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Mark A. Krueger, Ph.D., is a professor and director of the Child and Youth Care Learning Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to moving to the University, he was a Youth Worker for 11 years. He has authored numerous books, and two novels, and also contributed several articles to Child Welfare. He has a monthly column here on CYC-Online � moments with youth.
Practitioner Perspectives on
Residential Child and
Hey Nostradamus
Description: Cheryl's husband, Jason, picks up the narrative 11 years later,
when his life has dissolved at the bottom of a beer bottle. Unlike
Cheryl, who voices a willowy optimism in spite of her awful demise,
Jason is bitter and angry. Even though he heroically killed one of
the shooters, he was smeared by the press, who deduced from rumors
of Jason's behavior that day that he had something to do with the
murders. Whereas Shriver's novel draws its power from the psychological
hell the shooting puts people through, Coupland sidesteps this
territory for the most part, zeroing in on the metaphysical
implications of such an event. It's a potent question � how can God
exist if He allows mayhem to occur � but Coupland's slap-happy
rendering of the issue feels forced as the book pushes forward,
especially when Jason's religious zealot of a father steps in to add
a word. The best parts of the novel deal with hypocrisy in human behavior
� as opposed to the lack of divine intervention. Cheryl and Jason
were both part of a squeaky-clean Christian youth group that spent
most of its time spying on the sexual activity of its members. "Hey Nostradamus!" shows how sorely misplaced their
vigilance was.
We need to talk about Kevin
Description: "We Need To Talk About Kevin" unfolds
during the aftermath of this horrible crime, as the youth's mother,
Eva, wrestles with her guilt and shame. Had this novel arrived in
stores shortly after the murders at Columbine High, Shriver would
have found herself on network news explaining to Americans why our
children kill one another. Thank goodness, many copycat crimes were
thwarted, and Shriver will not be required to treat her novel as a
piece of sociology, at least for the time being. This is a good thing, since "We Need To Talk
About Kevin" is not a treatise on crime prevention but a
meditation on motherhood, and a terribly honest one at that.
Composed as a series of letters from Kevin's
mother, Eva, to her estranged husband, Franklin, the novel evokes
the confusion and apathy of a woman who stumbled into parenting late
in life, only to have these misgivings writ large in her offspring:
She creates a monster. Shriver takes a calculated risk by casting this
story entirely in Eva's voice, but the gamble pays off as she
strikes a tone of compelling intimacy. Darting back and forth in
time, Eva scrutinizes her every parenting decision and wants her
husband to do the same. This is heavy material, but Shriver tackles it
with admirable panache, turning a sensational story into a troubling
one. There are no flat answers to why such events happen, Shriver
suggests in the end, but that won't stop the blame from stinging.
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