Comments on: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:08:04 +0000

love love love this book, great review.
Bit of shameless self promotion, this is what I wrote about the books on the Leeds Book Club blog http://leedsbookclub.blogspot.com/2010/08/psycho-killer-quest-ce-que-cest.html cheers x

By: Introducing For Books’ Sake « Alexandra Sheppard

Introducing For Books’ Sake « Alexandra Sheppard — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:32:42 +0000

[...] out on years of writing essays) or I’m just not a very experienced writer, but my review of We Need To Talk About Kevin took me three weeks to write*. Three weeks! If I was freelance I’d be living off [...]

By: Alexandra Sheppard

Alexandra Sheppard — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:45:26 +0000

Loving the discussion ladies! Just wanted to add that the protagonist of my faovurite book ever (Lolita) is totally loathsome. He’s a paedophile, for goodness sake! But that hasn’t stopped me from really enjoying the book.

By: Jane Bradley

Jane Bradley — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:55:36 +0000

Thanks for all the suggestions ladies, we’ll definitely be looking into those. For my sins, I hated Post-Birthday World, although I agree the alternate reality construct worked really well, but again just found the central characters so unlikeable! And I thought it was far longer than it needed to be – felt like such a slog towards the end! I’ll look into the other ones tho, promise.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:39:01 +0000

Oh, and Game Control was also great.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:37:15 +0000

Definitely give Double Fault a go, and I also really loved The Post-Birthday World, which is a really interesting take on the alternate reality idea. Didn’t know about So Much For That – thanks for the heads up!

By: Ready, Set, Launch: For Books’ Sake « Jane Claire Bradley

Ready, Set, Launch: For Books’ Sake « Jane Claire Bradley — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:15:38 +0000

[...] Let me know if you have any feedback (be nice), or if you’re interested in writing me a guest post or two. In the meantime, head on over to For Books’ Sake and read all about which fictional characters I fancy the pants off, where I’ll be on Saturday evening, how to look clever even when you’re reading Harry Potter or hardcore pornography, and what Alex thought about We Need to Talk About Kevin. [...]

By: Ria

Ria — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:12:23 +0000

This is the only Shriver book I’ve read. Whilst I’m glad I read it, and it did get me thinking, I’m not sure I enjoyed reading it. I’ve heard a lot about her new book though (So Much For That) – has anyone read it yet? It sounded interesting. I’d be open to reading more of her stuff if anyone’s got any tips.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:21:59 +0000

P.S. Love the new site, girls! Congrats xx

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:21:18 +0000

I read this book a few years ago and loved it. Lionel Shriver is now one of my favourite authors.

I think even more than Eva’s relationship with Kevin, and even more than the whole controversial school massacre thing, Eva’s relationship with her husband manages to be the most interesting thing about this book. If you read more of Lionel Shriver’s books, it’ll become pretty clear that her number one strength is in writing relationships – she writes very honestly and is brilliant at capturing complexity.

I agree with the above re: making the central character unlikeable. But I don’t think the character rides on the compelling storyline in spite of it, I think she makes the story more compelling because of it. Shriver is so brutal with her lead characters, they are all so flawed and human. I like that. Have you read Double Fault? Willy and Eric’s marriage is bloody agonising.

It can go so horribly wrong though, this unlikeable protagonist lark! Have you read She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb? Dolores Price, ugh. SUCH hard work.