No we don't.
At the beginning I liked how Lionel Shriver (a woman, originally named Margaret Ann) portrayed the narrator, Eva, as a reluctant parent. I was grateful for Eva's honesty about her disquiet and regret about her child (the titular Kevin). So far I could sympathize with her. But when she snapped and unleashed her frustration over him upon him in violence, I was as disgusted with her as I was with Kevin and his father.
Most important, since she knew her son was a malevolent sociopath, I thought it was a crime for her to have a second child; and when he did, in fact, maim the daughter, I held Eva culpable for not removing her child to safety. It reminded me of Lisa Steinberg, whom I had not thought of for years. Joel Steinberg had abused poor Hedda Nussbaum for years, and while even in my 18-year-old's omniscience I didn't feel justified getting into her head about why she didn't leave, I did judge her for not safeguarding the child. All I am now is less certain.
At first I remembered the case but not the name Steinberg, and I strongly associated it with 12th grade into freshling year. Lisa Steinberg died in November 1987, fall of sophomore year.