We Need to Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver · b. 1957 · United States
Why it matters
A mother writes to her estranged husband, reconstructing their son's unsettling childhood after he commits a school massacre. A chilling, self-interrogating epistolary novel that never quite lets its narrator, or the reader, settle the question of blame.
At a glance
epistolarypsychological noveltragedy
Difficulty 6/10slow pace400 pagesAn unreliable, self-justifying narrator demands close attention to what she isn't quite saying.
