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What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

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Original poster

We need to talk about Kevin!

97 replies

MyIronLung · 13/02/2016 13:16

Has anyone read this? I'm about half way through And I'm struggling to put it down!
It's almost like approaching a car accident and not being able to look away. You know you're going to see something truly awful but can't stop yourself!

What an amazing book.

I found myself looking at my gorgeous 4 yo ds this morning and wondering...this book has truely gotten under my skin.

I'd be interested to hear what others think about it.

OP posts:

FishWithABicycle · 13/02/2016 22:30

It's a brilliant book but it made me seriously reconsider having children for a bit!

whattheseithakasmean · 13/02/2016 22:39

I read an interview with Lionel Shriver where she said she wrote the book when she was deciding whether to have children or not. She didn't have children.

There was a harrowing interview in the Guardian today with the mother of one of the Columbine killers:
harrowing interview

Bazza2 · 13/02/2016 22:46

I've read some of her other other books. It's rare that I can't finish a book but The Post Birthday World drove me round the bend. The voice of one of the male characters was awful. He was a cockney, I think, and was such a Dick Van Dyke apples-and-pears-cor-blimey cliche I wanted to kill him. But So Much For That was good. The female lead in that felt quite similar to Eva.

I've thought about ........Kevin quite a bit since having my own son and I do have a new perspective on it now. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts OP.

Biscuitsneeded · 13/02/2016 22:48

Harrowing book, but gripping. I couldn't bring myself to watch the film. I also couldn't put down So Much For That. However, I've tried to read other books by Shriver and couldn't get into them.

PurpleDaisies · 13/02/2016 22:51

I really rated (I'm not sure about liked) the book-I read in in two sittings because I couldn't stop. I've never got around to reading anything else by her-maybe I'll see what's cheap on kindle at the moment.

BertieBeats · 13/02/2016 22:55

Ooh , I remember reading this in the maternity ward after having my first. Really eased my worries of becoming a parent

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 13/02/2016 23:17

Museum - have you read the Kite Runner? That's another I wish I could unread. If you haven't, don't.

Destinysdaughter · 13/02/2016 23:26

I think Lionel Shrivner is a unique voice and although I can't exactly say I've enjoyed her books, they make me think a lot and for a long time after. I really enjoyed The Post Birthday World, thought it was a bit Sliding Doors and v cleverly plotted. I also think, if she were a man, her novels would be much more feted than they are.

So, Kevin, utterly shocking and clever. Don't want to spoil it so do come back when you've finished it OP. ( hated the film tho, because the book is written from the mother's POV, I didn't think it worked and also you didn't get the ' unreliable narrator' bit of the book).

bunique · 13/02/2016 23:34

One of my favourites but not sure I could revisit it now I'm a parent.

Tartyflette · 13/02/2016 23:35

The Road was the grimmest, most depressing book I've ever read. But mercifully short.
(Not a spoiler)I really enjoyed We Need to Talk About Kevin, disturbing though it was. I thought Tilda Swinton was good in the film, which I also enjoyed despite knowing the outcome. The young actor who played Kevin was also very good.
I haven't been able to get into any of Lionel Shriver's other novels but the one she wrote about her brother sounds interesting.

Cookingongas · 13/02/2016 23:38

I love the book. Oddly I like Kevin and Eva. I shouldn't, and I don't like their actions necessarily, but I like them as characters. Fascinating book.

Shakey15000 · 13/02/2016 23:43

Brilliantly written. It's probably the first book where I was astounded by the writing. I knew I wouldn't be able to put it down. I liked Eva (is that strange?? Seems to be!)

Shakey15000 · 13/02/2016 23:43

Oh, and I hated the film.

TiddlesUpATree · 13/02/2016 23:49

Brilliant book. Think I read the last few chapters without breathing at all. Her other book post birthday world also left a mark on me. It took ages to get into but turned into a really touching story.

FellOutOfBedTwice · 13/02/2016 23:52

Thought it was brilliant, although remember getting to just before the crunch/plot twist and having to put it down and have s little break because I knew what was coming was going to be fucked up.

My reading of it was that Eva brought Kevin on herself because she didn't really want or love him and her punishment was that spoiler she got left as all he had.

ScrambledSmegs · 14/02/2016 00:10

I read that book ages ago and haven't been able to read it again. I thought it was very well-written but the subject matter was too much for me - like Thumbwitch I have a vivid pictorial imagination.

However there were certain impressions that stayed with me. Like the narrator really seemed to not like herself much, and didn't understand, even pre-Kevin, why anyone would like her. I remember thinking that Kevin was very like her, but amplified. I also remember that she seemed to have figured out the real reason why he did what he did - even though she never seemed to show or feel love for him, she knew him very well.

I have to admit the book haunted me somewhat shortly after DD1 was born. I struggled quite a lot post-natally, due to a difficult birth, and it affected the bonding process between us. I genuinely wished I hadn't read it then.

ScrambledSmegs · 14/02/2016 00:12

Just to clarify, the book didn't affect the bond between DD1 and I. I just thought and worried about it a lot.

OhforGodsake · 14/02/2016 00:17

Kevin is a fab book and the one that I've passed and recommended to others, more than any other book. Once I realised what was happening, towards the climax of the story, it was unputdownable. The film, even with the excellent Tilda Swinton in it, was just a disappointment though. Still the best book though.

Planetmuff · 14/02/2016 03:56

My favorite book of all time. The only book I've ever read 3 times. Marvelous stuff but obviously grim subject matter.

ChickyChickyParmParm · 14/02/2016 04:26

Amazing book with a momentum that sends you hurtling towards the shock of an ending.

Interestingly, I saw the film at a parent and baby screening. Everyone looked so sombre afterwards, looking doubtfully at their babies as we all shuffled quietly outside.

MuseumOfHam · 14/02/2016 08:10

Yes Thumb I have read the Kite Runner, and found it beautiful and harrowing, but found it quite easy to file away under 'fiction'. Although they are both set on different continents, Kevin felt a lot closer to home. It felt as if it would only take a few wrong turns in an intense parent child relationship to end up where Kevin and his mother were.

PhoenixRisingSlowly · 14/02/2016 11:25

This thread is amking me want to re-read it! I enjoyed it a lot although I felt the author was transferring her own anxieties about having children into the plot and I couldn't imagine the inside of the mothers head or really empthatise with her much. It was like the auhour didn't really 'get' motherhood because she hadn't done it but perhaps I'm being unfair. The mum certainly wasn't a very likable character.
Weirdly I actually enjoyed the film just as much as the book, mainly because of Tilda Swintons performance and they way she added very subtle nuances to Kevin's mum, she's such a brilliant actress and very well cast in that role. I had more compassion for the character after watching the film.

Bluelilies · 14/02/2016 11:33

It's probably the only book I wish I hadn't read. I don't think it improved my understanding of the world. It was just disturbing and relentlessly grim. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

That said, I could see it was really well written and went on to read, and enjoy, several other of her books.

ProfGrammaticus · 15/02/2016 18:37

Have you finished it yet, OP?? 😃

Sadik · 15/02/2016 18:47

I couldn't finish it - I found it dull, the narrative voice unconvincing, and the 'plot twist' was absolutely bloody obvious from about page 2 (I googled after giving up on it to check whether I was right or not!).

But I can see that I am in a minority

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