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)

Loquacious & Cerebral

I love king audiobooks, I prefer them over the shorter books. But, that being said, this book is very verbose, with an extraordinary of flowery words written when so fewer words will do the trick. However, I still really enjoyed it.

To echo some other reviews - this book is very slow to get moving. Lots of wordiness for the first 2 hours or so, then it starts to get good.

Didn’t expect the ending, what a story.

Worth the read

It took me a while to get into this book. It dragged on for a long time. I didn’t like Eve the main character and narrator of the story. I thought she was pretentious and a terrible mother, but you come to appreciate her by the end. I say definitely give this till the end and it will be worth it. The woman telling the story did a great job. Her male voices were good too. They weren’t over the top and annoying like some others I’ve heard. Overall very good

dark, somewhat interesting

the one thing I'll say I gained from this book was a new perspective. it allowed me to understand or consider the story of a mass shooter from a new angle. the writing didn't move me. the protagonist annoyed me, and the reader's attempt at "black accents" was horrific (as they most often are). but it was compelling enough to go the whole way through.

I'm not sure about this book...

I found the story chilling. Blood curdling even. I'm just glad its fictional otherwise one can get scared of having kids. Luckily I already have mine.

Brilliant and Unnerving

I wanted this beautifully written book to end quickly. I almost stopped it several times, but kept on. Though I’m glad I finished it, I wouldn’t listen to it again nor will I watch the movie.

Wow

All I can say is wow. Absolutely amazing, absolutely disturbing. If you can handle the gruesome contents, you will love this book.

Very Dark

You have to be in the right headspace for this one. Good story… very well read but disturbing

The End

I want to say that despite being pretentious, the mother could’ve been redeemable, even likable at time, if it weren’t for the fact that she still idolized the slack jawed father, who was in every way unforgivably irritating and annoying. Her gooey reverence for the man didn’t Aline with her stories depicting him as this idiotic idealist who is either constantly being accusatory or acting blatantly bitter towards her while stubbornly covering for a sociopathic son almost to spite her. Because this is such a large facet of this story I found it hard not ignore and it almost ruined the rest of the book which I actually thought was very good. I understand that this is supposed to represent another aspect of the complexity of relationship, the running theme in this book, but relationships was like nails on a chalk board through the whole damn book!

Why

Why did she write this book? Characters are not likable. Language is pretentious. Subject is very difficult but she does give the reader much to contemplate. Only convinced us the shooter is evil.

Disturbing and painful, but beautifully written

I listened to this book a few months ago. It stuck with me like no other book has in years. This is the story of a family; beginning with a loving couple, ending with a nightmare. This book is not about school shootings, it's not that simple. What it does ask us to think about is the reason for and existence of evil in the mind and withered heart of a child gone wrong. Can a child just be born different, and bad to the soul? Or can a mother be so resentful of giving up her independence and harbor so much animosity towards her child that it breaks him?

I also watched this movie just this week. While very different from the book, it is also very good. I would recommend reading this book, then watching the movie a few days/ weeks later.

I felt like the movie helped me to make peace with the book. I highly recommend this to anyone who interested in edgy, real life books that make you think, and feel grateful for what you have.

While this is all very depressing, I can't find anything wrong with the book to give it less than the full score it deserves. Though, I admit it left me so sad and even anxious for a long time. The style of the writing is incredibly effective. The mother writes her story in letters to her husband. It's hard to put down. Very enthralling audiobook. It also adds an element of suspicion about whether the mother is telling the truth or her idea of truth.

It does resolve in the end leaving you without doubt as to the sanity of mother and child.