Cover of We Need to Talk About Kevin
Read Time: ~7.8 hr

We Need to Talk About Kevin

by Lionel Shriver (2003)

About this book

The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry. "Eva never really wanted to be a mother -- and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails."-- Cover, p. [4]

Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraContemporary
Protagonist / CoreNotable Characters

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Cover of Billie Morgan

Billie Morgan

Joolz Denby

Billie is in her forties, running a little jewellery shop in Bradford, watching over her godson Natty, trying to live a quiet life, trying to forget the past. Because Billie has a lot of past to forget. She was a biker chick, lived a life that hurtled out of control - and ended in murder.

Cover of La broma infinita - 5. ed.

La broma infinita - 5. ed.

David Foster Wallace

La broma infinita - 5. ed. is a celebrated work by David Foster Wallace (MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Finalist), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

Cover of The Slap

The Slap

Christos Tsiolkas

*"Although this is Australian author Tsiolkas’ fourth novel, it is the first to be published in the U.S. With its raw style, liberal use of profanity and racial epithets, and laserlike focus on the travails of suburban life, it is a down-and-dirty version of Tom Perrotta’s best-selling Little Children (2004). At a barbecue in a Melbourne suburb, a man loses his temper and slaps the child of the host’s friends. This incident unleashes a slew of divisive opinions, pitting friends and families against each other as the child’s parents take the man to court. Told from eight different viewpoints, the novel also deftly fills in disparate backstories encompassing young and old, single and married, gay and straight, as well as depicting how multiculturalism is increasingly impacting the traditional Aussie ethos. For good measure, the author also throws in male vanity, infidelity, and homophobia. Tsiolkas’ in-your-face style is sure to alienate some readers—the child’s parents, for example, are among the book’s most unlikable characters—but his novel, which won the 2009 Commonwealth Prize, fairly radiates with vitality as it depicts the messy complications of family life."* -- Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist

Cover of 2Br02B

2Br02B

Kurt Vonnegut

2Br02B is a celebrated work by Kurt Vonnegut (American Master), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver | Literally Just Books