“We need to talk about Kevin”

I've just finished reading a book by Lionel Shriver titled "We need to talk about Kevin". It’s a brilliant read and I'd recommend it if you're interested in the US phenomena of Columbine-like/high school massacres and why they sometimes happen. The book is a series of letters written by Eva to her estranged husband Franklin about their son Kevin, 2 years after Kevin (just before his 16th birthday) kills seven of his high school classmates, a cafeteria worker and one of his teachers. In the letters Eva describes in detail Kevin's life, his upbringing (he's not a nice kid btw), the frustrations she endured and is still enduring when she visits him in prison. Eva poses the question that if she had been a better mother, maybe his killing spree wouldn't have happened.

It’s probably not a book expecting parents, or parents with young children should read but I'll leave that choice up to you. Don’t want to scare you off parenthood! :) So how good is this book? Well very good I reckon as it won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.