Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… jumping right into motherhood. Eva was afraid that she would somehow fail, even though her husband Franklin frequently told her that she was a great mother.
Living… in a state of unease. Eva lives with Franklin and her two children, Kevin and Celia. Kevin has been a problem even since he was a baby, when he did not react to stimuli in the normal way and seemed oddly affect-less. Eva sought advice and tried to help Kevin, but by the time he reaches high school, he becomes increasingly antisocial, angry, and bitter. Eva tries everything within her power to bring Kevin around to the happier side of life, but she is unable to reach the angsty teenager.
Profession… travel writer. Eva is successful at what she does, and even though she likely missed out on some potential success by settling down and raising a family, she continues to be a working professional and full-time mother.
Interests… traveling, raising her children right, and avoiding drama and conflict. That last one can be very difficult to achieve.
Relationship Status… married. Her husband Franklin is generally a good and supportive husband, but he is relatively unhelpful when it comes to dealing with Kevin’s issues. Franklin seems to be in denial about Kevin’s problems, constantly finding excuses for his behavior and usually believing that Eva is simply overreacting. It’s causing great stress in their marriage.
Challenge… raising two properly developed children. Eva always had doubts about herself as a mother, and can’t help but blame herself for any faults in Kevin and Celia. Unfortunately, Kevin only presents more and more problems as he grows older and his anger – and potential for doing real harm to others – increases.
Personality… dejected and easily annoyed, but resilient. Eva observes her life in front of her, but doesn’t always know exactly how to change things for the better. Then again, there are no easy answers to the issues her son is facing, and she fears he is capable of doing terrible and violent things. Frankly, it’s one of every mother’s worst nightmares, and Eva is simply doing the best she can.
Get to Know her in...
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The mother of a teenage sociopath who went on a high-school killing spree recalls her son's deranged behavior during childhood, as she deals with her grief.
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That neither nature nor nurture bears exclusive responsibility for a child's character is self-evident. But generalizations about genes are likely to provide cold comfort if it's your own child who just opened fire on his feellow algebra students and whose class photograph—with its unseemly grin—is shown on the evening news coast-to-coast. If the question of who's to blame for teenage atrocity intrigues news-watching voyeurs, it tortures our narrator, Eva Khatchadourian. Two years before the opening of the novel, her son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and the much-beloved teacher who had tried to befriend him. Because his sixteenth birthday arrived two days after the killings, he received a lenient sentence and is currently in a prison for young offenders in upstate New York. In relating the story of Kevin's upbringing, Eva addresses her estranged husband, Frank, through a series of startingly direct letters. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son became, she confesses to a deep, long-standing ambivalence about both motherhood in general—and Kevin in particular. How much is her fault?
