We Need to Talk About Eva

[AgCl]

There's so many discussions about whether Kevin's this or that, sociopath/psychopath and what not, but can we establish first if Eva was actually a reliable enough narrator?

No, I'm not trying to suggest that it was all her imagination, or that somehow Kevin was innocent and she somehow twisted the story, but some of her accounts of the facts just seem a bit dodgy, don't you think?

[Teamhair]

I wondered exactly the same thing - to what extent Eva exhibited neurosis when Kevin was very young and how that created the later problems? There is no external validation of Eva's point of view prior to Kevin commencing Kindergarden. The sense that her narration was unreliable left me feeling unsettled and with a lack of closure to the story. That said I like the feeling of being unsettled by the story and can't remember the last book that left me felling like that.

[Jennifer]

I am almost done and wonder what this book would have been like of written with alternating chapters by the 2 parents.

[[deleted user]]

I think part of the reason I like this book so much is down to the uncertainty surrounding Eva's point of view being the only source of information. She's a very self-centred person from the start, and I think Kevin's assessment of her in the restaurant (when he wrote on the tablecloth) was pretty accurate.

I don't think Kevin was fully innocent, but it certainly adds fuel to the 'nature vs nurture' debate.

Now that I come to think of it, I always thought that Franklin was incredibly short-sighted and naive when it came to his son, but I guess that's only a reflection of Eva's opinion as I don't have anything else to go on...that adds an interesting dimension to the book I hadn't appreciated before!

[Julie]

I found the whole book unnervingly believable except when Eva decided she wanted another baby. If she was really so sure Kevin was dangerous she must have realised what having another child in the house would do to him. It is difficult to understand such a self centred person, although we do know she had a difficult childhood herself.

[K.L.]

I love this topic. After my first reading of the novel I was very pro-Eva and thought nature triumphed over nurture. But my second reading left me more and more convinced that Eva was not the most reliable of narrators. If a child is treated as a malevolent entity then what outcome could you expect - especially given the 'evilness' she appears to have projected on her own child almost immediately from birth. It made sense to me that when Celia was born, Eva set out to 'prove' how awful her son was, by embracing this new child and showering her with love. Yes Celia was lovable, because that's how Eva was determined to see her. FANTASTIC book!

[[deleted user]]

Great comment, Karen, and very true!

[Jennifer]

Karen you’ve summed up my first impression. Very good book.

[Kermy]

I also wondered how reliable Eva was as a narrator, but overall I found her fairly reliable - no glaring red flags at least. Although she spends time playing the martyr, telling Franklin that she had Kevin for his sake, she also comes clean about her other reasons, such as ego, societal pressure (she wants to pass on her genes), as well as curiosity and boredom ("turning the page" in her life). She doesn't want a child, but doesn't NOT want a child, and this is, I believe, what makes it difficult for us to categorically judge her. The broader question is, why do we all assume people have children for the right reasons? If "wanting a child to love" is the only valid reason for having a child, how many people among us would never have been born? There are any number of reasons a mother has a child, but motherhood just wasn't in the cards for Eva. Or was it? Celia turned out fine, and the two of them got along. Ultimately, you can't prevent the Kevins of this world. It's a roll of the dice and they will always be among us.

[Kermy]

Karen wrote: "I love this topic. After my first reading of the novel I was very pro-Eva and thought nature triumphed over nurture. But my second reading left me more and more convinced that Eva was not the most ..."

Good comment, though I respectfully disagree. I don't think Eva projected feelings of "evil" onto Kevin from the start, it was more like she was exhausted and couldn't feel anything. She tried to smile at him when he was born but Kevin sensed it was forced - but it's not like she didn't try. I don't think anyone's to blame. You could even argue Eva's reasons for having Kevin ("turning the page" in her life) were less egotistically rooted than for having Celia, ie proving to herself that her "soul" wasn't bad. Also, Kevin's dad loved him but Kevin killed him.

[Cyan]

While I agree that Eva's character doesn't always seem completely trustworthy or transparent, who is, after all? One of literature's pleasures, I think, is the feeling we're seeing into someone else's mind "honestly," but I also like it when an author plays with the tension of how impossible it is to truly know someone, oneself included. I think part of the "shakiness" we're observing in Eva is her working against societal norms that mothers "should" be so responsible for nurturing, that they should shoulder the bulk of moral instruction, and that they should automatically be drawn to their children. Instead, We Need to Talk About Kevin dares to portray a powerful fear I don't see acknowledged that often or so fully: that one may truly not like one's offspring, or that one's children may be damaged or impaired not just physically, but morally. Though I think different authorial choices would have made this aspect even more striking, I did appreciate being forced to contemplate part of why bearing and raising a child can be so harrowing.

[Claire]

This book is so haunting and well written. If you liked this book, you should really check out the movie-- they did a great job keeping with the eerie, sad theme.

[DW]

The fact that Siobhan was driven to quit and the teacher who Kevin killed saw through him, so at least as he got older, it was quite clear that Eva was not making up the fact that he was a bad kid. Plus, she was willing to admit her mistake when she accused him of something and turned out to be wrong - for example that Kevin really did cover up for his friend when he was throwing rocks onto cars.

Whether Kevin was literally "born bad" or not is impossible to say.