We Need to Talk About Kevin

Last updated

We Need to Talk About Kevin
WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin.jpg
First edition cover
Author Lionel Shriver
LanguageEnglish
Genre Epistolary novel
Publisher Counterpoint Press
Publication date
April 14, 2003
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback and hardback)
Pages416
ISBN 1-58243-267-8
OCLC 50948454
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3569.H742 W4 2003

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2003 novel by Lionel Shriver, published by Serpent's Tail, about a fictional school massacre. It is written from the first person perspective of the teenage killer's mother, Eva Khatchadourian, and documents her attempt to come to terms with her psychopathic son Kevin and the murders he committed, as told in a series of letters from Eva to her husband.

Contents

The novel, Shriver's seventh, won the 2005 Orange Prize, a UK-based prize for female authors of any country writing in English. In 2011 the novel was adapted into a film.

Plot

Even before her son Kevin was born, Eva Khatchadourian struggled with parenthood. As Kevin was a difficult child, she gave up her successful career as a writer in order to concentrate on raising him. Her son has developed sinister psychopathic traits, though his father, Franklin Plaskett, refuses to acknowledge the problem. As the situation turns catastrophic, Eva tries to figure out where she and Franklin went wrong.

In the wake of a school massacre committed by the 15-year-old Kevin, Eva begins writing letters to Franklin in November 2000. She reflects on her relationship with her husband and on Kevin's life. She also relates her current life: she was involved in both her son's criminal trial and a civil action against her (for parental negligence) brought by the mother of one of Kevin's victims. She sold the family home to pay for legal expenses, but in order to be near Claverack Juvenile Correctional Facility where Kevin is incarcerated, she still lives in the same town in which she remains shunned by the community. She regularly visits Kevin in prison, wherein they have a cold relationship.

Kevin seemingly regards everyone, especially his mother, with contempt, yet pretends to be manageable when Franklin is around. Eva perceives him as deliberately antagonistic, with his behavior ranging from petty sabotage to possibly encouraging a girl to gouge out her eczema-affected skin. Kevin resisted toilet training, which caused Eva to lash out and break his arm; Kevin told Franklin this was an accident and has since used the secret to manipulate her.

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. Kevin takes pleasure in learning archery after he recovers, yet 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 floppy disks. He unsettles his peers, expresses disdain for convention by wearing uncomfortably undersized clothes, and follows news of school shooters and mass murderers. In high school, Kevin, Leonard, and two others accuse their drama teacher of sexual abuse; Eva is convinced he orchestrated the false accusations.

Franklin defends him, convinced that his son is normal and just misunderstood. Kevin plays the part of a loving, sensitive son whenever Franklin is around. Eva's apparent dislike for her son and the equal distrust between Eva and Kevin, as well as between Eva and Franklin, create a rift between the married couple. They have a second child, Celia, whom Franklin believes Eva favors. Kevin is aggressive towards Celia. When she is six years old, her pet elephant shrew disappears; the sink in the children's bathroom becomes clogged, which Eva clears with a caustic drain cleaner. While Kevin is babysitting Celia, she supposedly finds the cleaner and accidentally destroys her eye. Eva is certain that she put the cleaner away and that Kevin attacked Celia with it. This accusation leads Franklin to ask for a divorce, intending to take custody of Kevin; Kevin overhears them.

It is finally revealed that Franklin and Celia are dead. Kevin had killed them both at home with his crossbow before going to his school, where he trapped nine 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 normality for Franklin. She believes he selected the people he chose for his victims because he resented them for having interests about which they were passionate. Kevin ensured himself a light sentence by timing the attack for three days before his 16th birthday in order to be charged as a minor, and used a prescription for Prozac to argue that he was experiencing violent psychotic episodes as a side effect.

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 gives Celia's prosthetic eye to Eva and apologizes. Eva asks Kevin for the first time why he committed the murders; he 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 so that she can welcome him home again.

Themes

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]

Adaptations

Film adaptation

In 2005 BBC Films acquired the rights to adapt the book as a film. [2] Director Lynne Ramsay signed on to direct. [3] It was announced in March 2009 that Tilda Swinton had signed on to star in the film as Eva. [4] Filming began on location in Stamford, Connecticut on April 19, 2010. [5] We Need To Talk About Kevin was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9 and 11, 2011. John C. Reilly plays Franklin and Ezra Miller plays Kevin. The film premiered In Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, [6] where it was met with praise from film critics. [7]

Radio adaptation

From January 7, 2008, the story was serialized on BBC Radio 4 in 10 15-minute episodes and was broadcast daily as the Woman's Hour drama. It starred Madeleine Potter as Eva Katchadourian. Ethan Brooke and Nathan Nolan played Kevin at various ages, while Richard Laing played Franklin Plaskett. [8] It is occasionally repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilda Swinton</span> British actress

Katherine Matilda Swinton is a British actress. She is known for playing eccentric and enigmatic characters, often working with auteur directors. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynne Ramsay</span> Scottish filmmaker

Lynne Ramsay is a Scottish film director, writer, producer, and cinematographer, best known for the feature films Ratcatcher (1999), Morvern Callar (2002), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), and You Were Never Really Here (2017). As of 2024, Ramsay is working on numerous feature films that have yet to be released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Witch</span> Fictional sorceress

Jadis is a fictional character and the main antagonist of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) and The Magician's Nephew (1955) in C. S. Lewis's series, The Chronicles of Narnia. She is commonly referred to as the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as she is the Witch who froze Narnia in the Hundred Years Winter.

