We Need to Talk About Kevin

Don't mistake mind numbingly awful for chilling!!!!I always finish books, however awful they are, but this was turgid, self indulgent, badly written tosh. Written with a specific readership of Bridget Jones fans that have now 'grown up?' and had children. Its amazing the power of the 3 for 2 in Waterstones this book has been in this campaign forever!

I read this book a couple of years ago and it chilled me. So I re-read it and it still chills me. I have the next book written by her, but haven't started it yet

I found this a difficult book to get on with at first, probably because the narrator is a difficult woman, quite prickly, and not the sort of person you'd warm to instantly if you met up in real life. I also guessed the reason for the letter writing formula almost straight away (and then became less convinced I was right as the book went on). Within eighty or so pages, though, I was hooked, and this has to be one of my favourite reads of last year (2006). I just utterly loved it, found it unpredictable, challenging, all too believable, and gripping. I'd read it again, but I leant my copy to a friend, and she hated it so much she never gave it back.

This book is about American culture more than about Kevin's deed or his mother's story. It is how a culture caught up with the material things of life is cut off from what is really important -- nature, relationships, the simple things of life. It shows how empty things are, how bored and meaningless life is when you thnink you have everything and when the society tells you that things are all. A moving and insightful story, very well written. She gets in the head of a child and knows just how a child can drive a parent crazy as well as how a child can control and play power games. An important read for all parents.

I read this book when I was pregnant with my first child and it certainly made me wonder whether your relationship with your child is already pre determined. An excellent book which makes uncomforatble reading.

This book has stayed with me - there's no doubt it makes a considerable impression - we read it as a group and everyone was disturbed. However it raises so many questions but the main one:- is any child evil from day one? I don't think I believe in Kevin. Is this an accurate portrayal of a mother son relationship? I have 2 boys and a girl and it has made me feel very uncomfortable. Eva is written as so depressed and so very cold and negative. I'm trying to remember a single upbeat moment and on top of this it is so very long.

Maybe I'm just really lucky to have a dream girl for a daughter!

Kevin seemed one-dimensional to me, a cypher, a soap opera force for evil whose unrelenting malevolence didn't ring true . I found the narrator unattractive and narcissistic. The book felt manufactured and cold, a pot-boiler dressed up as literary fiction.

And I speak as the father of three - and about to be a Grandfather for the first time. I found her 'mother's voice' incredibly convincing and so do all the mothers' I've spoken to about this book. For me it's a tour de force.

Tcook says: 'How she puts herself into the mind of a mother when she has never had children, I do not know.' And I'm afraid this is the book's fatal flaw. I liked the style and the story, but when I learned - after reading the book - that Lionel Shriver has *no* children, I wasn't surprised. I'm speaking as a bibliophile/author/devoted mother of one.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it quite disturbing. It made me question my relationship with my own son, especially in light of her relationship with Franklin and his refusal to see what she could see. As a single parent, it really hit me hard and made me very aware that not having someone to take the childcare burden off me sometimes, means I can be tired and irrational sometimes with my son, which isn't his fault and I don't want him to turn out like Kevin lol.

This book had an impact for a long time after finishing it, and I can't bring myself to start her second book in case I don't enjoy it so much.

Boring boring book - it should have been titled 'Eva's Depression' because I rarely thought about Kevin & his killing spree - in fact I never finished it due to it being so dull.

You never finished it! There is a little twist at the end, which is quite interesting - on the whole it is a disapointing book though

That is extraordinary. I could not put it down. I thought this was an enthralling read - how she puts herself into the mind of a mother when she has never had children, I do not know. It twists away at the end like a squiggly snake - it is a wonderful book and I recommend it to one and all.

My only thought is that you do not have children - it is the stuff of nightmares for all parents.

Not a big fan of this - I personally thought it was quite simplistic, and the ending was pretty predictable ...