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Lionel Shriver: We Need To Talk About Kevin

I just started it today and have been enjoying it so much I'm a third way through. It's my first Shriver book and so far I really like her writing style, I read a bit of this thread but then skipped the spoilers, so I look forward to coming and reading the rest later :)
 
I finished today and was wrapped up in the story until the very end. I didn't really like any of the characters, I'm not sure that you were supposed to but I felt a lot of sympathy for all of them except maybe the father, Franklin. I liked him least of all the characters
even in the end when his murder was reavealed I didn't feel that much for him, just for Eva, Celia and even Kevin and I still wanted to blame a lot of the tragedy on him. Maybe because I percieved him as weak and always trying to do a cover up of the families problems.
The book did keep me guessing right to the end, she would hint just enough at what was coming that I was compelled to read on and yet I was still surprised when the events came up that she had hinted at earlier.

I thought Shriver did an excellent job of telling this story and I like everything about her style of writing in this book. I've not read anything else by her but I probably will in the future.
 
I finished the book yesterday and what can I say? After getting off to a dodgy start (it was a bit slow for my liking) the book raced through me. About halfway into the book I started thinking
how strange it was that Franklin never responded to any of her letters. This made me wonder why.I came to the shocking conclusion that Kevin had killed his father, hence the earlier reference to the boy who shot up his school and murdered his parents at home. I can't say whether that spoiled the remainder of the book knowing that Franklin was dead and he had 'custody' of Celia.

Why did Kevin keep Celia's glass eye?
I can't figure that out.
 
Inkheart said:
Why did Kevin keep Celia's glass eye?
I can't figure that out.
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I thought it served 2 purposes, to remind him of his mistake (in which he made the parents' and Celia's bond stronger) and to inflict further suffering on his mother, he liked the reaction it got out of her when he started playing with it at the table, he liked breaking thru her cold, calm, detached attitude. When he gives it to her in the end and tells her not to open the box it's the only time we see any remorse or familial concern from him.
 
Like a previous poster stated I too thought it was going to be hard going when I first started this book but it wasn't long before I became drawn in to the story as if it were true. Great characters;
Franklyn so much in denial, I hated him but who's to say they wouldn't refuse to see the glaringly obvious evidence if it were your own son. I liked Kevin's line about not shooting his audience when asked why he didn't shoot his mother.

Excellent book.
 
I've not stopped thinking about the contents of this book since I read it at the beginning of the year (or maybe even late last year, I forget). It was slow starting, which spoiled it a bit, and I almost gave up, actually. If it wasn't for the recommendations from people on this forum and elsewhere, I would have.

But wow, what a book. I've just bought another of Shriver's, called Double Fault.

I hated Franklyn too. I think we were supposed to. I'd imagine the same story would be completely different had it been written from Franklyn's perspective.
 
The book and thread are quite old so I'm going to risk not using spoiler tags! But just in case the following will contain spoilers, great big ruin-the-whole-book spoilers!

Firstly I think Lionel Shriver has done a very brave and intriguing thing with this book. Teenage killers are a difficult subject and one that we don't handle very well. I don't really get on with Shriver's writing style, her sentences are rather like over-burdened Christmas trees - too many clauses! At times it was difficult to keep all the clauses of a single sentence in my head at the same time. I had re-read many parts to ensure that I'd got the gist of it. Many of the metaphors seemed forced and unnatural. rather than adding to the flow of the text, they jarred. But I think it being written as a series of letters worked very well. In a way, the letters were written to Eva's own conscience as much as to Franklyn. Eva doesn't expect any replies. She's almost writing to work things through in her own head, making it very believable that she would repeat feelings and happenings.

I found the book to be a very uncomfortable read but conversely unputdownable. I think as the only voice we hear is Eva's it's impossible not to identify with her in some way. I don't think of her as a liar. I think she's looking for answers as much as anyone, which is why she's analysing her own past so minutely. I think if she could look back and say 'look this is where I went wrong, this is what I did. I'm to blame, lock me up', she'd have almost been happy.

