Vincent Tijms reviewed We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Review of 'We Need to Talk about Kevin' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I first heard of this title when a Facebook friend told everyone who is considering having kids to avoid the movie. Interested in all efforts to restrain population growth, and further encouraged by this review, I decided to pick up the title, which deals with the thoughts of a mother whose son has committed mass murder at his high school.
The book did not disappoint. Author [a:Lionel Shriver|45922|Lionel Shriver|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1270519768p2/45922.jpg] made the wise decision to bestow the narrator of her epistolary novel (Eva, the aforementioned mother) with impressive writing skills. Although these were occasionally tainted by surges in pretense, they fit the character well. Finely balancing astute observations, witty remarks and more moody, defeated prose, Eva manages to maintain flow in what essentially are mostly depressed ruminations.
Yet while depression is characterized by circular reasoning, the thought processes of Eva amount to a convincing psychological analysis of herself, her former …
I first heard of this title when a Facebook friend told everyone who is considering having kids to avoid the movie. Interested in all efforts to restrain population growth, and further encouraged by this review, I decided to pick up the title, which deals with the thoughts of a mother whose son has committed mass murder at his high school.
The book did not disappoint. Author [a:Lionel Shriver|45922|Lionel Shriver|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1270519768p2/45922.jpg] made the wise decision to bestow the narrator of her epistolary novel (Eva, the aforementioned mother) with impressive writing skills. Although these were occasionally tainted by surges in pretense, they fit the character well. Finely balancing astute observations, witty remarks and more moody, defeated prose, Eva manages to maintain flow in what essentially are mostly depressed ruminations.
Yet while depression is characterized by circular reasoning, the thought processes of Eva amount to a convincing psychological analysis of herself, her former husband (to which she addresses her letters) and her son, the sociopathic Kevin from the novel's title. This analysis touches upon a few very interesting themes, including individual autonomy, responsibility and, more importantly, the crisis of purpose that comes with a world in which life is actually pretty good.
As Eva articulates her thoughts on these issues, Shriver is at her best. She methodically sets multiple trains of thought into motion, momentarily pauses them and allows them to continue and mix later on, synthesizing a psychological narrative that does not leave you with a clear idea of what brought Kevin to his gruesome deeds (even as Eva draws her conclusions), but does reflect the fine-grained stories that humans can obsessively make about each other.
The provocative themes and Shriver's clever writing made that I in no way experienced the book as too dark of depressing. Save a few horrific moments, which I will not spoil, Eva wittily and impressively dissects her and Kevin's histories. I enjoyed joining her in her guesses and strong conclusions about the mental lives of others, and the fine interweaving of political, societal and psychological thought. The book is thematically rich without making a strong point: instead, it invites the reader to play with Eva's thoughts by himself. I found this play exhilarating.