We Need To Talk About Kevin

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Paperback, 468 pages

Published May 9th 2006 by Serpent's Tail

(First published April 14th 2003)

Shelves: abuse, adult-fiction, books-i-own, classics, contemporary, crime-thriller-mystery, desperate-to-read, mental-health, read, read-in-2020, realistic-fiction, too-much-hype, serpents tail

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Shortly before his sixteenth birthday, Kevin Khatchadourian kills seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher. He is visited in prison by his mother, Eva, who narrates in a series of letters to her estranged husband, Franklin, the story of Kevin's upbringing. For this powerful, shocking novel, Lionel Shriver was awarded the Orange Prize for Fiction. 

We need to talk about Kevin is yet another one of those books that I have been wanting to read for a long time, and I'm only half pleased that I've finally gotten around to reading it. Again, this is one of those books that , dramatically hyped up in my head, mainly due to my own intrigue over the subject manner, but also due to the multitudes of positive reaction land awards) that the book has received. 

I  have very mixed feelings after reading this book, which makes it quite difficult to both rate and review! The truth is, it took me more than one hundred pages to really get into the story and that is due to the author's writing style. The book consists entirely of letters, written from Kevin's mother, Eva, to his father, Franklin, following the event of a school shooting that was committed by their son. I usually enjoy the epistolary style of writing but despite the honesty of the content of the letters, they didn't seem 'real' and so I found it difficult to connect with the writer. For me, the writing was just too much - it felt as though most sentences were unnecessarily prolonged with adjectives, long-winded and made reading seem laborious.  I couldn't help but feel as though the author was often just trying to make use of as much of her vocabulary as possible. There is somewhat of a 'twist’ at the end of the book, but the writing style itself allowed me to figure it out within only a short amount of reading.

The actual substance of the book was undoubtedly impressive. The story explores a lot of issues, the main one being motherhood and the trials and tribulations that it can entail. Granted, the main event of this book is a horrific crime that, thankfully, most parents won't have to experience, but there are so many concepts and ideas shared by Eva that are accessible to all - this book is very philosophical at points and certainly gives you a lot to think about. I can't deny that I kept thinking about this book long after I closed it.

I found this book very uncomfortable to read and, as strange as it sounds, this was its star quality. Despite my obsession with all things true-crime, this book - mostly the final section - is probably one of the most disturbing pieces of writing that I've read. The unease that the story conjures really emphasises the complexity of the whole situation. It is very effective.

Overall, this book was a bit hit-and-miss. Whilst I was sorely disappointed by the beginning of the book, I am glad that I stuck with it. I really did struggle through the arduous first portion of the book, but by the midway point I felt much more compelled to pick it up. By the end of the book I even (slightly!) began to regret that the book was ending. The philosophical aspect of this book is very well thought out. I haven't read many fictional books that have been able to make me think quite so much and I am thankful for that, I've now considered things about motherhood and parent-child relationships that I most likely wouldn't have if it wasn't for this book. Despite my issues with the waiting style, I would recommend reading this book simply for the experience - I can see why the book gained awards and it's reputation as a modern book of significance.