A blackly comic novel from the author of We need to talk about Kevin, this was first published in 1994 and languished out of print for years till the success of ‘Kevin’ shone a spotlight on her earlier work. Set in 90s Africa this is a deeply un-PC novel that pits a liberal family planning activist do-gooder against a misanthrope as darker forces than they are at work to consider population ‘management’. Not one to read if you want to like the characters but a dark and still prescient work.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Recommendations: |
From the Orange Prize-winning author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN comes a grimly comic tale of bad ideas and good intentions. With a deft, droll touch, Shriver highlights the hypocrisy of lofty intellectuals who would save humanity but who don't like people. Eleanor Merritt, a do-gooding American family-planning worker, was drawn to Kenya to improve the lot of the poor. Unnervingly, she finds herself falling in love with the beguiling Calvin Piper despite, or perhaps because of, his misanthropic theories about population control and the future of the human race. Surely, Calvin whispers seductively in Eleanor's ear, if the poor are a responsibility they are also an imposition. Set against the vivid backdrop of shambolic modern-day Africa - a continent now primarily populated with wildlife of the two-legged sort - this is a wry, grimly comic tale of bad ideas and good intentions.
Game Control features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Game Control is available in Paperback, Ebook
Game Control was written by Lionel Shriver and published by The Borough Press an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Game Control has 383 pages
