Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - We Need to Talk about Kevin

Character wise, everyone sucks in this book.

Franklin sucks in general, but in regards to a child, he sucked hardcore. A great way to ruin your marriage is to put your kids first. And like, yeah postpartum depression and even postpartum psychosis make Eva a little rough, but dang dude. He didn't need to gaslight her like that. If you legit take the word of your child over your spouse, you're proving the trust in your relationship isn't there. And if you don't trust each other, what is the point?

Is Eva an unreliable narrator? Probably? Should she have had kids? With her motivations, probably not. Did she try her damnedest? Looks like it. Should she have gotten her entire family counseling? Yeah, baby! She also should have stood up for herself more? But these things aren't what makes her suck. It's the stuck up, hypocritical attitude that Kevin rightly points out. (This side of her doesn't come out super often throughout, so she sucks the least.)

And obviously Kevin sucks because that's the point of the book.

There's a lot of philosophizing and social commentary and introspection in this book. Like it's 66% that. Interesting monologue, but it does make everything drag so

Also don't think the nasty mess with the drama teacher was necessary. It was overtly obscene.

Content Warnings

melissahawco's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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ajlct's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

It's an excellent technical display of unlikeable characters and an unreliable narrator, but ultimately there was nothing redeeming about this book that made me glad to have read it.

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robinudell's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Oof. I understand why people would have clamored for a book like this in the early aughts, but I'm struggling to see what a modern reader would glean from it. I don't have a problem with unlikable female characters- in fact I tend to gravitate towards them. But in this case, I think it was less the character of Eva and more the underlying contempt of the reader by the author that I was alienated by. The constant railing against American Culture TM was tiresome enough, but the casual fat phobia, racism, and bad faith arguments about "political correctness" were jarring, and sadly seem to line up with the author's stated beliefs.

The idea of a child born supernaturally evil is not only a rip off of The Fifth Child, it's just a lazy, inaccurate, and unimaginative explanation for people who commit mass violence. Kevin's actions don't make any sense, and don't offer insight into actual mass shooting events. If you want to talk about ambivalence in motherhood and the fear of raising a monster, there are more effective ways to do that. If you're trying to write horror, do that. But walking this weird line between the two just isn't as deep or profound as it was clearly intended to be.

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ellensmith's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Damn. Really good. Really sad.

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rochellem's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

How do you rate a book that is excellently written, but was torturous to read? One that could likely not have dealt with the topic in a better way, but one that I am only glad to have read after-the-fact, and not during?

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