Please tell me what you liked about "We need to talk about Kevin"

[Pandoraneedsbugs]

and did you read it to the end

I didnt even make it to the end of the first letter

Yawn yawn and thrice yawn

i really enjoyed it

but didn't find it raised any questions in my mind

thought it was like a Stephen King tbh, it was an excellent page-turning horror story

glad i didn't read it while pregnant

Thanks for that Rasputin - that was more rewarding than reading the book

Im glad I ditched it on page 3

Perhaps its the genre Im not so keen on
I dont like Shrivers writing either though tbh!

Have read this book twice. First time I read it I didn't have any children & definitely sided with Eva, the mother. Shared my opinion with a work colleague who had also read the book. She is a mother to two small boys & her opinion was very different to mine.
So, I reread the book after DD was born. Amazing how much my opinion changed! Upon rereading, felt that Eva was a very cold, distant mother. She made it impossible for Kevin to form any sort of attachment to her & resented the changes that had occurred in her life after his birth.
Both times I thought the book was well written (don't think any of Lionel Shriver's subsequent books have had the substance that this one had). It's worth persisting beyond chapter 1 as it's merely setting the scene. I'd try again with it, as long as you're prepared for how dark it gets.
Does make you think about the impact parenting has on the future psychological development of our children though...
Sorry, LONG post!

I found the story interesting, though the grand denouements were predictable fairly early on and her writing style was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO pretentious. Still, I was interested to see how the story unfolded.

I utterly love this book - yet am not a great fan of Shriver.
I think that the main chracter is a superb study in the unreliable narrator. As good as Notes on a Scandal in that regard.
I also love the structure.
And there is a good deal of tension throughout which considering we know exactly what happens is prety hard to pull off.
It really is quite masterful.

I really liked it, found the characterisation brilliant and the fact of who the narrator was writing to
I thought the author was being truthful and brave about difficult and controversial emotions, and how love can be complex
I read a real stinker of hers abour tennis tho

I really 'enjoyed' it, but it did take me until about page 60 to get into it; I nearly ditched it about 3 times but persevered because I had been told to bear with it.

Glad I did, it was a very thought provoking and absorbing book and really challenged some societal views on parenting.

For those who could not make it past page 1 or 3, can I ask why?

Certainly blueshoes - it just seemed so tedious
I honestly felt if the first few pages were boring me then the rest probably would
I skimmed through the rest and felt the same

Then I ditched it!

It is interesting to hear how much other people 'enjoyed' it though
It seems to be a book people either love or hate

I did try to get into it, I really did - but failed!

I was told by a few people how good it was.
But OMG the first 70 or so pages bored me rigid. I vowed to persevere as had been told it was hard to get into.

Glad I did. Very thought provoking, esp the nature/nurture argument (which of course will never be concluded to satisfaction).
I did find Eva to be cold towards Kevin, and feel she had Celia as an experiment to sort out in her mind who was at fault - her or Kevin.

Really enjoyed it. I lent it to a friend over the summer and cant wait to talk it over when I see her in September.

Thanks Pandora. Curious because I remember (having read this book a long time ago) getting into it from the get go. Yes, a lot was to do with the nature/nurture stance.

Was it the writing style you did not like? Did you dislike the protagonist as a person immediately? Did you find her thoughts incredulous?

Good qs blueshoes
I found her writing style tedious - sentances with lots of adjectives (or am I thinking of adverbs )
I didnt like her as a person either
And when I skimmed through, I still didnt like her
There was nothing about her that I could identify with - well apart from the fact of motherhood, but I love my children - so even that didnt help!

Hurrah for all those who read it and got something out of it though

I do find it rather suss that so many people (read the reviews on Amazon for example) comment on how the first 100s or so are tedious and the fact that so many people either like it or utterly dislike it

Its very like Time Travellers Wife in that respect I think - a love hate thing

I loved it - found it really fasinating. Interpreted it as a narcissistic mum (even if she was at the milder end ) produced a narcissistic son. I could not identify with the mothers thought processes at all and found them bizarre but I agree I may have had sympathy with her before I had children.
I also agree that it is a really interesting look at how soceity views children and and what children need to become decent people.

