We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

I borrowed this book from one of my teachers who said I just had to read it.  She told me it was haunting and disturbing.  She told me that I would be thinking about it for days afterward.  She was right and then some.

This book is about a fictional character, Kevin, and the fictional school massacre that he is responsible for.  (I am not ruining the book for you, that fact it known up front.)  I have read a few fictional books and even some non-fiction around this topic and there is just something about it that is so fascinating to me.  Maybe it is because I am a teacher, maybe because it is so hard to believe (but then not really)...I don't know what it is.  It makes me so sad and curious about what drives a person to this kind of act.  Every story is different I suppose but there are some constants.  There is obviously the students that are involved.  Many time when there is a school shooting we hear more about the shooters than the students killed, but I think that much is done by the parents of those victims to have their child's name and memory known.  On the other hand, we never hear much from the shooter's parents....what would there really be to say, I guess.

Lionel Shriver supposes that there is plenty a parent would want to say and she chronicles that in her book.  Written from the perspective of Kevin's mother, the book is written as a series of letters to Kevin's father.  It starts even before Kevin was born and goes through up to "present day."  There are so many moments in the book that I just wanted to put it down and walk away because it was so troubling...but I just couldn't.  It is one of the better books I have read in awhile.

I don't want to say too much about the book, except that there is great disagreement about this book among readers in terms of where the true fault lies about why Kevin is the why he is.  There are points in the book that I hated all the characters and other points where there was a great deal of sympathy, even for Kevin.  My friend that lent me the book said she was curious to find out what I thought of it.  She and her mother often read the same books and more often than not, their opinions match about the book.  This was one book that they did not think even remotely the same and I can see why there would be such differing opinions.

This book was recently made into a movie and is playing at our local independent theater.  If I don't get a chance to see it in the theater (which is unlikely) I will definitely seek it out when it comes out on video.  It is chilling and amazing all at the same time.

As far as what is up next for me, I am not sure.  I think I might be the last person on the planet that hasn't read The Hunger Games series and I have them on my iPad but there is just something about the premise that doesn't sit well.  EVERYONE says that I will love them and that they are a quick read so...maybe.  I need to update my Goodreads list with the stack of books that are on my bookshelf first and then go from there.  I have a few books by authors I have read in the past that I might go for...  On the other hand, I might just need to let We Need To Talk About Kevin sit for awhile in my head and do something else with my free time.  I have a long list of things to pick from....