We Need To Talk About Kevin

Disclaimer: this book is not for you if your worst nightmare/horror movie trope is "the evil sociopath-child" aka "the devil incarnate in an itty bitty body".  We Need To Talk About Kevin stressed me out with a slooooow heartburn of terror.  But it was really good?... pass me the brain bleach.

The book consists of letters from Eva Khatchdourian to her "estranged" husband Franklin. (Spoiler - If you read the book, you'll understand why I used "estranged"). From reading her letters, it is easy to see that something terrible has happened to her and there are red flags. She writes about how she bought groceries the other day, but rushes out of the store with broken eggs when she recognized someone in the next aisle.  She finds her door and house painted over with red enamel and scrubs out the ugly messages. She puts her house up for sale and finds that the offers are exceeding her expectations - for all the wrong reasons.  She tiptoes around the issues until she can't avoid it any longer and drops the bomb: "we need to talk about Kevin", who is revealed to be their son... a mass murderer at school.

Her letters subtly address the reader's question of nature versus nurture in analyzing the motives of a criminal. In her eyes, the pregnancy and birth of Kevin signaled the end of her wonderful life with her fulfilling career, wanderlust, and personal ambitions.

"I was mortified by the prospect of becoming hopelessly trapped in someone else's story." 

She does not bother hiding her resentment right from Kevin's birth and it is very clear that Kevin does not make any effort to connect with Eva either.  Though she is somewhat of an unreliable narrator, she candidly confesses that she was cold and aloof as a mother. Her belated attempts of connecting with Kevin with enthusiasm and love were rebuffed because he was quick to call her out as a fraud.  Before an argument can be made that Kevin turned out the way he did because of Eva, there are instances where he is manipulative, malicious, and very intentional in his misbehavior. Eva would catch him in the most sickening acts, but all she would receive from him would be a blank, dark stare. Clearly a sociopath, no amount of punishment or reprehension could ever render any emotional reaction from him.

"You can really only punish people who are already a little bit good."

Knowing Eva's hot buttons and limitations, Kevin gradually goads and bullies Eva into what a skeptical Franklin considers a state of paranoia and hysterics. Without giving the rest of the story away (you know it ends horrifically), I'll leave you with a quote that pretty much sums up the war-game of a "relationship" between Eva and Kevin.

"Kevin was a shell game in which all three cups were empty."

P.S: A question for those of you who have read this one: do you think Eva and Kevin deserve each other?  As the story progressed, I couldn't tell whether I felt pity more than hate for Eva.