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We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel…
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We Need To Talk About Kevin (2003)

by Lionel Shriver

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
4,705253907 (4.1)1 / 477
  1. 70
    Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (bnbookgirl, BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: Both of these novels are about school shootings and the alienated teenage boys responsible for them. 'We need to talk about Kevin' depicts the complex relationships within the shooter's family, whereas 'Nineteen minutes' focuses on the larger community affected by the event.… (more)
  2. 61
    Columbine by Dave Cullen (GCPLreader)
  3. 30
    Before and After by Rosellen Brown (BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: Both of these novels tell haunting, harrowing stories about the family relationships of teenage boys who commit unthinkable crimes: in 'We need to talk about Kevin' a school shooting, and in 'Before and after' a teenager's murder of his girlfriend.… (more)
  4. 30
    Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland (verenka)
    verenka: Both books deal with the aftermath of school shootings but from different perspectives.
  5. 30
    The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing (christiguc, humppabeibi)
    christiguc: Both are books that explore the nature vs. nurture question in disturbing situations.
  6. 20
    The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (freddlerabbit)
  7. 31
    Defending Jacob by William Landay (arielfl, Booksloth)
    arielfl: Both books are about bad seed boys who murder and who have mothers who have an inkling about their true nature and with fathers who deny, deny, deny.
  8. 10
    The Wrong Mother: A Novel by Sophie Hannah (JeaniusOak)
    JeaniusOak: Both novels explore difficult themes surrounding Motherhood.
  9. 00
    Boy A by Jonathan Trigell (FemmeNoiresque)
  10. 00
    Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist (julienne_preacher)
  11. 01
    Empire Falls by Richard Russo (mcenroeucsb)
  12. 12
    The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (Monika_L)
  13. 12
    The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (RidgewayGirl)
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English (241)  French (3)  German (2)  Italian (2)  Spanish (1)  Finnish (1)  Dutch (1)  Danish (1)  Portuguese (1)  All languages (253)
Showing 1-5 of 241 (next | show all)
An enthralling, eloquent introspection of a mother whose son has been the perpetrator of a school shooting. A psychological thriller that dares to look inside the mind of a mother who does not like her child, and who is not even sure she wants children. Difficult to read at times because of it's gritty realism, a book that will keep you thinking about it long after the last page. Absolutely stunning and highly recommended. ( )
  Jennifyr | May 22, 2013 |
I love this book - every sentence required my full attention. I love the unapologetic depth afforded each character, and the tautness of the narrative (over 400 pages). Never didactic or lachrymose or shielded.

This is the kind of book I always want to be reading - the kind of book I'm afraid will be lost as the future of storytelling succumbs to video games and movies (not adapted from novels). ( )
  usefuljack | May 17, 2013 |
I love this book - every sentence required my full attention. I love the unapologetic depth afforded each character, and the tautness of the narrative (over 400 pages). Never didactic or lachrymose or shielded.

This is the kind of book I always want to be reading - the kind of book I'm afraid will be lost as the future of storytelling succumbs to video games and movies (not adapted from novels). ( )
  usefuljack | May 17, 2013 |
4 1/2 stars. ( )
  Msmydaisy | May 4, 2013 |
I came to this book late; it won the 2005 Orange Prize but I had never heard of it until I came across it as a suggested companion to The Dinner by Herman Koch.

The narrator is Eva Khatchadourian, the mother of a teenage boy who massacred nine people at his high school. The book, an examination of the nature versus nurture debate, has an epistolary structure; in a series of letters to her absent husband, Franklin Plaskett, Eva examines her son’s life and wonders whether there were signs of his sociopathy since his birth or whether her “empathic deficiency” contributed to Kevin’s actions.

In many ways the book is a character study of both Eva and Kevin. Prior to motherhood, Eva was a spirited, independent-minded, adventurous, ambitious, and successful woman who focused on her career; she founded a company, A Wing and a Prayer, which specializes in guidebooks for budget travelers. She has little maternal instinct and becomes a mother reluctantly. The name of her company best illustrates how she approaches motherhood because she is ill-prepared for her son. From the beginning she is unable to bond with him and her behaviour always seems some sort of rejection of her firstborn. As she describes life with Kevin, she vacillates from self-pity (“for becoming hopelessly trapped in someone else’s story”) to regret (which makes her “determined to accept due responsibility for every wayward thought, every petulance, every selfish moment”). She admits to having flaws like being narcissistic, and she can’t come up with an argument when Kevin offers his sketch of his mother as “spoiled . . . imperious . . . ignorant . . . boasting . . . self-righteous – condescending – and superior.”

