We Need to Talk About Kevin

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We Need to Talk About Kevin
Cover of the American Reprint Edition
Author	Lionel Shriver
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Counterpoint Press
Publication date	14 April 2003
Media type	Print (Paperback and Hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 1582432678

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, concerning a fictional school massacre. It is written from the perspective of the killer's mother, Eva Khatchadourian, and documents her attempt to come to terms with her son Kevin and the murders he committed. Although told in the first person as a series of letters from Eva to her husband, the novel's structure also strongly resembles that of a thriller. The novel, Shriver's seventh, won the 2005 Orange Prize, a UK-based prize for female authors of any nationality writing in English. It is published outside of the US by Serpent's Tail.

Contents 1 Character histories 1.1 Kevin 1.2 Eva 1.3 Franklin 1.4 Celia 2 Major themes 3 Film adaptation 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Character histories

[edit] Kevin

Kevin's behavior throughout the book closely resembles that of a psychopath, although reference to this condition is sparse and left mostly up to the reader's imagination. He displays little to no affection or moral responsibility towards his family or community, and commonly distances himself from people to avoid attachment. Kevin seems to regard virtually everyone with contempt and hatred. Eva, his mother, makes frequent attempts to enter Kevin's mind and identify some reason for his detachment and his actions, which to non-sociopaths seem incomprehensible. He engages in many acts of petty sabotage from an early age, from seemingly-innocent actions like cutting decorated cards to pieces to encouraging a girl to gouge her eczema-affected skin. Rationalization for his behavior is one of the central themes of the story -- when asked the simple question 'Why?' after the massacre, he responds that he is giving the public the excitement and scandal that they secretly crave. Only in rare instances does another side of Kevin emerge, in childhood when he becomes very ill and later, just before he is transferred to an adult prison. In these instances, he displays the simple need for love and comfort that all children seek, as well as an unusual empathy and concern for those around him. It is left ambiguous as to whether this is Kevin's real personality hidden under layers of psychosis, or vice versa.

[edit] Eva

Kevin's mother is founder and CEO of the fictional travel guide company 'A Wing and a Prayer'. Her work allows her to travel to many diverse countries, which never quite satisfies her taste for the new and exotic. She is intelligent and educated, emotional, and quite strongly liberal to the point of anti-Americanism, owing partly to her Armenian ancestry and her dislike of the attitudes of rich suburbanites. In a sense her husband, Franklin, is her opposite in terms of personality, although there is a strong chemistry between the two.

Eva has conflicted feelings about becoming pregnant, but desires to give Franklin the family he wants. After Kevin's birth, Eva admits that she did not bond with the child nor feel any of the instant love that other mothers profess. This is, in part, because the newborn Kevin himself resists bonding, refusing even at such a young age to breastfeed and crying constantly, although his every need is met. Eva worries that Kevin instinctively sensed her ambivalence towards motherhood and that this has led to his horrifying behavior.

[edit] Franklin

Eva's narration takes the form of letters written after the massacre to her presumably-estranged husband, Franklin. In these letters, she details the events of Kevin's life up to the school massacre, and her thoughts concerning their relationship. She also admits to a number of events that she tried to keep secret, such as when she lashed out and broke Kevin's arm in a sudden fit of rage. Franklin comes across as extremely loving but also intensely short-sighted where his family is concerned. He makes a huge effort to believe that his household conforms to his idealistic view of typical family life, blinded to Kevin's malice and convinced that he has a normal, happy son. Towards the end of the novel he breaks down under the pressure of maintaining this illusion and asks for a divorce. Kevin overhears this, and in Eva's view, decided to commit his act of mass-murder at that point, in part because he guessed that he would end up in his oblivious father's custody, whereas he actually prefers the mother who he knows can see through him.

[edit] Celia

Kevin's sister Celia is conceived largely because of Eva's need to bond with another member of her family. Franklin commonly sides with Kevin, once stating, "there's two of us and one of you." Celia, born when Kevin is eight, is different in every way to her brother. Frightened of virtually everything, she relies on her family, Eva in particular, to keep her safe. Franklin, while devoted to Kevin, does not lavish the same attention on Celia, instead he scorns Eva for fiercely protecting her daughter. When Celia was six years old, she was involved in a household incident during which strong bleach was poured on her face, causing her to lose an eye. This is closely linked to an incident involving Celia's pet during which Eva uses a drain-cleaning bleach to clear a blockage in the children's sink. Soon afterwards, the same bleach somehow burns Celia's eye. Two explanations are possible - that Eva left the bleach sitting in clear reach of Celia, who fell foul of her own experimentation with the drain-cleaning fluid, or that Kevin somehow attacked Celia with the bleach. Though never proven, Eva strongly believes that Kevin, who was babysitting at the time, poured the bleach onto his sister's face and frightened Celia into concealing the truth.

[edit] Major themes

Shriver deliberately avoids arguments about media violence and gun control, to enable her to focus on the relative importance of innate characteristics and personal experiences in determining character and behaviour. (Kevin does not, in fact, use a gun to commit the killings.) The book is particularly concerned with the possibility that Eva's ambivalence toward maternity may have influenced Kevin's development.

The novel dramatically explores the nature versus nurture debate and leaves enough ambiguity to ensure that the debate will continue.

[edit] Film adaptation

In 2005 BBC Films acquired the rights to adapt the book as a film.^[1] Lynne Ramsay, who became available after she was fired from the adaptation of The Lovely Bones, was signed on to direct, and was working on a script with In the Bedroom writer Robert Festinger by 2006. Shriver was offered a consultative role in the production process but declined, stating she had "had it up to [her] eyeballs with that book", though she did express concern for how the film would capture Eva's role as the unreliable narrator.^[2] Production had not begun by 2007, though BBC Films renewed the adaptation rights early in the year.^[1] In an interview with The Herald in September 2007, Shriver stated that she had not been in contact with Ramsay about the film for over two years. Ramsay's spokesman told the newspaper that a new script draft was being prepared and, at the time the interview was published, had not been submitted to the producers.^[1] Michael Clayton producer Jennifer Fox joined the production team in 2008; the film is expected to begin shooting this year.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Interview with the author from Salon.com
• BBC Radio 4 interview with Shriver on the book
• Information on the book from the publisher, Serpent's Tail

Preceded by Andrea Levy - Small Island

Orange Prize for Fiction 2005

Succeeded by Zadie Smith - On Beauty