As much as I love reading, it does not occur very often that I feel compelled to write a review about a book. I can think of maybe four or five books that thrilled me so much that I wanted to discuss them again and again. Now I can add "We Need To Talk About Kevin" to that list.
The author, Lionel Shriver, says she likes creating characters that are "hard to love". And this is true for every person named in "We Need To Talk About Kevin. The main plot: teenager Kevin murdered seven students at his high school. In letters to her husband Franklin, Kevin's mom Eva reflects on Kevin's childhood and her role as a mother.
source: amazon.com
The book brings up so many questions about parental and social failure, mental illnesses, who to blame for what, who is deserving of what punishment, and it describes the helplessness of everyone. It's a sad and pessimistic view of life, but never have I seen it being portrayed in a more fascinating way.
You don't want to sympathize with Eva, because she is - as she admits herself - not a good mother and maybe also not a very good wife. And yet it's hard to not recognize yourself in some of the things she says or does or thinks. Her honesty is shocking but admirable.
You cannot help but be repulsed by many of the things Kevin does as a young child and of course the horrible actions he takes as a teenager.
And Franklin? He is a bit of a douchebag. You can give him credit for trying to be a good dad, but it's hard to ignore that in the end he's just a vacuous, shallow, stereotypical suburb American (a Republican, even!) who is in denial about everything that is wrong in his family.
Shriver's language is so precise and the whole story is so well-conceived, it makes this novel all the more terrifying, disturbing and mind-blowing.
I have nothing but love for this book. I would never have picked it up myself if it had not been recommended to me. I hope this post inspires a few people to read this ingenious book because it's more than worth it.
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