We Need to Talk About Kevin in Topeka & Shawnee Co. Public Library

Jun 04, 2020 Chris Blocker added it

I had such mixed feelings about this novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin.

For much of this read, I harbored feelings of great disdain. If I were not reading this for book club, I likely would've not finished. Though I pushed forward, I knew this book could do no better than two stars. Why?

Mostly because of the style of writing. Reading was terribly painful. The novel is set up as a series of letters from Eva to her estranged husband, Franklin. There are so many problems with these letters, and the I had such mixed feelings about this novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin.

For much of this read, I harbored feelings of great disdain. If I were not reading this for book club, I likely would've not finished. Though I pushed forward, I knew this book could do no better than two stars. Why?

Mostly because of the style of writing. Reading was terribly painful. The novel is set up as a series of letters from Eva to her estranged husband, Franklin. There are so many problems with these letters, and therein lies 90% of the problem with this story. For starters, the letters are overwrought. Eva is the founder of a very successful series of travel guides. She's writing to her husband. And from the first sentence, we get this:

I'm unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you. But since we've been separated, I may most miss coming home to deliver the narrative curiosities of my day, the way a cat might lay mice at your feet: the small, humble offerings that couples proffer after foraging in separate backyards. Were you still installed in my kitchen, slathering crunchy peanut butter on Branola though it was almost time for dinner, I'd no sooner have put down the bags, one leaking a clear viscous drool, than this little story would come tumbling out, even before I chided that we're having pasta tonight so would you please not eat that whole sandwich.

Who writes to their spouse this way? Every page is like this, full of words most of us would likely think of only if we were using a thesaurus. Te-di-ous.

So maybe Eva just loves details and has a really great handle on vocabulary. I'd be willing to forgive that (though not enjoy it) if I thought that was the case. Here's why I don't believe that for a second: Shriver makes another huge blunder with letters to Franklin--she explains EVERYTHING HE ALREADY KNOWS to him. That is frankly terrible writing. I get it, the reader doesn't know and needs the details. Well, find another way to make that work. Because when I learned that Eva was writing out HUNDREDS of pages of dialogue and events that happened in Franklin's presence, I wanted to do terrible things to this book. I don't care that the twist can potentially negate all of this--it's still terrible writing.

And yet, I recognized that this story was also brilliant in some ways. It was addressing subjects that at the time must have been shocking. A school shooting in such vivid details. The brutal honesty of a mother who hated being a mother. And the ending did catch me by surprise. The bones of a tremendously important story are here, but the flesh of it, the ornate garments, all seemed very wrong. ...more

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Jun 25, 2013 Miranda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bean-there-read-that

I hated this book. That said, I have to concede that it is one of the most powerful novels that I have ever read, and it is burned into my brain. It made me cry, it repulsed me, it made me think. I don't know if I would recommend it to most of my friends, but having read it I can only give it its due as a superbly crafted work. ...more

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Aug 15, 2013 Deb rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary

Disturbing but well written. Told entirely in the form of letters that Eva writes to her former husband Franklin after their son Kevin is he perpetrator of a school shooting where 9 people are killed. She describes her life from the time she met Franklin, through their decision to have Kevin, and then through the tumultuous years of his upbringing. From the first Kevin does not seem like a "normal" child to Eva and she has a hard time bonding with him. She tries her hardest, but Franklin and Kev ...more

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Jul 12, 2013 Kammie rated it really liked it

Shelves: bean-there-read-that

I was reading an argument recently about whether characters (especially narrators) in novels need to be likeable. My personal opinion is that likeable characters are not a requirement of a good novel. This turned out to be helpful when reading We Need to Talk About Kevin.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is not an enjoyable read, in the sense that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone wanting to spend a pleasant afternoon lost in a book. However, it is very well-written and definitely provides the author ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Kelli rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

This is an emotional roller coaster of a read. Basically, you feel like a bystander watching a runaway train and are powerless to stop it. The plot revolves around Eva and how she copes with being a mother of a high school student who takes the lives of 9 people and injures 2 more at his school one infamous Thursday. She re-examines her relationship with her son through a series of letters to her estranged husband and reveals a series of terrible events surrounding Kevin over the years leading u ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 Quincie Ingram rated it really liked it · review of another edition

We Need to Talk About Kevin is written as a series of letters from a mother to a father after a school shooting incident involving their son. It is well written even though the subject matter is disturbing and some of the language seems overly complex.

The perspective of the mother of a school shooter is not one most of us think of when something like this happens. This particular mother doesn't come off as terribly likable, but you feel her pain anyway.

This isn't light reading, but I would recom ...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Tiffiny Corbett rated it really liked it

Tried reading a print copy and couldn't get into it. Then tried the audiobook and loved it. The reader is wonderful. In fact I have listened to it twice. ...more

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