We Need to Talk About Kevin

Cafe Society
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What did you think about this book?

I read it quickly, it was very absorbing. I found young-Kevin’s antics exaggerated at times, but I guess they had to be in order to explore the limits of what Eva could feel about her son. Not having children, I wonder how common some of Eva’s feelings after childbirth are - not just apprehension for having a child, but boredom when holding her newborn, for example.

I liked the horror-movie feel when nobody saw Kevin the way she did. I’m also aware that she could be a somewhat unreliable narrator… either way I thought it was nicely creepy. One thing that did strike me as odd was that Eva never really probed Celia about what happened to her eye… come on, if you were really convinced that somebody poured acid in your daughter’s eye, wouldn’t you want to make it clear to her that you would believe her, you were on her side?

It doesn’t surprise me that Lionel Shriver lives in London - maybe it’s just me, but the book seemed almost British in style, and reminded me a bit of Zoe Heller’s Notes on a Scandal.

What did you all think of the ending? (left this til the end of the post to stop skim-over spoilers!) I resisted reading any reviews of the book until I’d finished, which I’m now glad I did - even though in retrospect you could kind of see it coming, I was still pretty shocked when I read it (and saddened - Eva still loved Franklin so much).

I’d love to hear what you thought about the book, to what extent you found it realistic, whether it was what you expected!

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Braaaaainsss!

I’ve just finished this book, and I thought it was an absolute masterpiece. I was frankly stunned by the quality of the narration, and Shriver’s ability to put even the most subtle nuances of emotion under the microscope for scrutiny and dissection. It’s the best written book I’ve read since Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Your mileage may vary, but, for me, that’s one hell of a compliment.

I thought Eva’s love for Franklin was very powerfully conveyed, and I was very intrigued by Eva’s views on motherhood. It’s rare (indeed, I can’t think of another instance) to read about a mother who actively resents being pregnant. The character of Kevin was also ingeniously constructed. You could tell Shriver had put a lot of thought into making him as repellant as possible. Even those very brief moments when he seems almost normal (like when he gets sick), serve to throw the darker aspects of his character into sharper relief.

In.fact, while I’m on the subject of the characterisation, I can’t think of any books since Stephen King’s It in which the characters were so realistically evoked. In fact, Shriver even eclipses King in this regard. When I first read It (and, again, YMMV), the thing I loved most about it was that the characters were so clearly drawn, you could easily imagine meeting them in real life. In We Need To Talk About Kevin, you can imagine them in the room with you.

There were also some great, and very chilling stand-alone scenes. For example, the scene with eczema-ridden Violetta is extremely sinister, and gives you a very clear insight into how Kevin’s monstrous nature is developing, even at an early age.

There were a couple of things I didn’t like, however. For instance

I came to absolutely detest Franklin, and was genuinely pleased to read that Kevin had killed him too. I remember relishing the delicious irony of his demise at the hands of the little psychopath he had spent years bending over backwards to defend at every opportunity, thinking “Good. You deserved that, you fucking moron”. For me, Franklin eclipses even the most loathesome creations of Dickens and Shakespeare to become the most effortlessly hateable character in all literature. Of course, I’m sure Shriver didn’t intend for this reaction. I think she wanted people to view Franklin as more of a classically tragic figure, undone by his only character flaw - his complete and total myopia toward his son. Unfortunately, he came across to me as a hopeless moron who deserved everything he got.

Also

i can’t believe that Cecilia would keep quiet about what really happened to her eye. That she does, is, of course, crucial to the plot, but it wouldn’t happen in reality.

Those minor flaws aside, I absolutely loved the book from beginning to end. I honestly can’t recommend it enough. Buy it. Seriously, stop what you’re doing, go out, and buy it today. I guarantee you’ll remember Kevin for the rest of your life.

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I was devastated to learn that

Kevin had murdered Cecilia. That actually hit me rather hard. I remember getting quite a lump in my throat. Cecilia was Kevin’s polar opposite, and she adored Kevin (as she seemingly adored everyone), and had never done anything to hurt him, yet he’d murdered her anyway, purely to hurt his mother. In fact, that’s another thing I felt didn’t really ring true anout the book. If I were Eva, I would have completely disowned Kevin. I certainly would never be able to be in the same room as him, let alone every week at visiting time.

I also thought that

The massacre was ingeniously reconstructed.

so I was very pleased with the ending. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been so moved by a novel.

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I just read this book myself and hope it’s OK to revive this thread, since it was last updated in April.

I agree, Stelios, on Franklin.

Re the ending…