We Need to Talk About Kevin

Recently I finished a novel titled, as the name of this post suggests, "We Need to Talk About Kevin", by Lionel Shriver. This is easily one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. On one hand, I would highly reccomend it as it kept me reading for 400 pages, however, on the other hand, I haven't been able to get the gruesome ending out of my head. Basically, the book is written in a series of letters addressed to "Franklin". It details the story of an older woman who is the proud owner of a travel brochure company called A Wing and a Prayer, (or AWAP for short) which lists cheap, reliable places to eat and stay for the poor adventurer. She loves to see new and exotic places and has been to almost every country. Franklin, as we soon learn, is her estranged husband. Throughout the letters, which read like a confessional, she talks about their early married life in New York City, staying out late and drinking with friends. However, Franklin starts talking about a child. After a great deal of discussion, she is convinced. Soon afterwards, she is pregnant with their first child, Kevin. Kevin is the very definition of apathy. He cares about nothing, and so is very hard to punish. Around his mother, he acts cold, cruel, and manipulative, even at a very young age. Around his father, he acts chipper, cheery, and enthusiastic to the point of nausea. As Kevin grows older, this worsens and creates a rift between the parents. She accuses Franklin of being blind and stupid while he accuses her of being cold, paranoid, and mean. In some respects, both sets of accusations are correct. Franklin is blind towards the way Kevin treats his mother, but she is also very cold towards her son. The birth of Kevin, as is typical when any child is born, creates many changes in her life. She hardly ever travels and stays mostly at home, becoming the heavier, white, suburban, soccer mom that her years abroad have taught her to hate. Franklin continues with his work as an advertising photographer as normal, and she resents him for that as well. Strange things begin to happen around Kevin. In one instance in Kindercare, he supposedly convinces a girl with soraisis, who normally never scratches, to scratch herself until she bleeds. As usual, his mom thinks he did it while Franklin feels that she simply had a moment of weakness. In another example, he is watching his little sister, Ceclia, who supposedly pours Draino into her eye which is horribly burned. Ceclia is scared of everything, so the mom thinks that Kevin poured it into her eye. Kevin says that she was playing, heard her scream, and came in and washed it out. The dad sides with Kevin. If you read the book, you'll see what I mean, but even though you never know for sure, you know in your heart that Kevin did it. Things continue along in this vein for awhile, showing that Kevin is a cold-hearted sociopath. Now, throughout the book, she keeps referencing "Thursday". You know that Kevin killed people, but the book is slow on revealing details, so you don't know the specifics until the end.
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Turns out that on "Thursady" he killed 9 of his classmates, one teacher, his father, and his sister with a crossbow. I'll spare you the exact passage, but it is extremely horrific. I felt like crying after I was done. He was 15 when that happened, which is how old I am, and it got me to thinking. I remember hearing about Columbine and other school shootings, and you really realize how lucky you are. I've never felt unsafe at our school, so cheers to the people that make that happen. *raises my glass in thanks* Anyway, I typed all this up because I felt that it was a provacative topic, and it was a good book, despite the aforementioned part, in that you really sat down and thought about violence and the possible causes of it. Granted, it's gruesome, but violence is an unescapable part of life, so I think that it is better to face it head on and try to prevent it than to hide your head in the sand and hope that it goes away. Any thoughts?