Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

39 reviews

mariacirillo's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

At first I thought this book was just giving me a weird vibe because it was written in 2003 and aged poorly. Then I read Shriver’s political leanings and her crude, ineffectual portrayal of the nuance of nature vs nurture made much more sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

capsandclauses's review

2.5

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a dark, disturbing novel about a mother trying to reconcile her lack of maternity with her sons' actions after a school shooting. It is written in epistolary form via letters from Eva the heroine to her husband. 
 
This is one of those books that was probably good, but my enjoyment of it was massively affected by the fact that I was forced to read it, read academic articles about it and write an essay on it for university. There is no going back after that.

Objectively, it had brilliant writing:

"But since we've been separated, I may most miss coming home to deliver the narrative curiosities of my day, the way a cat might lay mice at your feet: the small, humble offerings that couples proffer after foraging in separate backyards."

“In a country that doesn't discriminate between fame and infamy, the latter presents itself as plainly more achievable.”

It also had really detailed social commentary.

But MAN do I hate reading books for school.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

⚠️ CW: school shooting, murder, fatphobia, racism, homophobia, ableism, mental illness, child abuse and mentions of paedophilia ⚠️ This book is so hard hitting and had me hooked from the very beginning! Eva never really wanted to be a mother, certainly not the mother of a boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who had tried to befriend him. Now, two years after her son's horrific rampage, Eva comes to terms with her role as Kevin's mother in a series of startlingly direct letters with her absent husband about their son's upbringing. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become, she confesses to a deep, long-standing ambivalence about motherhood. This book is so incredibly chilling, heartbreaking and truly makes you consider the nature vs nurture debate. I regularly had to put it down and really think about the psychological side of this story, it was definitely a lot to consider but the characters and plot lived rent free in my head even when I wasn't reading and I think it will stay with me for a long time. I'd previously watched the movie of this but the book is on a whole different level that I can't even explain properly, it's one of those that you just have to read to understand the emotional rollercoaster. Overall, I absolutely adored this book from the way it was written to the hugely thought provoking plot, and I highly recommend reading it but please take the CW's into account because this is a very difficult read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia

aerisia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

quinn24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lionel Shriver can write so well I just wish her bigoted beliefs weren’t consistently clawing their way onto the page completely unnecessarily.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Genocide, Vomit, and Classism

librarian_barbie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's very well written, though at times too flowery and slightly grating. It's a good book, but not entertaining- very much meant to be thought about rather than just consumed. I liked it, but still had some hesitations in giving it a high rating. Glad I read it, but I don't think I'd read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

Minor: Ableism and Fatphobia

kimh147's review against another edition

reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Child abuse

heather34's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

annahollamby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

thought-provoking, disturbing, and ultimately, i fear, unforgettable. the detailed writing really adds to the realism of the story. eva, our narrator, is unlikeable but certainly enthralling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Gaslighting

aliengirlreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Pregnancy