We Need to Talk About Kevin movie tie-in

A Novel

De: Lionel Shriver

Narrado por: Coleen Marlo

""Impossible to put down. . . . Who, in the end, needs to talk about Kevin? Maybe we all do.” — Boston Globe

Acclaimed author Lionel Shriver's gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry

Shriver’s resonant story of a mother’s unsettling quest to understand her teenage son’s deadly violence, her own ambivalence toward motherhood, and the explosive link between them reverberates with the haunting power of high hopes shattered by dark realities.

Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered 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 sixteenth 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.

Like Shriver’s charged and incisive later novels, including So Much for That and The Post-Birthday World, We Need to Talk About Kevin is a piercing, unforgettable, and penetrating exploration of violence, family ties, and responsibility.

Best book I read [listened to] all year

Highly recommended, it was riveting. I was so frustrated at the writer for creating a protagonist character who used too many big words until I realize that her character was multilayered and who WAS in fact, not faultless and very very pretentious, a question she asks herself then dismisses as simply being 'curious and intelligent and worldly'. The tension created in being drawn to the mother's corner only to turn around and question how likable she really is was one of the things I found so fascinating. The characters were so multilayered here and felt as true to life as most people are flawed.
This will sound very gender biased but I was amazed that this was written by a man. The complicated and often conflicting emotions a mother goes through raising a very difficult and angry child were so precise. I say this because universally it's an absolute taboo for a mother to feel anything but love and adoration for her child. It may not be openly stated, but it's far more acceptable for fathers to feel ambivalent toward a child. I can not wait for the movie to come to town.

As a teacher in Orangetown, this rings true

I can picture this perfectly. I've had sociopaths for students. The parents of these children defend thier actions tooth and nail. I'm waiting for one of these kids to implode. I've seen several in the Journal news, but none for actions this magnanimous...yet.

A Must Read!!

I'm surprised that this book was fictional. Shriver did his homework.
I hope the movie does the book justice.
Very well written.

Haunting and Unforgettable, Mostly

"We Need to Talk About Kevin" is one of those novels that provoke a wide range of emotions, which for some may be a bad thing. For me, it was an incredible journey. This story of a mother coming to terms with horrific acts perpetrated by her son is filled with honest emotion and bristling narrative, a combination that often leaves the reader/listened a bit dumbstruck at what is happening. A story that I won't soon forget, I was mostly enraptured by the story, with one glaring exception.

The root of good horror (in this case, a concrete, literal horror and not one of a supernatural kind) is in its accessibility. While this story feels like something that could happen next door, the nature vs. nurture battle that plays out often feels a bit too much of an indictment of "nature". Kevin's natural state seems to be one of violence and sociopathy, to an extreme that almost seems to drown out everything else that happens. Perhaps Ms. Shriver was trying to interweave the emotions of a reluctant and horrified mother with the state of a newborn, but in the end it felt too much like Kevin was bad from the outset. This led to characterizations that felt far away from "normal" life, and thus diminished, just a bit, the shock and horror at what was happening.

Despite this, and because of the brilliant writing and unique style, I found this book to be among the best I've heard in the past year. Highly recommended, I suggest that any potential reader be steeled against the heartbreak that comes so frequently with wading through this story. In the end, with whatever glimmer of hope you can take away, everything is worth it.

Emotional seemingly true account

I had to look it up to figure out that this book was fiction. It's not only written very well but the narrator is amazing! At some points it's hard to listen to due to the depressing drama but all in all a very good book that makes one think twice about the mother's of children who do terrible things. Gonna go watch the movie next.