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by: Lionel Shriver
List Price: $13.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061124297
ISBN: 006112429X
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: July 01, 2006
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: July 03, 2006
Sales Rank: 14476
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry
Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Grips you. Turns your stomach. Makes you think about what's important in life.
Whew, I haven't quite finished this book and I'm writing the review because I've been discussing it with some friends. Mostly we agree, but I strongly disagree with one usually insightful friend who maintains that the author, Shriver, hates, yes HATES her characters!
This book isn't about hating your characters. It's about a boy who hates himself, was born hating himself, and his mother's effort to cope with that and her own self-knowledge and ultimate responsibility for her actions. ... Read More
Rating: - Disturbing, engrossing, so horrible you can't put it down
Although it is quite clear that the author detests her characters; each one faulted with few redeeming qualities. Yet, this book is gripping & unforgettable. The discussions that arise from the storyline will keep you talking for days. The author is a bit long-winded and self-indulgent but she does write brilliantly and eloquently. The characters are sometimes quite contradictory to themselves and often unbelievable but it still made for a chilling read.
Rating:  - You'll like this one if...
You'll like this book, if:
1. It's your first Shriver novel:
I read The Post-Birthday World: A Novel (P.S.) first. Others that read this one first would swear it's better. That's because she's a great writer of prose which makes the first time reader discount other major writing flaws - you don't know are habitual.
2. You like a unique literary gimmick:
In Post-Birthday, it was chapters of alternating realities. In this one, it's a one-view perspective of a woman writing ... Read More
Rating: - It turned out to be a great book.
I read the reviews for this book after I finished reading it. When the people say it doesn't get that interesting until after the first 50 or so pages, I completely agree. I almost put it down but I try not to give up on a book I pay more than a dollar for :P
I'm one of those people that has a short attention span and prefers conversations between people over long descriptions of everything in a book. I was a little worried because this is one of those books where there are a lot of descriptions ... Read More
Rating: - a horror novel, with no horror
this book plays out like a horror novel, with the same slow build and gradual revelation of increasing atrocity - yet at the same time it feels utterly plausible.
the narrator's voice is lucid and engaging, and the book ends on a note of truly moving revelation.
second-person narration is really hard to do right, and this may be the best example of it that i've seen.
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