We Need to Talk about Kevin

I have spent all day Sunday reading this novel and just finished it this morning. It's the winner of the Orange prize, by Lionel Shriver.  It is SO good...I feel absolutely shattered by this book.

For those who may not know, it's narrated by a mother whose son staged a school killing. I won't say more, other than if you are prepared for a deeply emotional journey, you should read this book.

Who else here has read it??

I read it.  Didn't like it at all.  Could tell Lionel/Margaret hasn't had children herself and has ill-disguised contempt for those who do.  It was so far beyond the scope of anything realistic Salvador Dali himself would have been impressed.

Felt she doesn't have a good enough grasp on some of the nuances of American culture to write about it.  Should have obyed the fifty-page rule here:  you give a book fifty pages to get better. If it's still horrible after fifty pages, throw it against the wall, let it slide behind the couch to feed the dustbunnies and start something else.

No wonder 30 publishers rejected it before she found someone to take it, they realised the woman needs a straightjacket, not a pen.

A friend at work has been talking about this book. She's promised to let me read it when she's done. I'm very interested in reading it. 

Never heard of it till now.  Sounds very interesting, but I know it would scare the pants off of me!!!

Never heard of it till now.  Sounds very interesting, but I know it would scare the pants off of me!!!

And in this country, that's a whole different visual!   

Maybe it was the narrator talking, not Lionel Shriver. Flawed narrator, flawed viewpoint. I found it riveting and enjoyed seeing the inner world of this woman who wasn't afraid to give voice to her most taboo thoughts and feelings.

I read that thing about the dust bunnies in a customer review at amazon. I guess you must have written that review, expat.

"Reviewer: Robert P. Beveridge (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
       
Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin (Counterpoint, 2003)

At various times over the years, I have mentioned the fifty-page rule. That rule is that you give a book fifty pages to get better. If it's still horrible after fifty pages, throw it against the wall, let it slide behind the couch to feed the dustbunnies (cf. last week's review of Museum), and start something else. I used to be the kind of person who would never let a book go until I'd strangled on every last word, so starting to use the fifty-page rule ..."

Maybe it was the narrator talking, not Lionel Shriver. Flawed narrator, flawed viewpoint. I found it riveting and enjoyed seeing the inner world of this woman who wasn't afraid to give voice to her most taboo thoughts and feelings.

I read that thing about the dust bunnies in a customer review at amazon. I guess you must have written that review, expat.

"Reviewer: Robert P. Beveridge (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
       
Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin (Counterpoint, 2003)

At various times over the years, I have mentioned the fifty-page rule. That rule is that you give a book fifty pages to get better. If it's still horrible after fifty pages, throw it against the wall, let it slide behind the couch to feed the dustbunnies (cf. last week's review of Museum), and start something else. I used to be the kind of person who would never let a book go until I'd strangled on every last word, so starting to use the fifty-page rule ..."

I've actually read the "fifty page rule" in several places.  It's not something that Amazon reviewer invented.