Book: We Need to Talk about Kevin

This is the story of Kevin Katchadourian, who, shortly before his sixteenth birthday, kills seven of his classmates, a teacher and a cafeteria worker. Kevin’s story is told in a series of letters written by his mother, Eva, to her estranged husband, Franklin.

The letters are an introspective look at Eva and Kevin’s entwined lives and the impact each has on the other. Eva is an intelligent and affluent woman who has searched all her life for an answer to a question that even she is unable to be truly able to verbalise. Eva, an Armenian living in the USA, meets, falls in love with and marries Franklin. Their two very different worlds compliment each other and result in a happy marriage—Eva, a woman with a desire to travel and see the world searching for something she can’t quite picture or find, and Franklin, the all American man who loves all that America stands for. Eva starts her own business researching and writing travel books for cheap world travel for the age of the hippy. The business is so successful, and her marriage so happy, that Eva feels totally fulfilled in her life; until Franklin’s desire to have a child to complete their union becomes something that Eva can no longer ignore, and so Kevin is conceived and born.

It is then that the real story emerges. This is not a tale of Kevin Katchadourian, the child killer, but of something many people rarely consider or maybe never contemplate: whether a mother can resent the birth of her child and how, and if, that lack of maternal instinct can affect the upbringing of that child. Eva reflects on key events in the lives of her family and tries to explain how her son could have turned into a cold-blooded, Columbine-type killer.

The book has won widespread acclaim and was the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction. This is no surprise. The terror of having a child and what that child will become is something most prospective parents worry about. To have your child become a killer at high school must be one of the worst things any parent can face and be forced to address. Even if your child does not end up in jail as a teenage killer, the choices of children all reflect the way they are raised and the experiences each child as they grow up. This book leaves the reader feeling that this is a genuine and personal account. The author, Lionel Shriver, cleverly leaves the reader feeling a little uncomfortable—as though they were reading a stranger’s diary—which makes for a compelling book.

The story is a highly complex look at the reasons a couple decides to have a child and the impact the decision has on their lives, and the limits of love and loyalty, but it never moralises, or lectures or treats the reader as anything but able to make their own minds up as to why events occurred as they did. Questions are constantly raised over whether Eva is selfish and has caused her incredibly wily and smart son to become a seemingly unrepentant killer, or if, in fact, Eva is another victim of an awful event that is becoming all too commonplace in American society. (So commonplace now that many school-aged killers who decide to murder their classmates for whatever reason is fashionable today, that it often goes unreported in national and international news.)

From the opening chapter to the last paragraph, this book will leave you wanting to learn more about Eva and her family. This is a kick-in-the-gut book, and it never fails to look at issues many authors would shy away from. The back cover of the book quotes from the Independent review, “Frank Kafka wrote that a book should be the ice-pick that breaks open the frozen seas inside us”. Buy this book and shiver at the emotions you will feel.

[Potatojunkie]

Originally Posted by Foxglove

The back cover of the book quotes from the Independent review, “Frank Kafka wrote that a book should be the ice-pick that breaks open the frozen seas inside us”.

Nothing to say about this, I just wanted to quote you quoting the Independent quoting Kafka.

[Foxglove]

Originally Posted by Potatojunkie

Nothing to say about this, I just wanted to quote you quoting the Independent quoting Kafka.

[Peatbog]

this books amazing, read it a couple of months ago (Y)

[*blaine*]

i have to agree this book is amazing, read it a few months back and whilst it did takke a while to get in to for me, once i started getting in to it i was hooked, the twists in the story are really something else

[Pantgirl]

I have this book and tried reading it but got bored and couldn't get into it I might try again once I finish Firecracker.

[Semprini]

Originally Posted by Pantgirl

I have this book and tried reading it but got bored and couldn't get into it I might try again once I finish Firecracker.

It does take a while to get going, but it's worth making the effort.

[Trip]

^^ Yeah, I thought there was gonna be some major twist coming in it, but you could see it a mile off.

Pretty dissappointing!

[breaklikeagirl]

I saw the twist early on, but I didn't feel it took anything away from the story at all. I started reading it at work (bookshop), & was pretty gripped by the first few pages so I bought it to take it home. It was brilliantly written & I loved the honest way it spoke about motherhood. Loved it.

[thischarmingman]

Hey guys... I'm new here but I wanted to join because I read this book in one sitting and it kind of freaked me out. I mostly hated the experience and the narrative voice but I spent an entire Sunday unable to put it down which rarely happens to me... I mean I read alot but I can put books down usually. Any ideas why this is?

*I totally agree that the end was pretty transparent but I was still gripped!

[Drusilla_mac]

This was a fantastic book. It promoted of lot of criticism for Shriver because she's not had children. But it's a well written book and, because I'm a bit clueless, was left guessing what happened to the end. In a perverse way I ended up admiring Kevin because of his different approach to a school massacre. The book is very tongue in cheek such as Kevin choosing to wear tight/shorter clothes than adopting the baggy look that most teens prefer.

And I'm convinced I would end up like Eva if I had kids.

[Pantgirl]

haha I still have this book and aint read it yet. Go me!