Very disturbing but an excellent read

This was a powerfully moving story...difficult to read at times because the protagonist comes off as so negative at times, and also because the content itself is so twisted. But Lionel Shriver manages to craft a story that expresses emotions one very rarely articulates or even lets oneself admit. A challenging read but one I'll never forget.

I got so fed up with the attitude of the narrator that I ended up quitting the book not even half-way through. I'm desperate to know what happens, but not THAT desperate as to slog through the whole wordy thing.

Fantastic. Probably one of the best books I've ever read. Kevin displays all the traits of a classic psychopath and his character is fascinating. The entire book is powerful and emotional and challenging. I can't wait to read more of her books.

Possibly the most interesting and challenging novel I've ever read. Shriver has written the rare work that forever imprints itself on the reader's psyche. Rarely is motherhood explored with such emotional intensity and complexity. A disturbing and important book.

This is a book that I will think about for a long while ; its characters are so honestly presented with all their very real flaws. There is not much to like about Kevin but with kids parents take what they are given and do the best they can.

Not since 'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger have I been affected by a book this much. It's written in such an amazing way. WOW is all I have to say right now.

chilling

What effects do one ambivalent parent and one overly optimistic parent have on a child? Is nature or nurture to blame for creating a sociopath? What might drive a teenager to remorselessly commit murder? Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin poses these difficult questions and many more. The narrative, which leads with horrifying inevitability to the day when Kevin massacres seven of his schoolmates and a teacher at his upstate New York high school, is told as a series of letters from Kevin's mother, Eva, to her apparently estranged husband, Franklin. This method both affords the reader deep insight into Eva's consciousness and enables Shriver to pull off a huge and crushing shock at the end of the book. The novel is harrowing, psychologically astute and even darkly humourous; it proves the tenuousness between blame and empathy, retribution and forgiveness.

Raw, frightening, absorbing, honest. This one is as good as it gets. I'll never get Eva's voice out my head.