Interview with Lionel Shriver author of "The New Republic"
A droll, playful novel, "The New Republic" addresses weighty issues like terrorism with the deft, tongue-in-cheek touch that is vintage Shriver. It also presses the more intimate question: What makes particular people so magnetic, while the rest of us inspire a shrug? What\u2019s their secret? And in the end, who has the better life\u2014the admired, or the admirer?