Just finished the book, it was amazing but utterly depressing here are my thoughts:
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Everyone sucks in this book, Franklin is a naive dumbass who won’t discipline his child,Eva is an arrogant narcissist who resented her son from the word “go”, Kevin is a cold blooded murderer and possibly a psychopath.
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The way Eva treated Cecilia compared to the way she treated Kevin makes me think she have misandrist tendencies, she clearly wanted a daughter and Kevin definitely picked up on that.
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Kevin wasn’t properly disciplined, the way he’s so casual about disrespecting his parents especially his mother, and his casual profanity in front of his sister is unacceptable behavior.
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I guessed the “twist” pretty early but it still had me doubting
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Seriously I hated how arrogant Eva was, I’m sure Franklin was just as bad and her idealization of her late husband is the only reason we don’t see it but seriously that conversation where she talked about how much she hated America sounded like a college freshman trying to sounds cool.
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Lionel Shriver is an amazing author!
by javerthugo
2 Comments
ok say what you want
Shriver is indeed the best. Love almost everything she’s written.
There’s a condition where a mother doesn’t bond with a new baby. Forget what it’s called, but it happens. Notably, those babies have a much higher chance of being sociopaths. I’m not sure its right to put all the blame on Eva. I think that complication is very much central to the book. Did Kevin turn out as Kevin because of Eva? Or did Eva react as she did because Kevin was Kevin?