We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A Great Debate for Nature vs. Nurture
Review: I picked up "We Need to Talk About Kevin" because of the subject matter. Not because it was about a killing spree at a high school, but because it was told from the viewpoint of the mother of the boy who killed his classmates and a teacher. It puts a twist on the "common" Columbine-like story.

The novel begins after the melee, as the mother, Eva, traces the history of her son Kevin back through his days as an infant, through all his apathy and wicked stunts growing up. She tells Kevin's story in long letters written every other week or so to her estranged husband. At first, this seemed like the actions of a crazy woman trying to re-establish her marriage. But who on Earth would ever want to reconcile with a nagging, pretentious woman who uses long diatribes with $10 words to fault you throughout your marriage?

Not until halfway through the novel was my interest fully grabbed and I didn't tire of reading another whiny letter from Eva. Up until that point, Eva comes off as a pompous woman with whom I really couldn't relate...and really didn't want to. You later realize, though, that this perspective is probably the way Kevin viewed her and why he held such resentment for his mother.

The story itself is a good example of the old Nature vs. Nurture debate. Are people inherently born evil? Or is it based on the way they're raised? Although this novel doesn't answer the question, it gives credence to both arguments and can make for an interesting discussion.

The ending of the novel is very dramatic and offers an interesting manipulation in events, which I appreciated. At that point, I was absorbed into the characters' lives and actually wanted more. I felt like a part of their "dysfunctional" family. The characters felt real, with the exception of Franklin, Kevin's father, who resembled the "golly gee" Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch (the movie version, not the TV one). It's hard to believe that Eva would ever marry such a naïve man. After finishing the novel, my only disappointment (and boredom) with the actual writing was that the author used an overload of detail to tell what turns out to be an excellent story. (My Creative Writing teacher would have scratched red lines through numerous sentences and paragraphs, as they seemed extraneous). Less is more!

If I learned anything from reading this book, it can be summed up in this one sentence: "You can call it innocence or you can call it gullibility, but [she] made the most common mistake of the good-hearted: she assumed that everyone else was just like her." On that note...don't watch your back, watch what's in front of you.


Rating:
Summary: Dark Allegory
Review: This book gives people named Kevin a bad name, but that's not why I wasn't crazy about it. I got about a quarter of the way into the book and then I realized it was going to be a long, long slog until the end. I'm not sure exactly why author Shriver is telling her story in epistolary form, but it doesn't work. Franklin, who Eva addresses in her letters, already knows half the things she painstakingly writes out to him, it's the clumsiest exposition I've seen in quite a while. I know others have argued that Eva is not really writing to Franklin but more to herself, but in that case why not make it a diary, the whole device smacks of the kind of thing novelists used to write when they hoped their book would be featured on the Oprah Winfrey program. Now that Oprah has turned her attention to the classics, perhaps contemporary fiction will turn away from the marketing principles on which it is currently organized.

Other reviewers have suggested that perhaps Shriver knows a "Kevin" (i.e. a sociopath) or has personally had the misfortune of knowing someone like that in her own family or among her circle of acquaintances. I hope not, but in any case I don't think so, the whole thing smacks of research to me. But perhaps she did know someone named "Kevin" who did her wrong when she was a girl or something.

It is a bitter, twisted, curiously compelling novel but it is much longer than it has to be. I don't mind books being long, but come on, Alice Munro could have told this story in 30 pages and it would have been great.

Rating:
Summary: "Look me in the eye, and tell me why."
Review: This is an absolutely riveting piece of fiction, due in no small part to the fact that it is based on recent true-life events which are every parent's worst nightmare. Kevin Khatchadourian is a fifteen year old boy who murders seven of his classmates, one of his teachers and a cafeteria worker in a cold-blooded and expertly plotted massacre at his high school. This is his mother's story, as told in letters written to her husband ( Kevin's father.)

Eva Khatchadourian is struggling to find an answer to the question of WHY her son would commit such a heinous act of violence. In her letters, which are presented in journal-like fashion, she recounts her son's life from the time she became pregnant with him until the fateful morning he prepares to leave for school with the sole purpose of committing murder. Was Kevin simply born bad, or did Eva's lack of the expected maternal feelings toward Kevin, lacking since his birth, contribute in some way to his deadly actions? Was she a bad mother or does some of the blame lie with Kevin's father, who always wanted to believe the best about his son and always gave him the benefit of the doubt, even when circumstances clearly pointed to the fact that Kevin was a disturbed child and likely had been from a very early age.

I don't believe there is anyone who has heard about tragedies such as the one at Columbine High School and not thought to themselves, how is it the parents did not see this coming? Wasn't there something they could have done to prevent it? Are these bad parents, or simply human beings who did the best they could but ultimately did not foresee that their children might be capable of such horrendous violence. This incredible story will definitely give you pause to reconsider. It is compelling and masterfully written and one that you will not soon forget. Have no expectations about the ending as it is a gut-wrenching shocker that will leave you feeling stunned. I highly, highly recommend this book!


Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant And Sensitive Psychological Study- A Great Novel
Review: "We Need To Talk About Kevin" is a disquieting, provocative, and brilliantly written novel about a mother, desperately attempting to understand why her son, 15-year-old Kevin, brutally, with premeditation, murdered seven of his fellow classmates, a cafeteria worker and his English teacher in a Columbine-style school massacre. There have been nationwide discussions on the cause of events like these - especially during the 1990s when it seemed like school shootings ran rampant throughout the US. In Pearl, Paducah, Springfield, Littleton, seemingly normal kids, kids who had almost everything a child could want, became terribly derailed. Some argue that the proliferation of and easy access to guns is the cause; others that the excess of violence in movies, TV programs and video games induce violent behavior in children and adolescents. The one question almost everyone seems to have in common is, "What were these murderous kids' parents like?" "Didn't they recognize symptoms of violence in their own children?"

