I recently finished We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, and it was definitely a good read and it evoked a lot of emotions in me. It’s a series of letters written by Eva, who is the mother of Kevin, to her late husband Franklin a couple years after Kevin committed a massacre at his high school killing 9 people.
From the start, Eva is clear about the fact that she never really wanted to have kids and that she was perfectly happy just being with Franklin as she got to travel, and she had her own company that published travel guides. Eva highlights how Kevin was a difficult child as he resisted potty training until he was 6, would destroy Eva’s property, and had issues with his peers. However, Franklin doesn’t observe this behavior in Kevin as he is always well behaved around his father. This causes a rift in Eva and Franklin’s relationship as Franklin feels Eva is overly antagonistic of Kevin. Based on behavior, he clearly demonstrates psychopathic tendencies.
Eva later gets pregnant with Celia who is the complete opposite of Kevin. Franklin was not really on board with having a second child due to Eva struggling to raise Kevin, and Franklin in turn is less close to Celia in comparison to Kevin. With this part, I do believe that Eva was being selfish in having a second child when she already had issues with raising Kevin. Eva’s favoritism towards Celia is very clear to both Kevin and Franklin.
While Kevin certainly does have issues, I do feel Eva had some blame to share. While she acknowledges Kevin’s issues, she didn’t really make an effort to get him help as she seemed to just check out when things got too difficult with Kevin. One of the themes the book explores is how one’s ambivalence to parenthood can affect their child, and this is shown in how Eva struggled to raise Kevin, while she was more enthusiastic about raising Celia since she actually wanted to have Celia. I definitely questioned why Kevin did not see a therapist at any point in his childhood as that seemed to be the solution that makes the most sense. Then again, Kevin was good at putting on a front as he is a psychopath, so people like Franklin would’ve felt that was unnecessary, while some of his peers and parents of some of his peers noticed this concerning behavior along with Eva.
On the day of the massacre, Kevin also kills Franklin and Celia along with multiple students and a teacher at his school. He never gives an explanation as to why he did what he did and claims he doesn’t know why. Eva believes Kevin killed his father and sister as the pending divorce would force Kevin to be stuck putting on a front for his father, and he wanted a final victory over Eva – thus also killing Celia as she favored her. While Kevin is in prison, he appears not to have much resentment for Eva as he defended her in an interview while insulting Franklin. Part of me wonders if he truly always disliked her or if prison made him appreciate Eva more.
As for the massacre, Eva believes Kevin chose his victims as he resented them for having their own unique interests, similar to how he appeared to resent Eva’s love of traveling. Perhaps there is some level of envy there. Additionally, Eva does state at the end that she does love her son and that she will welcome him home when he is released.
With this book it’s hard to really define who failed Kevin, as Franklin definitely tried to be a good dad but he always brushed off Eva’s concerns, and Eva kind of checked out and left it to Franklin when it came to raising Kevin as all of her concerns were brushed off. There’s so much to unpack with this book but it gets you thinking.
by InfiniteCalendar1