i agree, I consider Eva to be an unreliable narrator. Oh, I think she did! All this would have come out at the trial, and is a matter of public record, rather than Eva's otherwise skewed recollectionsThe reader doesn't have to, but Eva does, otherwise she would have to carry all the blame herself.I have seen it argued elsewhere that after Kevins birth Eva suffered severe post-natal depression, possibly even undiagnosed puerpal psychosis, which would account for the instability you saw in her character, and in her reactions to Kevin as an infant and small child.
Do not apologise, opposing opinions make us rethink our previous responses to a book, stimulates vigorous debate and makes the board livlier and more interesting!

Thank you Megustaleer nice to see it back. Still its easier using my real name as a poster and I had not been a member for long so not much lost really.

We Need To Talk About Kevin is the current Woman's Hour Drama
Weekdays 10.45-11.00am, repeated 7.45-8.00pm

This had been on my TBR pile for three years (you still have ti reserve copies in the City of Edinburgh libraries) and I was pleased to find two copies on my recent safari tour bus. I quickly arranged a swap of The Idea of Perfection for a copy of Kevin.

Let's cut to the chase - this is one of the best books I have ever read. That's not a view that all my fellow safari-ists had, but I wasn't the only one.

Let's also dispense with spoilers - suffice to say that if you haven't read it, just stop reading this and read the book.

Eva has a strong and distinctive voice. She conveys enormous anger, hurt and resentment. She resents the loss of her business, the loss of her freedom, the loss of her reputation. She resents the loss of her family. And she focuses all this resentment on her wayward son Kevin.

I doubted from the first few pages that Franklin was the intended recipient of the letters. They were too long; too intense; too personal for him to read. I had doubts about whether he was still living since there was no real animosity towards him - just frustration and self-justification. I assumed the letters were written with no intention of being read as a form of catharsis - although the final pages made me wonder whether they were really written for Kevin.

Eva is an unreliable narrator, but not one who seeks to deceive. She has a jaundiced viewpoint that she readily acknowledges. But she uses this viewpoint to assert that she had always known Kevin to be evil; at the root of all that went wrong in the neighbourhood. And was he? Perhaps. Eva acknowledges the one occasion she found evidence that she had misjudged Kevin. But even then, it was simply because Kevin thought that throwing bricks off a bridge at cars lacked style - not because he thought it was inherently wrong. And for all we know, he may have staged the conversation that Eva overheard with the intention of deceiving Eva. The delight of the novel is not knowing how far Eva's fears are real or how far they are imagined.

And then we have the ambiguity in the relationship between Ev and Kevin. They profess to hate one another, but the mood music seems to be one of mutual respect and even adulation. Eva's obsession with school shootings tends to find that Kevin has bettered the rest, although she tries to portray her fascination in some form of penitence. And Kevin pretends to hate his mother whilst clearly adoring her. Although he has her photo on his cell wall, he took the photo very much earlier - so this is no jail cell conversion. Meanwhile, despite mourning the loss of her daughter Celia, there is scarcely a sentimental reference to her. Her stolen, dead, innocent daughter was destined to be plain and timid. That's not a normal grief reaction.

But the intensity of the narrative, along with the inherent ambiguity and biting social commentary makes for a spell-binding, gripping read. The actual encounters with Kevin in prison are almost a light, comic relief. And the ending - the love against all odds - is both powerful and convincing. I defy anyone to read the last letters with dry eyes.

This is a masterpiece that will be read for decades to come.

*****

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That's not a possibility that had occurred to me, nor have I seen it suggested elsewhere, but Eva's letters can be interpreted in so many ways that I wouldn't rule it out.

There's a danger of trying to be too clever and read things into novels that authors had never intended - perhaps I fell into that trap. But it certainly isn't obvious exactly why the letters were written. They weren't for Franklin, I'm sure. They contained detail of which he would have been well aware and were simply too long and too involved - and way too systematic in sticking with the true chronology of events in the past. If they had been aimed at Franklin, they'd have had much more spontaneity - hopping from memory to memory as the emotions soared.

It's a long time since I read a book that was so draining and provoked so much intense emotion and deep thought. On finishing, I was quite washed out for the evening and couldn't even talk about the book for a day.

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It's a long time since I read this book - it's probably worth another look. i do remember thinking it was quite brilliant, very thought provoking (and slightly over-long).

I don't think there's any danger to reading more in a text than the author means, however. Once it's a text, what the author meant is - if not completely irrelevent, then at least, only one of the factors worth examining. The author is dead, you know!

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Perhaps - but there is still a risk of looking for strained alternative readings just to try to be klever klever.

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Here are some comments i made about We Need to Talk About Kevin on another forum that I used to think was worthwhile,




jfp, (if you read this) in looking for my own comments I see that you once described this book as probably forgettable. I certainly thought more of it than that so I'm wondering - over time, was it?

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OMG what a roller coaster of a read this is. It's the best book I've read in years!!

There's been much commentary about the reliability of Eva's telling of the story and it's this reliability issue which I think makes the novel feel more realistic. The human memory is a naturally dynamic thing and when trying to make sense of the world from her point of view, I'm surprised she didn't go completely mad - or maybe she did.


I hadn't seen the final twist coming although

The last page had me in floods of tears. Shriver must have been exhausted just writing this book.

Although Eva was certainly no goody two shoes and as she said herself, a terrible mother, I liked her a lot. In her pre-pregnancy years she was cool and because of her circumstances I pined with her for her youth and freedom.

First of all I liked this novel, it held my attention throughout.

Having just spent about 40 minutes reading through all the posts on this thread I couldn't resist throwing my tuppence worth in.

I liked Eva, yes she had her faults but I liked her. I hated Kevin, all through his life (and I know we only have Eva's version of this) he was an arrogant, annoying, obnoxious little shit!

And as for all the psycho mumble jumble lets cut to the chase here he murdered people. Doesn't matter how pissed off you are with your folks, going into a school and killing people is wrong. This was a bad person who just took all the little annoyances in life and decided they were all aimed at him and one day he was going to get his own back.

As for all this nature and nurture stuff, we have millions of examples all round the world of people who live through adversity and still are decent hard working law abiding people. Then we have people who live cloistered lives and do terrible things. Some people are just wired wrong.

A powerful and enjoyable novel.

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'Travel, and you will see the meaning of things.' A Moroccan proverb.

Currently reading Wheels Within Wheels by Dervla Murphy

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I loved this novel! I first read this book about four years ago and have just read it again. I joined this online group specifically because I need to talk about this book and cannot find anyone else who has read it, ridiculous!

I liked Eva, I found her hard to like but how anyone cannot be moved by her plight, I fail to understand.

And the time that Kevin was ill, when he asked for his pyjamas with the monkey in the rocket, tore my heart.

I found this story moving, shocking and incredible.

It has made me question, at the age of thirty, whether I ever want to be a parent.