Eva Khatchadourian, Kevin's bereft mother, narrates this novel through a series of compelling letters to her estranged husband, Franklin. She examines her son's life, from conception to his terrible act of violence, trying to understand the why of it. What becomes clear early on is that Eva tortures herself with blame. She is guilt-ridden that her shortcomings as a parent might have caused Kevin's evil act, his violent behavior, his very nature. She must have failed, she must have been deficient as a mother, for her boy to commit such a chilling crime. She also considers that neither nature nor nurture are solely responsible for shaping a child's character. Her honest, introspective correspondence to her beloved husband causes the reader to consider that some children just might be born bad. How and when are psychopaths created? The reader is pulled back and forth between empathy and blame, anger and grief, and perhaps, ultimately to forgiveness.

Through Eva's perspective we watch a story unfold. A happy, almost idyllic marriage to Franklin; a brilliant career in a business which she, herself, created; her ambivalent feelings when she became pregnant, an event which interfered with her career; the indifference she felt when she held her son for the first time; Kevin's difficult infancy - he refused his mother's milk and didn't like to be held by her; his total manipulation of his father, who believed Kevin could do no wrong, putting a permanent strain on the marriage; Kevin's lack of empathy and cruel streak, which he blatantly flaunted in front of his mother and hid from his Dad; and Eva's fear that her dislike for her son, which she went overboard to conceal, would damage him - further escalating his already violent nature.

"We Need To Talk About Kevin" examines how a heinous event can impact a town, a marriage, a family and an individual. It also causes the reader to reflect on the concept of unconditional love. Lionel Shriver's clear, crisply crafted prose builds tension throughout her novel, ultimately leading to a stunning conclusion. Her narrative is almost perfectly paced. This is an extraordinary psychological study that gripped me, riveted me, from the first page to the last. And the author ably portrays the complexity and the horror of the act and the consequences. I was seriously left breathless and horribly saddened after finishing the book. This is most definitely not an "up" novel or a light read. However, it may be my favorite book of 2004 and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I have purchased 2 more of Ms. Shriver's novels as a result of reading this one.
JANA


Rating:
Summary: Sobering
Review: This is a superbly written novel that will take its readers into the dark recesses of a mother's heart. Early in the novel, I attempted to understand what made Kevin the way he was; later, I held my breath awaiting the inevitable emotional and/or physical destruction that he would inflict. The ultimate mystery is not what created someone without any feelings of connection, but why his father couldn't accept the horrendous workings of his son's mind before the ultimate tragedies. Kevin's interactions with his mother were heartbreaking and cannot, I believe, be understood by anyone without a psychopath in his or her life. This book is totally absorbing and has left a dent in my heart.

Rating:
Summary: A somber tale
Review: "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is an unusual novel; I can't remember the last time I read a novel that is so completely nihilistic. To me the promise of the book was the possibility of discovering a uniquely powerful perspective that could transform an unlikeable protagonist into someone sympathetic. I was disappointed, however, that Lionel Shriver's portrayal of a sadistic child was only that. Once Kevin's story is completely revealed, the stark ending of the book fails to offer anything hopeful or remotely redemptive. Shriver plays with the possibility that an unloving mother may be to blame, but she never makes a conclusive cause-and-effect link. Dad's a brainless nincompoop, and Eva, the shadowy mother, never seems to be all there. Always reacting to Kevin's behavior, Eva never does anything proactive, like bringing Kevin to a pyschiatrist. When she lets her six year old son hold a secret over her head, she acts unbelievably weak-willed. It certainly seems that Shriver did extensive research into violent teens, yet I wonder if the same amount of research was invested in Eva's character. Ultimately, I'm not sure whether Shriver wants us to contemplate the psyche of a child like Kevin or the pysche of a parent who is at a complete loss when it comes to parenting.

Rating:
Summary: Could not put it down.
Review: This is the best book I've read in a long time. To be honest, I'm not literary enough to comment on the book's strengths. But I did want to comment on some of the criticisms in the Amazon reviews. Namely, that (1) the book is a novel, NOT a dissertation on teen mass murderers and (2) an unlikeable protagonist does not automatically mean the book isn't any good. Eva's failings are part of what makes the story so haunting.

I agree, that it distracted from the realism of the story that Kevin's problems were not addressed more aggressively by his parents, but his mother's negative, judgemental version of events had the benefit of hindsight. There really aren't that many SPECIFIC instances of obviously deviant behavior (although there are some). And in one case, Kevin is vindicated and his mother is shown to have judged him too harshly.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding novel
Review: One of the most provocative and insightful books I've ever read. Perhaps you have to be an independent woman to appreciate the introspective nature of this book but I found it gripping, compelling and even profound. Shriver really captures the nature of the ambivalence of family vs. career, life in suffocating suburbia vs. free-spirited city, the cloying nature of people who believe that spouse + children = pure joy. The style was jarring at first (a series of letters written but no response received) but it worked well and let me live in Eva's head. I did not find her "whiny" or otherwise repulsive; rather, I thought the character was incredibly realistic and compelling. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in exploring human nature.

Rating:
Summary: impressive accomplishment in the epistolary form
Review: I couldn't disagree more with Beveridge. This book is imminently readable, engaging, and thought-provoking. Beyond that, it is a writers' book. Shriver uses the epistolary form to advantage great enough to challenge Lee Smith's accomplishment in FAIR AND TENDER LADIES. Don't pass this one up. It's a good read.