{"id":29499,"date":"2020-12-18T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=29499"},"modified":"2020-12-12T21:20:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T02:20:22","slug":"a-2012-novel-about-the-victims-of-covid-19-big-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/18\/a-2012-novel-about-the-victims-of-covid-19-big-brother\/","title":{"rendered":"A 2012 novel about the victims of COVID-19: Big Brother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aside from killing the very old and frail, COVID-19 has a reputation for targeting the morbidly obese. And, of course, obesity will kill far more Americans than unmitigated COVID-19 ever could have, even in the most lurid\/absurd scenarios painted by folks calling themselves “scientists”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who thought about this before 2019? Lionel Shriver<\/a>, author of the awesome novel The Mandibles<\/a><\/em> (see previous posts)<\/a>. Back in 2012, she wrote Big Brother<\/a><\/em>, about a woman who finds that her brother has suddenly become huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book is also notable for inventing a plausible business success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some excerpts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are animals; far more than the ancillary matter of sex, the drive to eat motivates nearly all of human endeavor. Having conspicuously triumphed in the competition for resources, the fleshiest among us are therefore towering biological success stories.<\/p>

I didn\u2019t hold many opinions. I didn\u2019t see the point of them. If I opposed the production of nongerminating disease-resistant corn, it would still be sold. I considered most convictions entertainment, their cultivation a vanity, which is why I rarely read the newspaper. My knowing about an assassination in Lebanon wouldn\u2019t bring the victim to life, and given that news primarily aggravated one\u2019s sense of helplessness I was surprised it was so widely heeded.<\/p>

He lowered himself into the bucket seat with the delicacy of a giant crane maneuvering haulage from a container ship. When he dropped the last few inches, the chassis tilted to the right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Shriver is married to a jazz musician and, based on my conversations with some Manhattan-based jazz experts, she has captured their thoughts. From her jazz musician character:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Personally I blame jazz education. Sonny, Dizzy, Elvin\u2014they didn\u2019t get any degrees. But these good doobies coming out of Berklee and the New School\u2014they\u2019re so fucking respectful. And serious. It\u2019s perverse, man. Like getting a Ph.D. in how to be a dropout.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Shriver foresaw not only COVID-19, but the iPhone 12:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t sure what my brother got up to while I was at work. I think he spent a fair bit of time on the Web, the great time-killer that had replaced conspicuously passive television with its seductive illusion of productivity\u2014<\/p>

Perhaps I overemphasized the value of keeping busy and might have learned to relax more, but I did find it disturbing how, especially with the assistance of media gizmos, it was possible for time and time and more time to pass in the process of doing absolutely nothing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We condemn the morbidly obese for their lack of self-control, but are most of us any better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou gained a few pounds yourself. You like to drop those, too?\u201d \u201cYes, as a matter of fact.\u201d \u201cSo why don\u2019t you? Or why haven\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>

I frowned. \u201cI\u2019m not sure. Ever since Fletcher became such a goody-goody, it\u2019s seemed almost like my job to be the one who\u2019s bad. My coming home from the supermarket with a box of cookies has provided a release valve. If we only stocked edamame, you\u2019re right: we\u2019d lose the kids to Burger King for good.\u201d \u201cPretty complicated for learning to skip lunch, babe.\u201d \u201cWell, maybe it is complicated.\u201d \u201cSo for me it\u2019s even more complicated, dig?\u201d He was getting hostile. \u201cYou can\u2019t even lose thirty pounds, and I\u2019m supposed to lose\u2014I don\u2019t know how many.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t need to lose thirty pounds, thank you. More like twenty, at the most.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t worry, if this is a contest, you get the gold star.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Shriver points out that our collective obesity masks our individual obesity: “If everyone is fat, no one is fat.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t tackling as big an issue, so to speak, as The Mandibles,<\/em> but I recommend Big Brother<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n