Book Blurb:
Eva never really wanted to be a mother - and certainly not the to 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 befriended 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 Kevins horrific rampage in a series of startling direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Farnklyn. Uneasy wit the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son ma be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.
My Review:
This is a very hard book to read and I had to read it in small sections at a time. Since I am teacher, I do read some books like this because I know it can happen at any time. This is every teachers fear that someone will come to school and start shooting. It took me a while to get started in this book because the entire book is written in letters to her estranged husband Franklyn. She starts with their life before children. She owned a travel company that wrote books for people on where to stay. She would travel for 3 or 4 months at a time. However, she had to give all that up when she became a mom. In each letter you find more and more of the story, how Kevin was before the rampage and after the rampage. You see how their relationships are and you really get involved with the characters.
This book really hits on the nature vs nurture debate. When I finished the book, I just say in my chair because I wasn't sure how I felt. To be honest, this book is still making me uncertain how I feel. I knew the whole story would come out but I wasn't expecting how it turned out. I know that sounds strange but it a very powerful book. I do recommend this one.
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2 comments:
We picked this one for one of our Book Club picks last year and everyone had a difficult time reading it. It left such a strong impression on me that I still have a hard time talking about it. A good but difficult book to get through. It made for a very good discussion though :)
I've not heard of this book before, will mention it at my book group and see if others have heard of it. Sounds very emotional.
I've only ever read one book that is in letter form, that was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, that's about the Channel Islands in wartime, that was a lovely read.
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