Womens Prize For Fiction Winner
We Need to Talk About Kevin
by Lionel Shriver
Summary
In a series of unsparing letters to her estranged husband, a mother tries to understand the son who committed a high school massacre. Shriver dissects ambivalent motherhood with ferocious honesty, leaving readers to weigh nature against nurture and complicity against love. The novel became a word of mouth sensation and one of the most discussed books of its decade.
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Historical Context & Significance
Rejected by many publishers, the book became a surprise bestseller and a defining work on the question of maternal guilt.