It was Franklyn I really didn't like. He also needed to get out of his dreamworld and see his son (and life in general) for what he really was. If any one person was responsible for the way Kevin turned out, I'd say it was his father. Eva saw Kevin as he was and tried to love him despite that, and managed to get some kind of mutual respect. Franklin instilled no discipline, no sense of responsibility. He simply had this idea of what his son was and refused to see anything else. Had he survived the massacre, he probably would have found some way to exonerate Kevin. And all his unrelenting 'good ole dad' routine got him was resentment, disgust and an arrow in the head.

I didn't see that tragedy coming at all. I could feel something bad was going to happen but I couldn't quite get what.
 
I can go on explaining Kevin’s actions, but I think this post is long enough already.[/QUOTE]

I can see what you mean, but my personal view is also that some part of character is innate; I could certainly see that in my own son from very young indeed (and he's only 12 months old, so not exactly an OAP!)
 
I am struggling with this book. I find the language complicated and the sentences quite difficult to follow. I sometimes have to read every sentence twice to understand what the author is trying to convey.

With this speed, I think I will finish the book only next week.
 
I finished this book yesterday and I can't stop thinking about this book.

Here's my review:
Interesting is an adjective that will not do justice to Lionel Shriver’s We need to talk about Kevin. Adjectives like thought-provoking, disturbing come close to doing justice to this book.

This book is a set of letters written by Eva Khatchadourian to her estranged husband Franklin. Through these letters she narrates the harrowing incident of her son, Kevin, going on a killing spree in his school which results in seven death and two injuries. The book is in Eva’s voice, first person narration and the story seems one-sided at times and it surely is, it is after all just Eva’s version of the story that you get to hear.

The book covers Eva’s courtship days with Franklin, their her post-marriage days, her decision to become a mother, Kevin’s birth and the strange relationship Eva has with her son. Eva finds her son cold towards her and that is an understatement. At times, one gets a feeling as if the mother and the son are on a war with each other.

Those odd incidents which Eva narrates makes one wonder whether to believe her. I only get to read Eva’s side of the story and I often wondered how credible they were. I wish I could elaborate more on those incidents, but then I will have to attach a spoiler label. The characters are completely believable, mind you, it is only these incidents that makes you wonder if Eva is truthful. Kevin and Eva live out their part with all colors. Franklin expresses certain shades, but is not completely developed. Celia is more like a filler, doesn’t add any taste of her own to the book.

For most part of the book, Eva evoked sympathy and compassion in me. There were times when I hated her, even thought that she was insane. (I don’t want to tread into dangerous water here, but I mentioned to my male friend that this book could be difficult to understand for the male species and he didn’t take it well, so I will refrain from saying anything.) When it comes to Kevin, I am torn between loathing and pity. Certain encounters between Kevin and Eva leave you wondering what their relationship actually is.

The language is anything but simple. I struggled in the initial few pages, but once my mind settled down to taking in new words and complicated sentences, the reading went more smoothly. It becomes difficult to distinguish between Eva, the protagonist, and Lionel, the author of the book. Eva is well read, intelligent, well-travelled and doesn’t hesitate to show her special talents. One tends to think whether the author is showing off her extra-ordinary vocabulary skills through Eva. Of course, authors sketch their characters based on people they meet. I guess no harm if you use some dimension of your own personality to give your character more depth.

The book moves fast. The interlude of the present situations with Eva’s past works really well. The author shows tremendous control over the mixture of past and present. There is no one sentence in the book which is extraneous. Every sentence, every word does justice (an my paperbook version is all of 468 pages).

So, does this book work? Yes, it does, even though the author uses the unconventional method of letters to narrate her story, it works. It probably wouldn’t have worked without these letters. At the end of it, the book leaves a lot for the reader’s guess. This book is not black and white, but a beautiful grey, which the readers can interpret in any way they want. This worked for me.

If you are going to pick this up to know why kids take up a gun and go bang-bang, then please keep the book back. The book is not about that incident. It uses the incident to set a plot, but the book is much more generic. If you expect an answer for the question, you will be disappointed.

The best part about this book is it does not try to answer the question. This book touched me and more importantly, it made me think.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Even this book is not your kind, pick it up, you might take something from it.
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If anybody wants to discuss this book, please hop in. I am dying to talk to someone about this book.
 
I found the book absolutely captivating. Sometimes the author gets carried away with her fancy words, but it was a cracking read all in all.
 
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