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  • We Need to Talk About Kevin

  • By: Lionel Shriver
  • Narrated by: Lorelei King
  • Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (986 ratings)
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We Need to Talk About Kevin cover art

We Need to Talk About Kevin

By: Lionel Shriver
Narrated by: Lorelei King
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Summary

Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2005.

Kevin Khatchadourian killed several of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a teacher, shortly before his 16th birthday. He is visited in prison by his mother, Eva, who narrates in a series of letters to her estranged husband, Franklin, the story of Kevin's upbringing. A successsful career woman, Eva is reluctant to forgo her independence and the life she shares with Franklin to become a mother. Once Kevin is born, she experiences extreme alienation and dislike of Kevin as he grows up to become a spiteful and cruel child. When Kevin commits his murderous act, Eva fears that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become. But how much is she to blame?

©2003 Lionel Shriver (P)2006 Orion Publishing Group Ltd

What listeners say about We Need to Talk About Kevin

Average customer ratings
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Performance
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Story
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Harrowing

I resisted reading this book for a long time. I thought that it would be more difficult to stop it as an audiobook. I was really engrossed. I found it a very powerful story made even more powerful by one of the best readers I have ever heard. Lorelei King is magnificent in every book I have heard.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent narration

I've already read this book twice, but when I saw that Lorei King was the narrator on this - I had to have it.



I wasn't disappointed. The story itself is riveting, an unusual and maybe difficult subject for some as it is in part about a parents honesty of their dislike of their child. The narration, which I think is actually acting, makes it even more believable and enjoyable.



Enjoy!



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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

We need to talk about Kevin

This is a compelling and thought provoking read, I found it a little disturbing but I couldnt put it down. It is beautifully written - download now!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Try it - worth a read!!

Something I'd never normally go for, glad I did.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling storytelling

A thought provoking and striking book- one which disturbed and fascinated me, and kept me thinking back to it long after it finished. Well worth a listen!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I love the way this is written, it keeps you enthralled. It is also very well read.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

something a little different

i loved it, it was disturbing and amazing, some of it made me flinch it was so disturbing and sad, very, very thoughtprovoking. its a lot to take in, and really takes the nature/nurture debate to the next level. i would highly recommend this book to all.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great characterisation from Lorelei

This is such a good book, well paced and it unravels some surprises as it goes along culminating a shocking end to 'Thursday'. Further more, I'm a great fan of Lorelei King who manages to characterise the voice of each person without it sounding trite (not easy to do when you have a small boy and a grown man to portray too) I love her Margaret Atwood readings for the same reasons.
I found the book totally absorbing and very thought provoking and found my sympathies lay very firmly with Eva on so many levels.
A bonus at the end of the book is a short interview with Lionel as she explains a little about why she wrote the book which was also fascinating and insightful.
Excellent - download it now - I couldn't stop listening to it!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Why is this abridged?

This is one of my favourite books and I loved the performance, but don't understand why it's abridged? It's a shame because some really important and brilliant scenes are missing.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Unsettling but good!

This is one of the most disturbing but engrossing audio books I've listened to and I had to constantly remind myself that this was actually a work of fiction!



I'll be honest, I was quite reticent about getting this after all the reviews I'd read/heard as there seemed to be 2 distinct camps who either loved it or hated it. I haven't watched the movie that is based on the book so after a lot of trepidation I bought the Audible version and listened to it whilst on holiday. All I can say is WOW,WOW,WOW! I felt a range of emotions whilst reading it, pity, sorrow, anger, disbelief etc. for all of the main characters Eva, Franklin and Kevin who to all intents and purposes was the most awful child ever born - I won't give it away - listen/read the book and come to your own conclusions.



Really good read. You are either going to love it or hate it - I'm in the love it camp!

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2 people found this helpful