Whoosh, whoosh. After a massive stroke in 2015, my mother can’t walk. She can’t use her right hand. She’s incontinent. Her body has grown plump and soft. She can still talk – sort of. That is, she can form words, but rarely has much to say. Much of her scant discourse comprises polite vacuities. Asked how she is, she’ll say: “As well as can be expected.” Our sparse, formal phone conversations are full of silences. I’ve ruminated over this question for days, but I feel it’s best to leave it unanswered. Because whatever the truth may be, it’s bound to be hideous. Miller, Phil (September 14, 2007). "Why does this author need to talk about filming Kevin?". The Herald. Shriver is a Democrat. [27] She is a patron of UK population growth rate concern group Population Matters, [28] and supported the UK's exit from the European Union. [3] A novel that's elegant & overly articulate--yet VERY readable. So much dexterity is on display here ("Damn what an amazing writer!" is a perpetual thought while reading this), with a prose made by some wizard's alchemy, a talent-filled intuition, & a distinct view that's brutal & uncomfortably honest. Shriver outshines even Flaubert himself: THIS is the very core of feminism, of individualism (move over Madame Bovary... you cared more for the idea of love than anything else, anyway, & never really gave a hoot about child rearing).

Shriver sidles up to her characters, cycling through the subjectivity of a first-person narrative from a defense into a self-flagellation into an exposition. Though the jig was up half-way through for me in terms of one of the last plot twists, it didn't matter and didn't detract from the facility with which the author employed the epistolary style, and the emotional punch it levelled. The book was told in a series of letters by Kevin's mom, Eva to her husband, Franklin. Most of the letters Eva talks about Kevin, why she decided to have him, what it was like raising him, ways that she might of failed at being a mother, and confessions of her own about Kevin. When you’re not ready to be a mother but you gotta raise a child, how to manage to do it? Especially it could be so compelling when you are forced to raise a child who is suffering mental illness keep pushing your buttons till you lose your control! So was Kevin born that way or was he made that way because he didn't have a mother that wanted, loved or nurtured him? Producer Says Tilda Swinton to Star in "Kevin," Adaptation of Lionel Shriver Novel". New York Times Blogs. March 18, 2009 . Retrieved March 21, 2009.This is a personal matter for me, and not only because I’m already 64 myself. Both my parents are still alive – although in my mother’s case that may be stretching the meaning of the word. My father is 93; my mother turns 90 in July. Watching their old age progress has been mystifying, painful, and sometimes heartening. Grady, Constance (August 2, 2016). "Lionel Shriver's The Mandibles is the smuggest dystopian novel this side of Ayn Rand". Vox . Retrieved September 24, 2016. The reasons people engage in sex are fairly obvious, even if only vaguely understood. But, despite religious objection, sex today is in principle independent of procreation. The reasons people have children are generally trivial when not downright nonsensical - to have a ‘real’ family, to satisfy the ‘needs’ of the other, to be able to shape another human being, to expand the possibilities for love, and dozens of other sentimental shibboleths which Shriver does an excellent job of cataloguing. None of these reaches the level of meaningful thought. Nor do they recognise the essential crap-shoot character of bearing and rearing a child. The risks only start with possible physical abnormality. Personality is far more of an issue. And ultimately one has to consider the amount of pain being introduced into the world, not just for oneself and the child in question, but also for all those who might be harmed overtly or not, intentionally or not, by this new life form.

Barnett, David (June 12, 2018), "Lionel Shriver dropped from prize judges over diversity comments", The Guardian. Portes, Jonathan (September 1, 2021). "An obsession with migration figures is about more than just numbers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved September 17, 2021.And Christ, the writing style is even worse. This book reads like someone who had one window open on Microsoft Word and the other on Thesaurus.com. Thankfully this lets up as you get into the book but it still oozes of someone who put the words down because they thought “Gee, this will be really impressive and make me seem very edgy and intellectual”. It’s writing to impress rather than writing for the love of writing. I’m sorry I didn’t get tipped off by the plot itself. She took an interesting idea, but she took it for all the wrong reasons. La storia di Kevin è nutrita dei e dai fatti di tanta cronaca nera, di quegli episodi che si raggruppano sotto la stretta etichetta di “adolescenti violenti”, che fanno la gioia di pessimi esperti e biechi talk show. I’ve always been inclined to sympathise with people you are not meant to sympathise with,” says Shriver.

When diagnosed with low-tension glaucoma in the 1990s, she was warned that, if she lived long enough, she’d go blind. She’s lived long enough. As of last year, this formerly voracious reader can’t discern a carry-out menu, nor can she lay eyes on her beloved husband. A television is a radio with lots of dead airtime. Mostly, she sits in her wheelchair, chin on chest. I’ve no idea what goes on in her head. I am a little apprehensive as to how I should begin this review: there are so many things to talk about. Thomas, Scarlett (June 8, 2012). " The New Republic by Lionel Shriver – review". The Guardian . Retrieved June 28, 2020.

I also find it hard to credit that the couple did not even seem to consider alternative methods of child-care. Eva loved her work; her husband adored Kevin, never believing in his malevolence. They were both in their own private hell when Eva stayed at home with the child. Wouldn't any sane person living in the society they did, at the time they did, at least have considered swapping roles? And would Eva really have slotted quite so happily into the nurturing/cooking/cleaning/50's housewife model? Se la storia è vera, o inventata di sana pianta, o invece assemblata, modellata su fatti esistenti, tutto questo ha poca importanza: ciò che conta per me lettore è che la storia sia credibile. Da questo libro, una bravissima regista inglese, Lynne Ramsey ha tratto un film: ha impiegato anni a scrivere la sceneggiatura, l’ha modificata secondo le esigenze del budget, e alla fine ha realizzato un film dallo stesso titolo, che è semplicemente magnifico, stupendo, devastante, come e oltre il libro. Un adattamento superbo, che conserva intatta tutta l’anima del libro, rimedia alle sbavature del romanzo, e crea un’opera a se stante, che io avvicino ai capolavori. Dove i fatti mostrati sono reali, o forse immaginari, sempre difficile capirlo, perché siamo dentro la testa di Eva. Tilda Swinton è perfetta nella parte di Eva – e Kevin è indimenticabile. Hall, Eleanor (May 24, 2010), "How a death can mould a health reform crusader", ABC Online. Retrieved June 1, 2010. For my money though, bypass these poor excuses and go straight to nettyflix or where you get your movies and rent IT'S ALIVE!