Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

24 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.

---

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

aniloracccc's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, and Death of parent

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.

---

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

fernash's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Medical trauma

aliengirlreads's review against another edition

3.0

---

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

phoenix13's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fatphobia, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

florenceassetto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

absolutely HARROWING book, emotionally wrecking and very dark but i would recommend! could not stop thinking about it for weeks after reading 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

lowkey very disturbing but it did actually have an effect on me and it is so well written, definitely a thriller i would recommend!

the_bookish_owl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

Written in the form of letters from Eva to her husband Franklin, it was an odd writing style and tone of voice that took a while to get into but overall a compelling story.

It constantly annoyed me how clueless the husband was throughout Kevin's life. Intriguing twist near the end that I'll be honest I didn't see coming.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

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

---

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 

---

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