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We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)
by Lionel Shriver

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80660.We_Need_to_Talk_About_Kevin_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1170984758m/80660.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80660.We_Need_to_Talk_About_Kevin_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/45922.Lionel_Shriver">Lionel Shriver</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4732016?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>I really liked this book for several reasons. Lionel Shriver doesn't try to *trick* or talk down to the reader. She has created a character (Eva) who is not only brutally honest, but makes no apologies. Eva is not a sympathetic character and I really appreciated that. A book about 'blah blah blah - violence in schools - blah blah blah - why why why?' could so easily have been cliche but Shriver takes a completely different approach to an already overplayed topic. What if your child is truly a bad seed? What if his sociopathic tendencies have been so cleverly executed that your family thinks you are the crazy one and not your son? Eva talks at length, honestly and openly, about how from the minute her son was born she never felt an attachment to him. She never directly questions why her son did what he did. In many ways, she is as emotionally cold and detached as Kevin. Even her relationship with her daughter is without extreme emotion. What makes this book so creepy is that Eva never truly makes the connection just how alike she and her son are. Also, I liked that Kevin did not fall into the stereotype of 'school shooter'. Even better, he didn't use a gun. He's a very interesting character study -- not your typical 'oh poor me, the world is out to get me, i wear trench coats and black coats to stand out and I have access to a gun' character. Shriver has created a sociopath who deserves his own follow up novel. 
<br/>I never thought that Eva's journey was cathartic nor did I think that Shriver was disguising the fact that the letters Eva writes were to her deceased husband. I think Eva wanted to put her journey in writing in hopes of having a better understanding. There is no answer to why kids act the way they do. And Kevin is an entirely different breed of interesting and terrifying kid. Eva has nothing left to lose, so through her letters she can express the utmost honesty. I believe that she did love her husband, but Shriver never makes this relationship overdramtic, in keeping with Eva's nature. 
<br/>
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/79482?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Sarah's review
rating:
bookshelves: booksread2008, fiction

I really liked this book for several reasons. Lionel Shriver doesn't try to *trick* or talk down to the reader. She has created a character (Eva) who is not only brutally honest, but makes no apologies. Eva is not a sympathetic character and I really appreciated that. A book about 'blah blah blah - violence in schools - blah blah blah - why why why?' could so easily have been cliche but Shriver takes a completely different approach to an already overplayed topic. What if your child is truly a bad seed? What if his sociopathic tendencies have been so cleverly executed that your family thinks you are the crazy one and not your son? Eva talks at length, honestly and openly, about how from the minute her son was born she never felt an attachment to him. She never directly questions why her son did what he did. In many ways, she is as emotionally cold and detached as Kevin. Even her relationship with her daughter is without extreme emotion. What makes this book so creepy is that Eva never t...more I really liked this book for several reasons. Lionel Shriver doesn't try to *trick* or talk down to the reader. She has created a character (Eva) who is not only brutally honest, but makes no apologies. Eva is not a sympathetic character and I really appreciated that. A book about 'blah blah blah - violence in schools - blah blah blah - why why why?' could so easily have been cliche but Shriver takes a completely different approach to an already overplayed topic. What if your child is truly a bad seed? What if his sociopathic tendencies have been so cleverly executed that your family thinks you are the crazy one and not your son? Eva talks at length, honestly and openly, about how from the minute her son was born she never felt an attachment to him. She never directly questions why her son did what he did. In many ways, she is as emotionally cold and detached as Kevin. Even her relationship with her daughter is without extreme emotion. What makes this book so creepy is that Eva never truly makes the connection just how alike she and her son are. Also, I liked that Kevin did not fall into the stereotype of 'school shooter'. Even better, he didn't use a gun. He's a very interesting character study -- not your typical 'oh poor me, the world is out to get me, i wear trench coats and black coats to stand out and I have access to a gun' character. Shriver has created a sociopath who deserves his own follow up novel.
I never thought that Eva's journey was cathartic nor did I think that Shriver was disguising the fact that the letters Eva writes were to her deceased husband. I think Eva wanted to put her journey in writing in hopes of having a better understanding. There is no answer to why kids act the way they do. And Kevin is an entirely different breed of interesting and terrifying kid. Eva has nothing left to lose, so through her letters she can express the utmost honesty. I believe that she did love her husband, but Shriver never makes this relationship overdramtic, in keeping with Eva's nature.
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