What causes a child to be evil? Is it the fault of the parents or a genetic mistake? Can a mother love a child who is a monster? This book tackles these questions with an unsettling ferociousness that will chill your bones. The horrors that take place in the novel will haunt you. Written over twenty years ago, it still resonates. ( )

There's a reason why this book is so popular. Its the subject matter.

No doubt you’ve read the reviews about how the author hasn't met a pretentious adverb or adjective she didn't like. This is true. But I also think this is in character with the narrator. It’s the style of language she would be most likely to use.

It's a disturbing book. Terrible things happen. Hideous things. I'm not sure that all the school shooters in America start out as demon seeds right out of the birth canal, but it fits with the auhtor's narrative.

The narrator is an unreliable narrator to some degree. She's responsible for more than she lets on.

In the end, it’s worth a read because of the subject matter. You pick up this book for the same reason you stay glued to the cable news after a school shooting. It's difficult to avert your eyes from the car wreck. ( )

I made it about half way through this book and I can honestly say it is NOT for me. It was so hard to read with how brutal the Mother sees her son and how evil he seemed to be. Lionel's writing is so incredible, but the story itself made me feel sick.

And I'm sure you can pick apart this book. There's no way a kid is evil from the get go in a "realistic" book (this isn't sci-fi or fantasy). The Mother herself could be putting this image on the kid since she is all about herself. There's so many options, but I just couldn't do it.

So this is a one star/DNF book for me. I tried, I really did. I'm sure any other readers will enjoy it, but I know when to stop for my own sanity and mental health. ( )

Eva es una mujer satisfecha consigo misma. Es autora y editora de guías de viaje para gente tan urbana y feliz como ella. Casada desde hace años con Franklin, decide, ya cerca de los cuarenta, tener un hijo. Y el producto de tan indecisa decisión será Kevin. Pero, casi desde el comienzo, nada se parece a los inefables mitos familiares de la clase media urbana y feliz. Y cuando nace, Kevin es el típico bebé difícil que tortura a los padres. Y, con el tiempo, se convertirá en el terror de las niñeras, en un adolescente terrible, en el antihéroe a quien nada le interesa sino la belleza de la pura maldad. Y en ese trayecto que va desde los primeros desencantos de Eva hasta la sangrienta epifanía del joven Kevin, dos días antes de cumplir los dieciséis años, el niño es un enigma para su madre, que nunca le ha podido querer. «Excelente: por su inteligencia, su lucidez, su sentido del humor –extraño, macabro a veces, pero siempre eficaz– y también, desde luego, por la audacia con que ataca uno de los mitos, el de la maternidad feliz, más intocables de la cultura en que vivimos» (Laura Freixas).

This book was haunting. I read it ten years ago and I still think of it. I think that’s the mark of a good book. Unfortunately Ottawa plot that continues to happen over and over in our country. Be warned that you will never likely stop thinking about it. ( )