Publisher's Website (Author's Page) Amazon (UK) Amazon.com Serpent's Tail (ebook), 2003
471 Pages
BLURB
Eva never really wanted to be a mother; certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him. 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 absent husband, Franklyn. 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.
I'm unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you.
REVIEW
We Need to Talk about Kevin is brilliant. It's been a long time - too long since a book touched me so much, in fact drove a knife through my heart right down to my core. This is not an easy book to read. I found it excruciatingly painful at times, like taking a pin and driving it deeper and deeper into your eye despite the awful pain. There are no nice people in this book and you don't need to be a genius to figure out there's won't be anything resembling a happy ending. Eva is not a nice person; she is snobbish, she is cold, harsh and abrasive. This is also what makes her the most realistic and most vulnerable character I've ever read. She doesn't love her son and I won't argue with anyone who says she's a terrible mother - she is. The reality is that not all mothers are warm, fluffy and loving or make cookies and muffins. I don't believe her failings as a mother make her responsible for Kevin's actions. I'm from the school of thought that some people are just born with darkness inside them. There isn't always someone or something to blame. Blame is a convenient excuse for people who can't accept the harsh reality that people like Kevin can be born not made. I saw the movie ages ago but the book, in typical style, is much better. I wept like a baby for the last three chapters and am still crying now, writing these words. Rather ironically, given the book's title, Eva and her husband never get round to talking about Kevin. Would it have made a difference? We Need to Talk about Kevin is the kind of life-changing, gut-wrenching and heart-breaking book I live for - one that leaves you raw and shaking, unsteady on your feet. We Need to Talk about Kevin is one of the best book's I've ever read.