder for thoughts that I often run from, as well as a unique perspective on a novelist I have loved for years."

Shriver’s essay on Belfast, for example, was refused printing by Granta, but that doesn’t matter. Instead, she publishes it here. However, given that things have changed a bit from the days of war and Sunday, Bloody Sunday and Sinn Fein, Shriver presents the piece as a slice of national identity political writing and claims that the “liberal faction in the culture wars” is not something that she can get behind in today’s culture. Forty years of history in a sentence or two. She is nothing if not economical.

Shriver is angry, too. Cancel culture is beyond the point, in her opinion, and some of her other leanings may take away the breath of more progressive readers. Nevertheless, from the essays being reprinted from long ago to the ones that ring clear with today’s dire messages, Shriver gives us history --- a living history. Writing and commenting on things as they happen is a talent all on its own, and the writer here is the commander and the soldier, as well as the passerby and the witness.

Shriver has never shied away from hot topics (cue the reminder of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN). When she comes down hard on the American economic save of the 2008 crash, it is clear that she represents a worldview that is not always American friendly (although she lives in both New York and London). Perhaps she is one of the most respected writers of her time because of this very reason --- she will speak her truth in plain language and not worry about bruising egos, taking care to be exacting in why she has an issue. These essays exemplify both a wondrous rage and an eloquent introspection on why the world works as it does.

Identity politics is a big sticking point with Shriver. She has no time for nationalism in the face of ecological and economic imbalance in today’s world. The idea of what “woke” is and what it’s doing to the culture (to her, it’s not leaving any room for mistakes to be made and growth to happen in a natural way) is an intriguing look at how linguistics matters in this day and age as it may never have before. Although you may not see things from her point of view, no reader can doubt that she has considered long and hard everything that she says.

ABOMINATIONS was a fascinating reading experience. It gave me such interesting fodder for thoughts that I often run from, as well as a unique perspective on a novelist I have loved for years. Lionel Shriver is well worth reading. Even if you find your ire rising at some of her words, you can be assured that they are worth pondering.