Reviews tagging 'Death'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

59 reviews

hellokatya's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

my first introduction to this story was through the film. somehow, i had come across it in relation to ezra miller - more true to character than we’d originally thought! - and was immediately interested. unfortunate to report, i was not a fan. however, upon finding out this was a novel first, through a sale at a book store, i was rekindled in my interest: hoping it would deliver better. 

the movie took on the same layout as the book where it is going between two timelines, i thought it ruined the potential that the story could’ve had, and i felt a bit similarly reading it. it is revealed in the blurb on the back of the book that kevin is a school shooter and murdered people, leaving his mother to deal with the fallout, but throughout the book it is hinted at, not fully acknowledged or confirmed until the very end where she, in great detail, describes her assumptions of how thursday went down. 

when i first began reading this, i was - and still am - in the throes of a reading slump. this was one i really looked forward to and counted on to bring me out of it; it did in smaller ways than anticipated. 

1. i absolutely loved the way the author writes. it is so eloquent and well spoken, sounds extremely educated, but it came to feel condescending in the end - and maybe that was purposeful but i just could not wait for it to be over with. this book did take me a bit to finish (just over two weeks) and i was dragging my way through it. in some other reviews i’ve read on storygraph, people were also taken aback by this. no real person talks like that. nonetheless, the writing intrigued me and i wanted so badly to finish it. it was just a bit of a drag and felt pretentious at times
2. the “letters” do not feel like letters to someone at all. they’re more diary entries, or reliving memories. they are not cohesive with the way the book is formatted and it was bothersome for me. though, one of my main points with perks of being a wallflower, was that the letters felt too impersonal and left far too much out for me to really be unconditionally in the story.
3. towards the end, i was contemplating whether i think eva is an unreliable narrator and if her accounts of kevin’s behavior and nature are to be trusted, or if they’re tinged red with fury and resentment. are children truly born evil? was he toying with her for so long from such a young age or was he really a lost boy trying to get through to his mother? 
   1. it almost made me begin to empathize with him and i loathed it

overall, i do not think i would recommend this book, as it is far too rich and i began skimming ~70% way through just to have it over with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Classism

mikmoxx's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Dark and tense. Very scary reflection on what is currently happening to many young people across The States. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Dysphoria

pichetteemmons's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

jackbifrost's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

mokkancs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

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

thewhaanga's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

A great read that questions a parents love for their offspring.

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

annie_brewer's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Read via audiobook (Orion Publishing Group Limited)

A superb book. The writing is impeccable, non superfluous but provides astounding imagery. Each character has so much dimension and their perfect regularity lends to faceted motivations.

Delivered through letters, Eva's tone alludes to indifference and banality - a reactionary position of self defense, a methodic distancing from the atrocities of her son, or exhaustion? Her crude apology for her own loss at a funeral of a victim exposes her grief and helplessness, yet possibly hints at self-absorbtion and innate narcissism. 

Is Eva an unreliable narrator? Does Eva also have psychopathic tendancies? Was Eva oppressively cynical? Was Eva suffering from post-partum depression, impacting her bonding with Kevin?

The nuances between Kevin and Eva are expertly crafted, rendering the relationship consistantly teetering between obliteration and mutual respect with each interaction. The suprising accountability they hold each other to, valuing authenticity over compassion, stunts their relationships with others who can never reciprocate the grittiness and pervasion.

A novel that will forever make me question nature vs nurture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - Unspecified but implied.

tiffany_stevenson's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Bit of a hard read - took me a long time to get into it but made me extremely reflective on my own desire to have children. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Mass/school shootings