Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver writes fiction that deals with "issues." One of my favorite books is her novel, So Much For That, which dealt with cancer.  This one deals with obesity. It's a great read and really gets the you thinking about overeating and underachieving.
The main character, Pandora, runs a successful business in the middle of Iowa - but it's a quirky thing, an idea that "took off" and made her rich and somewhat famous. She's appeared on the cover of New York Magazine as an example of a woman entrepreneur who made it. Her brother, Edison, sees her there and when he runs into hard times calls to ask if he can come and stay with her and her family for a bit.
When she picks him up at the airport, she barely recognizes him; her once slim and nice-looking brother is now nearly 400 pounds! And he's pretty miserable and obnoxious. Fletcher, Pandora's finicky husband (and a health nut!) has no patience for Edison and things flare up out of control in the family. (There are two children, Fletcher's from his first marriage, who get embroiled in the mess as well.) Fletcher pretty  much tells Pandora that it's him or me and she chooses Edison, taking him on as a "project."  She asks for a year to see if she can get Edison to lose the weight and get his life as a jazz musician back on track.
There's an interesting twist at the end of the book that was surprising to me, but with hindsight, was perfect! Pandora allows her brother to swallow her whole life; I bought it, because of the family history that is a big part of the story as well. But how many sisters would do that?
There's a lot going on in this novel. I must say, I really enjoyed it. I like Shriver as an author and plan to read her other novels as well.