So I finally finished We Need to Talk About Kevin

[Kore]

This book was the nail in the coffin with my decision to remain child free. It was scarring. I'm always on the lookout for future Kevins. Imagine my horror when my nephew got this for Christmas. lol.

[specka]

When I finished this book, I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. It still makes me shiver. I had a really hard time getting into it too. After a while, Eva's voice just became natural to me and it didn't annoy me anymore, it just sounded like her.

I read Columbine by Dave Cullen about six months before this one and the non-fic contrast was helpful. Have you read that? It's so good.

[PinkSquirrel]

I think the subject matter and the overall story was far better than the writing itself. It was a jarring read.

I would definitely read Columbine, I have a feeling it will help with your feelings of "please never ever let our family be in a position like this." I read both of them around the same time and one of the common threads I realized between both books was that the mom in WNTTAK and Eric's parents were that they did nothing when they saw issues. If you're thinking please never let this happen, then I'm sure you're doing everything you can. They weren't.

[EllieArroway]

I was not a fan of the writing style at all, so it took me forever to finish it. And maybe it's just because I read it over such a long period, but I did not see the ending coming at all. When I think about it now I should have known it was going to happen, but at the time I was oblivious so it was incredibly shocking.

I still haven't figured out how I feel about it and it has been months since I read it. I am glad I read it, though. It will haunt me for a while.

[PinkSquirrel]

I read it over a weekend and still didn't see the ending coming at all. I thought it was going to be something completely different

[sporklemotion]

As the book unfolded, I had some idea that we weren't getting the whole story about Franklin, but I didn't anticipate it ending exactly the way it did.
I thought the book was really compelling and, even though I didn't really like Eva, I definitely felt for her and her frustration at feeling like she was the only one who saw how bad things were. I also wondered how accurate her interpretations of events were.

Has anyone seen the movie? I haven't, but am wondering how it compares to the book.

[grover]

The movie will be available on Netflix on 5/29. I'm debating if I want to watch it or not.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

I read it a few months back. I found Eva really grating, and Franklin was a dipshit, but I couldn't put it down. I just felt so badly for poor Celia, who never asked for or deserved any of it.
I'm reading Columbine now, and it's chilling. Another interesting "companion" piece is Jennifer Brown's Hate List, about a girl whose boyfriend is the school shooter.
And Kore, I totally agree about this book confirming my child-free status. I found myself completely identifying with Eva's ambiguity, and am on the edge of 37 myself. Too close to home, heh.

[mollymoe]

I know the story is told from Eva's perspective and maybe we aren't getting the whole truth, but I really hated the way Franklin treated his daughter.

I remember Celia asking her mom for help with her homework or maybe to be tucked into bed and the dad rolled his eyes and exchanged knowing looks with Kevin. Ugh, poor kid must have felt so belittled all the time.

Part of me felt bad for Eva. She was the only one who saw or sensed something was off with Kevin and it can be hard to completely upend your life and family because you think something is off, but after the bleach or drain-o incident, she should have left.

[moreace01]

May 17, 2012 8:27:13 GMT -5 5kcandlesinthewind said:

And Kore, I totally agree about this book confirming my child-free status. I found myself completely identifying with Eva's ambiguity, and am on the edge of 37 myself. Too close to home, heh.

I felt the same way as well. I realize a work of fiction should probably not be what guides me in my life decisions, but whether or not to have a child is something I've struggled with for years (also 37...). There's societal pressure to live your life a certain way and when you stray from it, you constantly question yourself and your motives - and are you doing the right thing? When deep down you know you are, but you feel like you might be missing something. Anyway...this book hit me hard.

FWIW, the movie Juno had me in tears - like ugly crying tears - for similar reasons.

[msmerymac]

The only thing I found not plausible was that Eva was basically SCARED of her son from infancy (if her narrative is to be believed) and yet she never got him a psychological evaluation. Everyone missed that, big time.

Otherwise, I found it totally believable. Successful professionals with the means to raise a child very, very well. They gave reasons for having children that seemed very typical - the biological need to reproduce, to have someone to care for them when they were older, to experience a new facet of their lives. I can totally identify with some of that. And then to have it go horribly wrong? Yes, Eva made mistakes, but you have to think that all parents make mistakes. And there are certainly worse parents than Eva and Franklin who don't raise mass murderers.

I definitely saw the end coming from about the second chapter of the book. But it didn't make it less horrifying. In fact, it made the end more suspenseful, when Eva was trying to call Franklin repeatedly while at the police station, and then when she came home. Ugh.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

I guessed about Franklin fairly soon -there were only a limited number of reasons why he wouldn't have been on trial with her. But poor, poor Celia. Once she was born, I desperately hoped I was wrong and Franklin had taken Celia and run away or something.

And Mollymoe, I agree. I could not understand why she didn't take Celia and go after the eye incident. Even temporarily. It may have shocked Franklin into some sort of realization that the kid needed help.

I have the movie in my Netflix queue, and I'm really interested to see how it compares to the book. I hear Tilda Swinton is fantastic.

[duckduck]

It was gripping but at the same time so difficult to read. I didn't mind the writing style or Eva's voice, but the subject matter was rough.

We don't have kids yet but hope to someday. I have days when I wonder if I'm cut out for parenthood, though, and I had a couple of straight weeks of those days after I finished WNTTAK. YIKES. Eva's ambivalence about TTC was frighteningly familiar and it scared the crap out of me.