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A review by rubygranger
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
5.0
Harrowing. That is all I can say, really.
It's not even solely because of Kevin's attitude, but also the defensive and yet equally cold nature of Eva. As with any narrator, we empathise and take her side but there are moments where we have to seriously question her actions and whether she can be said to be in the right. Then again, she does recognise when she is wrong (for example with the bricks on the overpass) which increases her reliability, and the isolation that Kevin invokes in her mean that we cannot help but pity the woman. I cannot decide whether I like her or not actually because, especially when writing in the present tense, we can see such detachment from society and a pure melancholy that only one in her situation could feel.
It's not even solely because of Kevin's attitude, but also the defensive and yet equally cold nature of Eva. As with any narrator, we empathise and take her side but there are moments where we have to seriously question her actions and whether she can be said to be in the right. Then again, she does recognise when she is wrong (for example with the bricks on the overpass) which increases her reliability, and the isolation that Kevin invokes in her mean that we cannot help but pity the woman. I cannot decide whether I like her or not actually because, especially when writing in the present tense, we can see such detachment from society and a pure melancholy that only one in her situation could feel.