Review: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Title: We Need To Talk About Kevin
Author: Lionel Shriver
Graded: A+

I don't want to give away any spoilers for this novel, so I'll apologise now for my ambiguity and hope that the little information I provide will enable you to make your own reading decision. Let me begin by saying that this was not an easy read, especially so for me as I found it difficult to separate my reactions as a parent to what I was reading. In this heartbreaking novel, I  had to put the book down often, (contrary to the Boston Globe quote on the cover) for the first half, I couldn't read more than 2 chapters at a time without stopping my reading to distract myself from the darkness of the material.

The writing is good, of that there's no doubt. The descriptions and prose blended well, though often seeming long-winded, it held true to the letter format in which the chapters were offered. The main character, Eva, who provides the readers' POV, is finely woven for us. She was at times hard to like and  in the beginning came across herself as coldly detached, rather than just analytical. She is very tough on herself and her maternal emotions, but always brutally honest. And we come to understand that she's not cold or numb at all...

The gift of this author isn't necessarily in the story that he's telling; it's in the way he makes you think about the story that he's telling.  I've read a similar story which was equally engrossing plot-wise, and yet here, even as I read I would be questioning my decisions and reactions as a parent and the possible outcomes from those. Because of that, it took me a lot longer to read this than I'm used to spending on a book. All in all, what a heartbreaking novel - but one definitely worth the effort!