The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver
The Economist
review
“Drawing on Ms
Shriver’s interest in the financial crisis of 2008 and global demography (an
essay she wrote for Macmillan’s “Encyclopedia of Population” was recently
reprinted as the lead article in the Population and Development Review) and the
financial crisis of 2008, “The Mandibles” presents a bleak future for America.
The GDP of Mexico is bigger than that of its northern neighbour and it arms its
border to keep “Ameri-trash” out; the United States forces its citizens to be
microchipped to ensure the people pay their taxes. Myanmar, meanwhile, looks to
America for cheap labour, and white American women undergo facial surgery to
resemble the Asians buying up half of Brooklyn.”