‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ - Lionel Shriver
A deserved winner of many literary prizes, Lionel Shriver’s ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ is perhaps one of the best novels I have read in a long time. Written from the perspective of mother of Kevin, Eva Khatadourian, Eva tells the story of how she came to be Kevin’s mother and how she deals with the atrocious crime he commits days before his 16th birthday.
Through a series of letters to her husband, Franklin, the reader is given an insight into Eva’s mind and through her memories sees the troubled relationship she has with Kevin and her difficulty in finding a way to love him and finding a way to deal with the repurcussions of his actions.
A brilliant work of literature, although difficult to get through the first few chapters, Shriver’s ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ is an excellent work of literature that I would highly recommend. It not only portrays the struggle of a mother’s affections, but highlights the long-developing debate of whether or not people are born evil, or if they are shaped to be so - nature vs. nurture.
-Tara