We Need to Talk About Kevin

Happy October! I am sure readers went with a scary book for Halloween, so instead of picking a Stephen King boo, or Dean Koontz, I went with one that I thought about reading a whole bunch of times in the past, but would chicken out for whatever reason.

I would like to point out first thing that I saw the movie before I read the book. I really liked the movie; the acting was very well done.

That being said, like, holy shit, that was an intense character study. For almost literally the entire way through, I cannot tell you how easy it was to be pissed with Eva’s demeanor and just her being in general. Shriver wrote in a such a style where it was like you were interviewing Eva face-to-face, especially with the movie available you can actually see her act the way she is written as, which I think is not only a well done to Shriver, but to Tilda Swinton. When reading, I would get all worked up because I would agree with Kevin, Eva is such a hypocrite in how she goes on her tangents about America and Americans; she may be Armenian by blood, but she is just as great of an example of her “American” than anyone else she describes. “The only thing different is that she is not fat”.

I liked that there were two different examples of people in the kind of situation that this is: one who could see the signs all along and wanted to punish and be mad his whole existence from the moment he was conceived, and there is one who is in denial that kids can be bad, or have the breaking point of hurting/killing anyone; boys will be boys and need to toughen up and live the all-American life. I liked that the point is that there is no family that is safe from producing someone who will be capable of killing.

I liked seeing how Kevin and Eva’s relationship developed; it was a very interesting thing to watch. It certainly is not to this extent, but I am sure that there are plenty of family members who have this relationship based off of hate, that no matter what you do, you just cannot click. At the same time, the level of savagery. between the two in their interactions makes for good entertainment for those observing it.

I could definitely see myself reading this again, especially in a discussion setting. This is a topic that in the last few years has been prevalent and worthy of discussion, especially as people get older and have kids.

If you are interested in reading We Need to Talk About Kevin, I would start here.

10/10