We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

On April 8^th 1998 15 year old Kevin Khatchadourian shot seven of his fellow high school students, one teacher and one cafeteria worker. Almost two years later, his mum Eva tries to figure out why he did this. Was it her fault? Or is he innately bad? In a series of letters to her husband, who is no longer living in the same house, she tries to explain events as she experienced them. To truly try and get inside Kevin’s head she goes right back to before he was born. She also, as she does every two weeks, goes to see Kevin in prison to try and talk to him about it. But is this kind of thing really something you can figure out? Is it really that black and white?

The premise of the book is fascinating. What would you do if your child committed mass murder? It is not something that people think about because they don’t think it will happen. Eva certainly didn’t believe Kevin would do it. The victims’ families lose someone but, to a degree, the family of the killer lose someone too. The person they thought they knew isn’t that person at all. As the family are not locked up out of reach, they get all the anger and frustration directed at them. Eva gets stared at wherever she goes and has had paint smeared all over the house.

Kevin is a mystery. He doesn’t seem to care about anything, including himself. Several people have tried to explain his apathy, saying he is hiding his emotions because he is scared or angry. To be fair to Kevin, he didn’t have the most positive start to life. His mother wasn’t sure she even wanted a child and motherhood didn’t come naturally. She did try though and Kevin didn’t make it easy for her by refusing to communicate properly with her. He kept everything to himself and although his dad also tried to talk to him just told him what Kevin knew Franklin wanted to hear. From the outside Kevin had everything, a mum and a dad, the three of them lived in a nice house and had plenty of money. Kevin is incredibly intelligent but is also either a psychopath, a sociopath of both.

Eva’s letters are very revealing and she bears all to her husband. Things used to happen around Kevin that Eva knew were Kevin’s doing but his dad, Franklin, refused to see anything bad in his son. Eva is honest about not being the best mother but, especially when he depended on her more, she did everything the books said but Kevin gave her nothing in return. She seems like a bit of a sociopath as well as she doesn’t put Kevin first and would rather not be in his company. You can understand that having a child like Kevin isn’t easy. She had no idea what was going on where he could read her like a book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology, the human condition and morality. Throughout the book there is conflict between Kevin and Eva, and Eva and Franklin. It appears that Kevin and his dad have a close relationship. In reality I think Eva and Kevin have the closest relationship, even if it is an unconventional one. Although only Kevin himself can know what’s going on in his head, Eva seems to see the real Kevin and not one of the many fronts he presents depending on the situation. Lionel Shriver must have really got inside both characters and it can’t have been a fun place. There is no action in this book. It’s more a character study that encourages you to think. Absolutely brilliant.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.