We do NOT need to talk about Kevin

One of the books that I was most intrigued to read was We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I had been told by a few people that it was an incredible book and that I really needed to read it. After picking it up in a local charity shop I decided to do some research on the book (like I usually do)-like read reviews,etc. Considering that everyone seemed to love this book, lets just say my expectations were high.

In class I had read an extract from this book and I thought yeah this seems alright actually. And then I started to read the book at home, I automatically knew that it was going to be a complicated book. It's one of those books that I knew I had to be wide awake to read it. But, everytime that I was reading the book I was tired. Turns out it was the book that was making me tired.

I've said it before in another one of my reviews that sometimes I have to read a book more than once to appreciate it fully. But I honestly don't think I can do it.

Lets just get this straight. The actual writing is incredible. It's one of the most well written books that I've ever read. The language used is so complex that this book is not for the weak. Just by reading the book you can tell that the writer is such an intelligent lady. The characters are well developed too. You can tell a lot about them without the writer actually telling you about them. You read between the lines and the language just tells you. I feel for Eva, I really do. It can't be easy-right? And Kevin is an absolute psycho. I still didn't like it though.

I just didn't like how long-winded it was. It felt like I was just reading through things that I already knew. Like I was just reading Eva's life story,and I didn't want to know Eva's life story. I just wanted to read about how messed up Kevin is. And reading about Eva's Christmas day before Kevin was born wasn't going to tell me that. So I just kept skipping bits as it bored me.

And I hate the fact that I don't like the book. Because everyone else seems to love it and I usually love things like this. With my fascination with psychopaths and serial killers and all. But everyone has different opinions and mine's just that the book is boring. Maybe if it was written in a more exciting way then I would like it. It reminds me of Bates Motel in a way, with the development of Kevin's psych.

However, I still suggest reading this book. After all, it won the Orange Prize for fiction in 2005. And a lot of people seem to love it.

If you've read this book before let me know how you found it and whether you agree with some of my opinions.