We Need to Talk About Kevin
04 Oct 2019Going into the book, I wanted a complex story of how parenting can affect the upbringing of a child. However, Kevin is basically Satan from the moment he’s born. He cries through the first few years of birth, causing multiple nannies to quit. As he grows up, he encourages bad behavior from the kids around him. He eventually becomes a bit of a delinquent and shows psychopathic tendencies. I felt like there was no depth to Kevin, and there was no point where I felt like the parents could do anything about it.
The story is told by the main character, Eva, the mother of Kevin who writes letters to her ex-husband. Eva is basically a travel agent, however, you would think that Eva is an English professor with a double degree in psychology, due to the prose used. Sentences tend to be ‘overbearing’ (for lack of a better term!) and caused a lot of the book to be a slog to read.
The ending of the book is horrifying and dramatic. While the entire book leads up to event that you know is coming, there’s still a few surprises that come out. The ending does make the book worth reading.