WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN by LIONEL SHRIVER

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BY LIONEL SHRIVER

THE BLURB:-

Shortly before his sixteenth birthday, Kevin Khatchadourian kills seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher. He is visited in prison by his mother, Eva, who narrates in a series of letters to her estranged husband, Franklin, the story of Kevin's upbringing. For this powerful, shocking novel, Lionel Shriver was awarded the Orange Prize for fiction.

THE REALITY:-

Uurrgghh!! I was so glad when I finished this novel! Why? Was it awful? No, it was bloody brilliant but the subject matter was too horrific for words.

I must confess, I have already seen the film of the same name, so I knew the story, so certain aspects that are meant to come as a surprise at the end, things regarding Franklin and Celia, did not. I described the film as “powerful and disturbing” (incidentally, great acting performances across the board) and the book is also the same. In places, I did find it almost too detailed (I'm a hypocrite, I know, as my work is also very in-depth and I tend to prefer this approach to heavily edited work) and too much about psycho-babble, but I suppose that is the whole point of the novel- to try to get inside Eva's and Kevin's heads.

Nature or nurture? I think at least 90-95% nature, if not more. As one of the other mothers of an incarcerated teen put it (affect a southern USA accent), 'Some kids just damned mean.' Was Eva's failure to bond with her son from day one her fault? No. I don't think so. In many ways, even as a newborn, Kevin seemed to repel her rather than the other way round and it must be difficult to continually have to try and express love to someone who doesn't seem to want it and who rejects you quite nastily. In any other relationship a human being will walk (though to be honest, I'm surprised Eva didn't- she must have been tempted to have this little shit thrown into the care system.)

A very, very exemplary novel. Worth a read but be warned- it will give you nightmares.