by Lionel Shriver
Hardcover- N/A
Focusing on a boy who kills seven of his fellow students, Shriver tells a resonant story while framing the horrifying tableaux of teenage carnage as ...
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This book lead to one of the most heated discussions we have ever had!
I have to be honest I was unable to read the book. My mind would wander a bit with her style of writing. So I ordered the audible version from i-tunes and it went smoothly. I was finished in 2 days. This book brought about so many different discussions and emotions within our book club. I was pleased that everyone of us had a different take on almost every event in this tragic story. I would definitely recommend this book to other clubs.
Starts out a bit slow and there are a lot of 'big' words. However, it's a very honest point of view story.
The main character, Eva, is so unlikeable I almost put this book down. Her use of big words and judgemental tone was a huge turn off to me. But the more I listened to this book on audio, the more I got sucked into the story. And wow, the last quarter of the book was just breathtaking! It broke my heart. I went from truly disliking Eva, to feeling great compassion for her. The twist was worth the read.
Lionel Shriver's book offered hours of discussion for our group. From expections of motherhood from society to personal feelings as mothers. Well written, beautiful use of language. Characters and story drawn so the reader rode the ride.
Our book club of 12 all read this book . Only one of our members really didn't like the book. The rest of all us agreed its hard to love a book like this because of its very dark and disturbing storyline. Some of us weren't really even sure they would recommend the book. I will say, it was fantastic conversation. We have read over 90 books as a club and this was probaly one of our best discussions. As parents, everyone brought their own insight to this story which made it very interesting.
I really had to discipline myself to keep reading. There were some twists and turns that I found a bit predicatable, I did not love the writing style and I wasn't sure if that was to create the character or the authors actual style. None of the characters are likeable and it is really just like reading about an inevitable train wreck.
I really liked this book but its not for everyone. The subject is very heavy and can be dark. The book is very well writen and I think very honest. I have pondered the subject and the characters long after I put the book down. Its the kind of book that stays with you. I liked the book but I can't say for certain how I feel about the subject it is so sad and heartbreaking but at the end of the day Kevin is still her son and what do you do with that? Very thought provoking great for discussion but be careful who you discuss it with. Its the kind of book that you either love or hate. There really is no in-between ground on this one.
This book was incredibly well written, but with a lot of large words that required looking up to understand what the author was trying to convey. Despite the wordy language, the book sticks with you long after you finish reading it.
The book begins slow, but about a quarter through starts picking up the pace, and you start to realize that you do not care very much for the narrator, and you start feeling bad for Kevin, the mass murderer. About 3/4s through, you begin to realize you don't really like anyone in the novel, but just can't stop reading to determine if Kevin will reveal his motive, his reason for killing his fellow classmates.
This book is very disturbing and will cause much discussion in a book club. I highly recommned it.
Great psychological study, well-written, disturbing content.
Very hard book to read. Very slow , lots of irrelevant content. Skipping back and forth. Although no one cared for the book we had a very good discussion in our reading group.
I am so sorry I read the book, it had me almost suck to my stomach, had me in tears, and night,ares about it.
This is the sickest book I have ever read! If it had not been chosen by my book club, I would never have read it!!!! There was not one character that I admired.
Although this is a difficult book to read, it provides many areas of discussion. Don't give up reading just because you don't like the subject.
Depressing and very dark. Difficult to read at times. The writing was unnecessarily wordy at times which prompted me to skim through portions of the book and I didn’t appear to miss any plot developments by doing so.
A mother's harrowing portrait of a family and a child that kills. An intelligently-written book, brimming with literary and cultural references, and psychological insights. Not an easy read, but one that may help our understanding of the tragedies unfurling on our American campuses and in our homes.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is not what I was expecting. I expected a book about a teenager who committed a mass school shooting. But WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is also about life with an evil child.
This is the mother’s tale told from the beginning—the very beginning—of that child. She writes it as a series of letters to her husband. So, throughout the book, the reader is kept guessing about where her husband is now.
But the mother’s story isn’t just descriptions of life with Kevin. Each of her letters is long on psychology and philosophy, too.
The mother’s big question: whose fault was it? Certainly, the reader has to wonder whether the mother’s own attitude contributed to Kevin’s evil nature. But it seems to me that the father was even more at fault. I think, as a matter of fact, he was a big part of the problem.
And then there’s Celia. She doesn’t appear until later in the book, but she serves to emphasize Kevin’s God-awful evil.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is probably a five-star book. I give it only four stars, though, because the evil is so difficult to read that I had to put the book down often.
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