We need to talk about Kevin (Shriver)

This book is... really disturbing. Very interesting, and explores a lot of interesting ideas about the expectations society has about parents (especially moms) and kids, and what happens if you don't fit in that mold (what if thinking of motherhood doesn't suffuse you with a warm maternal glow?), and what makes evil?, and very well written, and never goes for the easy answers, and... and I skipped to the end, about a third of the way through, because it was just too painful. (Also, Franklin, the husband, made me so mad... which he's supposed to. And so is Kevin. And Eva. It's just all a bad situation. But let me just say briefly that my feminist tendencies were highly aroused by Franklin never staying home with the baby and then having the gall to complain to Eva about her attitude! But, of course, that's part of the point.)

I do highly recommend it, if you can stomach it (it's not a horror book, but all the same the only reason I didn't have nightmares after reading it is that I'm basically not subject to nightmares), and if you don't have kids (I honestly don't think I would've made it even a third through if I had kids). An excellent summary and thoughts (indeed, the ones that convinced me to read it) here. I'll be picking up more of Shriver's work.