Mania starts off in an alternative 2011, exploring what happens if society changes its opinion on something practically overnight, in this case that everyone now has the same intelligence. The Mental Parity movement means you cannot be more or less intelligent than someone else and to say otherwise would be labelled as smartist. What would you do? Would you go along with it even if you didn't believe it? Or would you want to stand up for what you believe in? Even if there are consequences?
Best friends Pearson and Emory both start off ridiculing the new Mental Parity movement. Emory then changes what she says in public in order to keep her career. As the movement develops and it changes all aspects of life including education, work and healthcare (there are no more exams as everyone is the same so they are no longer needed, so there are open admissions to universities and to graduate you only need to enrol, so doctors and other professions aren't qualified) Pearson and Emory have increasingly differing opinions on how to live with MP, throughout the novel this massively impacts their friendship. I found both characters unlikeable.
Pearson's 3 children are also affected by MP. Her oldest 2 children Darwin and Zanzibar were had with a donor that Pearson chose for their IQ alone. She treats her youngest daughter Lucy differently as she doesnt learn in the same way, it often feels like she's a disappointment to her mother. Its important to Pearson that her children are extraordinary and now she can no longer say that they are clever or nurture their interests.
Without going into detail about the ending, it was interesting what everyone believed by 2027. Did Emory have any of her own beliefs? Would she just follow the most current popular opinions so she keeps getting views? The way Pearson felt about Emory at the end was so frustrating - after all that happened!
I found the writing style took a while to get into and at points I didn't think I would finish the book but it did pick up and I did want to know what happened next. Some of the points were repetitive so I struggled with some parts of the book.
Overall I have mixed feelings about the book. The ideas are interesting as it makes you think about intelligence and what it really means. What is the truth and can we just decide to change it? Who decides what is the truth and what we as a society believe. It seems personal for the author and through Mania she is making comments on political correctness and cancel culture.
Best friends Pearson and Emory both start off ridiculing the new Mental Parity movement. Emory then changes what she says in public in order to keep her career. As the movement develops and it changes all aspects of life including education, work and healthcare (there are no more exams as everyone is the same so they are no longer needed, so there are open admissions to universities and to graduate you only need to enrol, so doctors and other professions aren't qualified) Pearson and Emory have increasingly differing opinions on how to live with MP, throughout the novel this massively impacts their friendship. I found both characters unlikeable.
Pearson's 3 children are also affected by MP. Her oldest 2 children Darwin and Zanzibar were had with a donor that Pearson chose for their IQ alone. She treats her youngest daughter Lucy differently as she doesnt learn in the same way, it often feels like she's a disappointment to her mother. Its important to Pearson that her children are extraordinary and now she can no longer say that they are clever or nurture their interests.
Without going into detail about the ending, it was interesting what everyone believed by 2027. Did Emory have any of her own beliefs? Would she just follow the most current popular opinions so she keeps getting views? The way Pearson felt about Emory at the end was so frustrating - after all that happened!
I found the writing style took a while to get into and at points I didn't think I would finish the book but it did pick up and I did want to know what happened next. Some of the points were repetitive so I struggled with some parts of the book.
Overall I have mixed feelings about the book. The ideas are interesting as it makes you think about intelligence and what it really means. What is the truth and can we just decide to change it? Who decides what is the truth and what we as a society believe. It seems personal for the author and through Mania she is making comments on political correctness and cancel culture.