We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver - Certainly not the first attempt to explain through fiction the reasons why a teenager might be lead to commit a school massacre a la Columbine, however Shriver's attempt might just be the most disturbing. Non-fiction titles such as Rachel's Tears and She Said Yes try to explain the tragic event through religious overtures from those close to the event. In We Need to Talk About Kevin we see the other side of these dark and sinister school shootings...from the killer and his mother. Although this account of a teenage sociopath is purely fictional, one is hard-pressed not to be eerily disturbed by its utterly realistic account all the same.
Nature versus nurture is a controversy as old as time, and the struggle to understand the evolution of a sociopath, from infancy to adulthood, is the central focus of Shriver's work. Told through a series of letters written from Eva to her presumably estranged husband, Franklin, we see the mother of a mass murderer trying to come to grips with the heinous, premeditated act of crime her son, Kevin, commits. From the beginning we know Kevin's crime, but Eva works backward, documenting her relationship with Franklin, their decision to have a child, her aversion to motherhood, and her knowledge that, from birth, Kevin was a flawed individual. We see Eva visit Kevin in a juvenile detention center unfailingly, bearing his harsh, bitter, antisocial personality as a form of punishment for her failing as a mother. Through Eva's eyes we see Kevin's development from a baby who wouldn't breastfeed and was emotionally detached, to a young adult devoid of social or moral responsibility towards his family or community. Kevin regarded everyone as a foe and regarded them with contempt and hatred. Fiercely smart, he was a master manipulator, chiefly manipulating his father with a false persona which Franklin never once intuited. The only one who seemed not to be fooled by Kevin was Eva, and much of the conflict in the book arises as a result. She becomes obsessively cautious of his interaction with her youngest child, a meek and mild little girl named Celia. Evenso, Kevin seems to run roughshod over his sister, ending with a terribly tragic event that scars her for life.
As Kevin's behavior worsens, Franklin becomes increasingly defensive of him, convinced that his son (or the son Kevin portrays to his father) is a perfectly normal teenage boy. He explains away every transgression, from the brick-throwing endeavor to the alleged misconduct by his drama instructor. Inevitably, this causes a deep and painful rift between he and Eva. Culminating in a day of horror and terror, Eva's life is forever changed as Kevin commits a crime beyond imagination at his school and extending to the very depths of Eva's core.
You'll not be disappointed that you read this book, but you will be worse for the wear. I had to put it down, walk away, and reflect before picking it back up. Incredibly well-written and constructed, the verse flows and will cause you to think deeply about human nature, the reasons to become a parent, and whether or not we really do have any influence whatsoever over who our children ultimately become.
