We Need to Talk About Kevin

A Novel

By: Lionel Shriver

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Eva never really wanted to be a mother - and certainly not the mother of a boy who ends up murdering seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his 16th birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin’s horrific rampage, in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

©2003 Lionel Shriver (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

Critic reviews

“Shriver handles this material, with its potential for cheap sentiment and soap opera plot, with rare skill and sense.” ( Newark Star Ledger)

“A slow, magnetic descent into hell that is as fascinating as it is disturbing.” ( Cleveland Plain Dealer)

“Powerful [and] harrowing.” ( Entertainment Weekly)

Wow.

By golly.

Oh Man.

Holy crap.

What an ending.

Amazing story progression. Amazing vocabulary. Amazing creativity.

Amazing.

The mind of a woman, more than a killer

I got this audiobook because it was classified by so many reviews as "Horror". It's absolutely NOT a horror, in any sense of the word. The events inside might be horrible but, it's not suspenseful, horror or in any way able to be categorized as such. I'll tell you the appeal for me, as a man. I've never dated a women and since I don't want this to be about me, I'll end there.
I wanted to know how women think, and I believe I got more than my money's worth. The thought processes in the letters is pure female mind. The jokes on the comedy club circuits are true. While the woman is considering 35 million things her husband must be thinking as they silently drive home, the only thing he was thinking the entire drive is, "Fishing. I'd like to go fishing again, one day". The listening was an excellent writ of today's political climate, conservative versus liberal, the American empire from its own view and, that of a foreign socialist. These topics greatly appeal to me, as a Scorpio, an American, and I believe the contrasts will be familiar to most. It allows us Americans to do what we love most: To chose a side.
There are numerous times when there are no protagonists and, the careful writing adds more fire to that drama by not presenting any resolutions. It's difficult to write a story in which the bias of one's own hopes is unwritten, where there is an invitation for the reader to decide. This is the stuff of great book club meetings to discuss. Dare I also offer it as marriage counseling. I often worry about the creatures my neighbors are raising, whether I'll face them in a parking lot one day at the open end of a gun. "The little angels" of theirs.
My only complaint is, I found one character to be poorly written, as if she didn't matter. I was unconvinced of any love, empathy, understanding or affect by this character's presence. Maybe, because the writing is sophisticated, that was the gray palette offering to allow the bright scarlet and vivid cadmium yellows to paint a story.

BRILLIANT!!!

Stop and think...are you ready for this one? When the story was over, I went to the beginning and listened again. A couple weeks later, I listened a third time. I suppose I am more susceptible to the tale due to my current life circumstances which leaves me struggling to understand the boy I have raised. Head and heart on pause yet furiously racing and threatening to shut down altogether in the midst of unconditional, fawning, true love for my son tangled with my human inability to accept the things he has done and what those things say about who I am as a mother.

If you are a parent ask yourself... are you ready for this one?

Difficult subject, beautifully written

Is it Nature or Nurture that creates a killer? With school shootings being the norm these days, WNTTAK presents a tale from the mothers perspective. Her vast vocabulary and sense of worldliness is apparent from the start. However, the demeanor of her son, Kevin, will put doubts in your mind as to whether his actions are solely Eva’s fault. Definitely in my “best read of 2022” list!

We Need to Talk About Ava

Kevin and Ava’s relationship is so complex. It’s a horrible, beautiful Frankenstein concoction of layers of mutual hate, one sided fascination, sometimes two sided fascination… Ava and Keven’s relationship by the end of the book, during their conversations in the detention facility, was so grasping I couldn’t look away. Kevin could certainly be written as a very cheesy caricature of an evil son, but in moments like the masturbation phase, or his comment, “why put on a show without an audience?”, leave me intrigued by the inner workings of their relationship. Even Ava seems to not know what she feels for Kevin by the end of the book. This is such an interesting form of trauma bonding- in the end, Kevin rejected Franklin and defended Ava. I would love a monologue from Kevin himself. Also, the voice acting was perfect. Ava was perfect, and her snotty impression of Kevin was both funny and accurate. I will forever quote “It was true… he did have poopy pants.”

This book was long, and had an extremely slow start. In fact, for hours while listening to this book, I found myself dreading continuing to listen. Eva’s life was not exciting, or memorable- in fact, I found myself annoyed by her early renditions. Eva was self-centered, coming off to me as an individual who sees herself as the only person on the planet with thoughts. She believes no other woman in the world has ever had doubts regarding her own pregnancy, believing every other woman to be a loving mother without any problems of her own. She begs Franklin endlessly for a child, arguing with his refusals, pushing his boundaries, and then when he finally caves into her demands, Eva spends the rest of the book complaining how Franklin wanted this child and she did not. It was mentioned VERY frequently, which made the listen very frustrating. Eva often made unneeded similes that just sounded forced, trying to make herself sound smart, which was pretty much all you got to listen to during the beginning of the long, boring story. It made it even worse when Kevin was first introduced, because we kept getting snippets of his involvement in between Ava’s life story- it just kept reminding me how boring it was. The book isn’t called We Need to Talk About Ava.

Heartbreaking

Written from the view of a mother tormented, this book was excellently written and heartbreakingly honest. Great read!

Great story with a nice twist at the end.

I hadn't seen the movie so I was not spoiled on this book. I love how the ending twisted. The writing was perfectly set up for uncertainty. My dislike was the narrator. The accents and imitations were over the top and borderline offensive in some cases. It was highly unnecessary. Great story though!

Terrifying

I loved the language and terminology the author used. The subject matter was truly terrifying and incredibly well written.

Great book

I have listened to this book at least five times. Such a good book and well written

Complex and Tragic Pseudo-autobiography

Probably one of the most cleverly-written books I have ever read. The author weaves a tapestry so fine that the reader becomes more an observer who can't help identifying with the protagonist or questioning her actions, lack of action, and reactions.
The exploration of family dynamics is brilliant and resonates

The story explores the frustrations of having a reasonably bright but completely puzzling child - one with enough differences to cause concern - but the perception is not shared by his father, which naturally leads the mother to question her own observations.

In a series of letters to her husband, the description of life with her family is laid bare - leading the reader through a series of events which collectively point to disaster. The problems appears to be ones which the family can not solve because they are not so serious that they could be attributed to a major defect in the son.

Apart from the background of the mother who, in this book, is extremely literate and her 'tone', initially, somewhat condescending, the reader soon realizes that this 'tone' is perhaps more defensive than otherwise. This tale could (and does) occur in far too many families - perhaps it may save some.

An amazing story which is entirely plausible.