Kevin is seen predominantly from his mother’s point of view. She describes him as “sour, secretive, and sarcastic . . . [and] laconic, supercilious, [and] unforthcoming.” He seems pathologically lethargic and develops no interests and has only disdain for “the enthusiasms of others that he liked to despoil.” Eva does admit that Kevin behaves very differently with his father, but she believes his “Partridge-family buoyancy” is fake. Interestingly, Franklin seems totally oblivious to his son’s destructive and malicious nature, and Eva knows her husband thinks “Kevin’s surly, remote pose with [her] was fake, while with [Franklin] he could relax and be his sprightly, chipper self.” Is Franklin wearing rose-coloured glasses or is Eva totally jaded?

The characterization of all three major characters presents some problems. Eva claims to have sensed from the beginning that there was something wrong with Kevin, but she did very little to help him. She becomes apathetic when her husband refuses to acknowledge that there is anything wrong with their child. Even when Kevin’s behaviour escalates to the point of being physically and mentally and emotionally injurious to others, she does not confront him or actively seek a way to change his behaviour. This apathy is such a contrast to her earlier self when she forced herself to do things she didn’t want to do: “My whole life I have been making myself do things.” Franklin’s total blindness to his son’s problems stretches credibility. Kevin behaves consistently until the end when his fear of incarceration in an adult prison and his gift to his mother seem out of step with his character. The final scene between mother and son gives the impression that the author capitulated to a demand to end on a more positive note.

I appreciated the erudite style of the book and the balance with which the author tried to explore a disturbing subject which, unfortunately, needs to be studied in our society. ( )
  Schatje | Apr 23, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 241 (next | show all)
A powerful, gripping and original meditation on evil
 
At a time when fiction by women has once again been criticised for its dull domesticity, here is a fierce challenge of a novel by a woman that forces the reader to confront assumptions about love and parenting, about how and why we apportion blame, about crime and punishment, forgiveness and redemption and, perhaps most significantly, about how we can manage when the answer to the question why? is either too complex for human comprehension, or simply non-existent.
 
The epistolary method Shriver uses, letters to Eva's absent husband, strains belief, yet ultimately that's not what trips us up. It's Eva's relentless negativity that becomes boring and repetitive in the first half of the book, the endless recounting of her loss of svelteness, her loss of freedom.
added by stephmo | editSalon.com, Barbara O'Dair (Aug 12, 2004)
 
Maybe there are books to be written about teenage killers and about motherhood, but this discordant and misguided novel isn't one of them.
added by stephmo | editThe Guardian, Sarah A. Smith (Nov 15, 2003)
 
A little less, however, might have done a lot more for this book. A guilt-stricken Eva Khatchadourian digs into her own history, her son's and the nation's in her search for the responsible party, and her fierceness and honesty sustain the narrative; this is an impressive novel, once you get to the end.

 

» Add other authors (22 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Lionel Shriverprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Trouw, MiekeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
A child needs your love most when he deserves it least.
--Erma Bombeck
Dedication
For Terri: One worst-case scenario we've both escaped.
First words
I'm unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you.
Quotations
You were ambitious - for your life, what it was like when you woke up in the morning, and not for some attainment.  Like most people who did not answer a particular calling from an early age, you placed work beside yourself; any occupation would fill up your day but not your heart.  I liked that about you.  I liked it enormously.
Only a country that feels invulnerable can afford political turmoil as entertainment.
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Book description
Poikani Kevin koostuu Evan kirjeistä miehelleen Franklinille. Eva Khatchadourianilla oli loistelias ura ja onnellinen avioliitto, ennen kuin hän sai lapsen. Nyt heidän poikansa Kevin on vankilassa järkyttävän rikoksen takia, ja Eva käy kirjeissään läpi tragediaa edeltänyttä aikaa. Miksi Kevin päätyi hirmutekoon? Oliko kaikki vanhempien syytä? Mitä jos Eva olisi rakastanut Keviniä enemmän? Jos Frank ei olisi aina yrittänyt nähdä asioiden valoista puolta? Jos Eva olisi halunnut lasta enemmän? Vai olisiko näistä mikään muuttanut mitään? Shriver käsittelee tarkkanäköisesti mustimpiakin tunteita ja ajassa liikkuvia ilmiöitä. Romaani käsittelee suuria kysymyksiä "arkisesti", kiinnittyy omaan aikaamme ja erittelee sen vastenmielisimpiä piirteitä tinkimättömästi. Se kysyy oikeita kysymyksiä, mutta ei anna valmiita vastauksia. Poikani Kevin on romaani syyllisyydestä, äidinrakkaudesta ja sen puuttumisesta, itsekkyydestä ja selittämättömästä pahuudesta, jota on mahdoton selittää tyhjäksi millään psykologian teorioilla. Järkyttävä, yllätyksellinen ja ajatuksia herättävä romaani voitti vuoden 2005 Orange-palkinnon.
Haiku summary

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 006112429X, Paperback)

The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry

Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin’s horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:46:54 -0500)

(see all 4 descriptions)

The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry."Eva never really wanted to be a mother -- and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails."--Cover, p. [4].… (more)

» see all 7 descriptions

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