We Need to Talk About Kevin

In the wake of a school massacre conducted by Kevin Khatchadourian, the 15-year-old son of Franklin Plaskett and Eva Khatchadourian, Eva begins writing letters to Franklin in November 2000. She reflects candidly on the history of her relationship with her husband and the events of Kevin's life up to the killings. She also relates her current life: she was involved in both Kevin's criminal trial and a civil lawsuit against her for parental negligence by the mother of one of Kevin's victims. Eva sold the family home to pay for legal expenses, but in order to be near Claverack Juvenile Correctional Facility where Kevin is incarcerated, she lives in the same town and is shunned by the community. She regularly visits Kevin in prison, where they appear to have an adversarial relationship.

From infancy Kevin seemingly regards everyone with contempt and hatred, especially his mother, whom he antagonizes. He is an extremely difficult baby but is much more manageable when Franklin is around. He engages in petty sabotage from an early age, from seemingly innocent actions like spraying ink with a squirt gun on a room his mother has painstakingly wallpapered in rare maps, to possibly encouraging a girl to gouge her eczema-affected skin. Kevin resisted toilet training, and Eva reveals that this once led her to lash out and break Kevin's arm; Kevin told Franklin this was an accident and used the secret to manipulate Eva.

When Kevin is severely ill as a child, he briefly accepts Eva's care for the first time and rejects Franklin, seemingly too tired to put on an act of apathy. Eva reads Robin Hood to him and he takes pleasure in learning archery after he recovers, but seems otherwise unable to relate to human passion. As he grows older, he also takes an interest in manipulating his sycophantic friend Leonard, engaging in vandalism, and collecting computer viruses on CDs. He unsettles his peers, expresses his disdain for convention by wearing uncomfortably undersized clothes, and follows news of school shooters and mass murderers. In high school, Kevin, Leonard, and two other boys accuse their drama teacher of sexual abuse; Eva is convinced he orchestrated the false accusations.

As Kevin's behavior worsens, Franklin defends him, convinced that his son is a normal and often misunderstood. Kevin plays the part of a loving, sensitive son whenever Franklin is around, an act that Eva sees through. Eva's apparent dislike of her son and their distrust create a rift between the couple. They have a second child, Celia, whom Franklin believes Eva favors. Kevin is often aggressive to Celia and takes advantage of her affectionate nature. When Celia is six years old, her pet rodent disappears, and shortly later the bathroom sink is clogged, which Eva clears with a caustic drain cleaner. While Kevin is babysitting Celia, she supposedly finds the cleaner and accidentally destroys her eye and scars her face. Eva is certain she put the cleaner away and that Kevin attacked Celia. This accusation leads Franklin to ask for a divorce, intending to take custody of Kevin; Kevin overhears them.

When relating the story of the massacre itself, it is finally revealed that Franklin and Celia are dead. Kevin killed them both at home with his crossbow before going to his school, where he trapped seven classmates, a cafeteria worker, and a teacher in a gymnasium and attacked them. Eva speculates that he did this because separation in the divorce would deny him a final victory over his mother, or to avoid being trapped in performing normalcy for Franklin. Kevin ensured a light sentence by timing the attack for three days before his 16th birthday in order to be charged as a minor and by using a prescription for Prozac to argue that he was experiencing violent psychotic side effects.

The novel ends on the second anniversary of the massacre, shortly before Kevin will turn eighteen and be transferred to Sing Sing, a maximum security prison. Subdued and frightened, he gifts Celia's prosthetic eye to Eva and apologizes. Eva asks Kevin for the first time why he committed the murders, and Kevin replies that he is no longer sure. They embrace, and Eva concludes that, despite what he did, she loves her son, and she awaits the day he is released and she can welcome him home.

Shriver focuses on the relative importance of innate characteristics and personal experiences in determining character and behavior, primarily in regard to Kevin. The book is particularly concerned with the possibility that Eva's ambivalence toward maternity may have influenced Kevin's development. Shriver also identifies American optimism and "high-hopes-crushed" as one of the novel's primary themes, as represented by Franklin, the narrator's husband, who serves as "the novel's self-willed optimist about the possibility of a happy family."[1]

• We Need to Talk About Kevin at IMDb
• Podcast of Lionel Shriver discussing We Need to Talk About Kevin on the BBC's World Book Club.
• 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