Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

17 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

capsandclauses's review against another edition

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

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

goblinghost_39's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

klwpvfc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

madelinequinne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Well this certainly cemented the fact that I don’t ever want kids. Kevin continuously made me so angry throughout this novel, and the absolute heartbreak i felt at the end when we find out he murdered his little sister too, that just absolutely broke me. This is such a difficult book at times because of how awful the topic is, but overall I would just describe this book as sad. It’s incredibly well written, and this is the most emotion i’ve ever felt after reading a book to date, so brb, gonna go cry 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

townmarshboy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body shaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Death of parent, and Alcohol

katiej's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A really thought provoking read, hard to swallow but beautifully written. It had me gripped. An interesting format, the narrator uses letters to communicate with her estranged husband and talks about their life together and the horrendous tragedy that occurs. A sensation for all the wrong reason but really worth devouring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

julianahughes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Gaslighting