<i>Broken Flowers</i> 2005 film by Jim Jarmusch

Broken Flowers is a 2005 French-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter stating that he has a son. The film stars Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Chloë Sevigny, Christopher McDonald, and Alexis Dziena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Shriver</span> American author (born 1957)

Lionel Shriver is an American author and journalist who lives in Portugal. Her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.

<i>Julia</i> (2008 film) 2008 French film

Julia is a 2008 international co-produced crime drama film, directed by Erick Zonca and starring Tilda Swinton. It was shot in California and Mexico. The film was inspired by the John Cassavetes film Gloria. For her performance, Swinton earned a nomination for César Award for Best Actress.

<i>We Need to Talk About Kevin</i> (film) 2011 film by Lynne Ramsay

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2011 psychological thriller drama film directed by Lynne Ramsay from a screenplay she co-wrote with Rory Stewart Kinnear, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver. A long process of development and financing began in 2005, with filming commencing in April 2010.

<i>I Am Love</i> (film) 2009 Italian film

I Am Love is a 2009 Italian romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino, set in Milan around the year 2000. Tilda Swinton plays a rich industrialist's wife who has an affair with a chef. It is the first installment in Guadagnino's self-described Desire trilogy, preceding A Bigger Splash (2015) and Call Me by Your Name (2017). Producers Swinton and Guadagnino developed the film together over an 11-year period. The film's soundtrack uses pre-existing compositions by John Adams.

Katchadourian is an Armenian surname. Notable people with the surname include:

The 14th British Independent Film Awards, held on 4 December 2011 at the Old Billingsgate Market in central London, honoured the best British independent films of 2011.

The 16th San Diego Film Critics Society Awards were announced on December 12, 2011.

The 32nd London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2011, were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on 19 January 2012.

<i>Only Lovers Left Alive</i> 2013 film by Jim Jarmusch

Only Lovers Left Alive is a 2013 gothic fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi and John Hurt. An international co-production between the United Kingdom and Germany, the film focuses on the romance between two vampires and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Snowpiercer</i> 2013 film by Bong Joon-ho

Snowpiercer is a 2013 post-apocalyptic action thriller film based on the French climate fiction graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho and written by Bong and Kelly Masterson. An international co-production, the film marks Bong's English-language debut; almost 85% of the film's dialogue is in English.

<i>Okja</i> 2017 film by Bong Joon-ho

Okja is a 2017 science-fantasy action-adventure film directed by Bong Joon-ho with a screenplay by Bong and Jon Ronson from a story by Bong. The film is about a young girl who raised a genetically modified "super pig", and, after she is taken to the United States, goes on a mission to rescue her from mistreatment at the hands of the meat industry. An international co-production of South Korea and the United States, it stars an ensemble cast headed by child actor Ahn Seo-hyun, along with Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Woo-shik, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

<i>Three Thousand Years of Longing</i> 2022 film by George Miller

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a 2022 fantasy romantic drama film directed and produced by George Miller. Written by Miller and Augusta Gore, it is based on the 1994 short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye" by A. S. Byatt and follows a djinn who is unleashed from a bottle by a professor and tells her stories from his thousands of years of existence. The film is dedicated to Miller's mother Angela, as well as Rena Mitchell, relative of producer Doug Mitchell.

<i>The Souvenir Part II</i> 2021 film

The Souvenir Part II is a 2021 drama film, written and directed by Joanna Hogg. It is a sequel to The Souvenir (2019). It stars Honor Swinton Byrne, Jaygann Ayeh, Richard Ayoade, James Spencer Ashworth, Harris Dickinson, Charlie Heaton, Joe Alwyn, and Tilda Swinton.

<i>Memoria</i> (2021 film) 2021 film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Memoria is a 2021 fantasy drama mystery film written, directed and co-produced by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, starring Tilda Swinton, Elkin Díaz, Jeanne Balibar, Juan Pablo Urrego and Daniel Giménez Cacho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilda Swinton filmography</span>

Tilda Swinton is a British actress known for her performances on film and television. She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Michael Clayton (2007).

References

  1. ↑ Shute, Jenefer, "Lionel Shriver", BOMB Magazine , Fall 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2011. archived
  2. ↑ Miller, Phil (September 14, 2007). "Why does this author need to talk about filming Kevin?". The Herald.
  3. ↑ Arendt, Paul (June 6, 2006). "Ramsay needs to shoot a film about Kevin". The Guardian . Guardian News & Media. p. 21 (G2 supplement).
  4. ↑ "Producer Says Tilda Swinton to Star in "Kevin," Adaptation of Lionel Shriver Novel". New York Times Blogs. March 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  5. ↑ Dawtrey, Adam (April 22, 2010). "The welcome return of Lynne Ramsay". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News & Media). Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Festival de Cannes – From 16 to 27 may 2012". Festival-cannes.com. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
  7. ↑ "BBC News – Cannes gets talking about British Kevin drama". BBC. May 12, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Cast list and broadcast dates". Radiolistings.co.uk. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
  9. ↑ "BBC 7's website for the radio adaptation". BBC. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
Awards
Preceded by Orange Prize for Fiction
2005		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.