I also found the narrative long-winded and a bit tedious but as she narrater was truely self-absorbed I accepted that.

It was so chilling I read it very quickly - will read it again now.

pandora: "I found her writing style tedious - sentances with lots of adjectives (or am I thinking of adverbs )"

I think what you mean is "sentences with lots of bollocks"

I read it while preg with my first. Didn't faze me in the slightest.

I have just briefly flicked through the first few pages.

I would say the writing style evokes the feel of self-indulgent navel-gazing. Popcorn's "narcissitic" and "self-absorbed" are good words to describe it.

I would usually be mildly be put off by the "hey, look at me, I write so well" style, but diligently ploughed through to get to the Kevin parts.

Irritating as it may be, I find that the style creates the impression of a no-holds barred insight into the protagonist's mind. Which is very significant to the reader when trying to unravel the complexities of whose version is true and whether her perspective is skewed. Though it is ultimately not possible, as we only get to hear her side of the story.

I had a very difficult first baby (not as bad as Kevin!) and so could identify with the feelings of frustration and failure she described. Perhaps that coloured my perception in a way which a mother of an easier baby would find difficult to find believe.

The author Lionel Shriver never had children herself, or at least did not at the time she wrote the book. A criticism leveled at the book is that she uses it to subtly put mothers in an unflattering light by attributing non-maternal feelings to the protagonist and in the monster of a son she eventually raised.

Gawd. I read all of it as I was determined to find out what everybody loved about it. It was a contrived, psychologically inaccurate, mundane and predictable heap of swill. We most certainly do not need to talk about Lionel Shriver.

Just finished reading this and thought it was fantastic on so many levels. The narrator is such an interesting (but not necessarily likeable character) but I think some of the success of the book comes down to the fact that parts of her personality as a mother are apparent in many of us (even if we hate to admit it!) How many mothers really admit to begrudging giving up work or feeling insanely jealous when they see the closeness of their husband and child and they feel like they are on the sidelines?

Obviously the the narrative shows events through Eva's eyes and I did actually feel some sympathy for her, although the fact that we only view events through her eyes, made Kevin an even more complex and mysterious figure. Some people have criticised Shriver's 'wordy' writing but this creates such an interesting portrait of Kevin which quite frankly, is spine chilling.

It touches on so many deep issues - the most obvious being 'are children born evil?', but there are many more questions raised which centre around the outside influences on our children - materialism - lots of digs at American politics - peer pressure, bullying eetc.

I think that people who appreciate the book can see its uniqueness and how bravely it tackles some incredibly difficult issues within parenting. It is also a snapshot in time of outside American influences and the difficult society that children grown up in and it does not give any easy answers or solutions. To me, a good book makes me think very deeply about something that I've yet to really consider and 'Kevin' does this.

I loved it, made me think about motherhood and the ego and etc etc. And like cf said, it's a rather good horror/greek tragedy. Liked especially the hint of incest (if you know what I mean by 'liked').

Oh, maybe this says something about me shock but after reading that book Lionel Shriver became my favourite author and I do like her as a person (well, from what I have read about her interviews)
I thought her use of language was very clever. She gives intriguing insights into the human psyche (her description of Franklyn`s parents was brilliant). The whole nature/nurture question was discussed and the most amazing thing about that book is that half the people who read it come out with the firm belief it was nature, the other half- nurture. I believed it was nurture.

don't recall the incest? you mean Kevin and sister?

I also found it amazing that this woman had never been pregnant or had children and yet she describes the feelings of the mother during pregnancy and childbirth so vividly. For me, that is real talent as a writer- the empathy to imagine how it could be in another`s shoes.