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reubenalbatross 's review for:
It Ends with Us
by Colleen Hoover
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What in the entire Universe of fucks is this book???
I got red flags for toxicity just from the dedication, and it all went downhill from there. Oh, and it is NOT a romance book, that’s blatantly harmful and wilfully ignorant marketing.
Its one positive is that it is very readable, I will give Hoover that, but with the messaging this book has, I’m not sure it’s much of a positive.
I started listing the problems as I read, so here we go (warning - major sweary rants and spoilers incoming):
1. Ellen DeGeneres
2. The way Nora talks about Atlas as 'the homeless person'. Hoover obviously tries to make this come from the point of a teenager who has been fed misinformation about unhoused people, and I will admit it does get better as the book goes on, but it was still horrible to read and never fully addressed. She talks as if being homeless is Atlas’ defining feature, and it’s said in a way that definitely degrades unhoused people.
'How does a guy who is obviously humble, well-mannered, and uses words like disparaging end up homeless?' - acts as if only thick people with no hope become homeless, like it’s a choice.
'Before you start judging me for allowing him inside my house again' - HE'S A LITERAL CHILD WHO YOU GO TO SCHOOL WITH, he isn't some kind of freak/monster.
About Atlas - 'I can tell he's a hard worker.' SO FUCKING CONDESCENDING, you are a LITERAL child, get a GRIP.
3. A random rich girl comes to work for Nora for free, who's an amazing decorator, and just happens to be best friend material? AND WHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE MR LOVER BOY'S SISTER? Fuck off.
4. 'There is no such thing as bad people. We're all just people who sometimes do bad things.' 1. Essentially makes her an apologist for any shitty person ever 2. OF COURSE THERE ARE BAD PEOPLE. WHAT FUCKING ROCK ARE YOU LIVING UNDER. Shamefully harmful ideas to perpetuate.
5. Flowers wrapped in leather and chains?? So goddamn tacky.
6. How can she not know how long ago she met Ryle? She met him the day of her father’s funeral, which she had JUST SAID was 6 months ago???
7. 'She takes my phone out and begins programming her number into it.' The fuck, no-one under the age of at least 50 talks like that.
8. She really just gave the keys to a whole new property to someone she'd known for less than 12 hours?
9. Laughing at Ellen DeGeneres jokes = red flag.
10. It’s like she only saw Atlas as a real person once she'd formed an emotional attachment to him - like she's incapable of empathy for a stranger, especially an unhoused one. So self-centred.
11. 'approximately 54 days' THAT'S A VERY FUCKING EXACT NUMBER, NOTHING APPROXIMATE ABOUT IT.
12. How the fuck is a grown man begging for sex on his hands and knees in this way meant to be in ANY way hot or desirable?
13. Hoover is apparently incapable of keeping the book’s formatting consistent – there’s a header telling us when a six-month time skip has happened, but not when it’s been two months?
14. Such fucking clunky dialogue.
15. The diary entries are written as you'd normally write a book - exact wording, all events etc. – like an exact play-by-play of real time events. No diary is actually written like that. Pretty lazy way to get the Atlas story across.
16. 'Most plants do need a lot of care to survive.' No they don't? Mankind didn’t plant and look after all of fucking nature did they?
17. 'I'm so excited to be your husband, I could piss my damn pants.' - gross, ew, nasty, not endearing in any way whatsoever. Even before the abuse what the fuck did she see in this guy??
18. This book is domestic abuse apologist propaganda. I understand that it’s told from the viewpoint of the person being abused, but there’s a line, and this book definitely crosses it. It does nothing to show that Lily's viewpoint is wrong, and a less discerning reader (especially a young one) could very easily read this and think what Lily's doing/thinking is perfectly ok and not the result of being a domestic abuse victim. It’s so irresponsible.
19. 'Work on his anger issues together' - there's anger issues, then there's violence and abuse. You can be as angry as you like, but getting violent is a whole other matter.
20. The 'just keep swimming' ruins the weight of every. single. situation it’s used in.
21. She says she feels like her father because she stood up to her abuser? Not sure that’s the same as BEING an abuser, but pop off I guess.
22. Too much 'children are the best thing you’ll ever do' propaganda for me.
23. It’s so fucked that Alyssa and Marshall are still friendly with Ryle after knowing what he's done, where’s your moral compass??? Hold your family/friend accountable please! Especially when the person he abused is apparently your best friend??? Horrible, horrible people.
24. The book perpetuates the idea that fathers deserve to be a part of their unborn child's life as if it’s a guaranteed right - no they don’t and no it isn’t!!! I would never let a child near someone I knew was so abusive, but the book makes it seem hunky dory and normal.
25. Once again, I know it’s meant to be told from the victim’s perspective - but it still shows Ryle in an uncomfortably positive light. I could see how less discerning readers or people in abusive relationships themselves could read this and diminish their problems/make excuses for other’s behaviour. It’s way too romanticised, and it’s not ok. This book wasn’t written as a think piece, societal criticism, or an informative or activist work, it was just written for the sensationalist story and shock factor, which is gross.
26. SHE LETS HIM BE ALONE WITH HER DAUGHTER????????? FUCKING INSANE.
27. Not Dory as the middle name - the final scene that could have been semi-good, of course was ruined by fucking Ellen DeGeneres.
28. I don’t think I’ve ever read a worse final line of a book. Kill. Me. Now.
29. Even right at the end it doesn’t do enough to tell the reader that Lily's thoughts aren't good. This is a HUGELY irresponsibly written book, and I can see it being very damaging to so many people.
30. JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT MARRIED TO A MAN DOESN’T MEAN HE WON’T BE VIOLENT. AND JUST BECAUSE YOUR DAD WASN’T VIOLENT WITH YOU DOESN’T MEAN RYLE WON’T BE WITH YOUR DAUGHTER.
3. A random rich girl comes to work for Nora for free, who's an amazing decorator, and just happens to be best friend material? AND WHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE MR LOVER BOY'S SISTER? Fuck off.
4. 'There is no such thing as bad people. We're all just people who sometimes do bad things.' 1. Essentially makes her an apologist for any shitty person ever 2. OF COURSE THERE ARE BAD PEOPLE. WHAT FUCKING ROCK ARE YOU LIVING UNDER. Shamefully harmful ideas to perpetuate.
5. Flowers wrapped in leather and chains?? So goddamn tacky.
6. How can she not know how long ago she met Ryle? She met him the day of her father’s funeral, which she had JUST SAID was 6 months ago???
7. 'She takes my phone out and begins programming her number into it.' The fuck, no-one under the age of at least 50 talks like that.
8. She really just gave the keys to a whole new property to someone she'd known for less than 12 hours?
9. Laughing at Ellen DeGeneres jokes = red flag.
10. It’s like she only saw Atlas as a real person once she'd formed an emotional attachment to him - like she's incapable of empathy for a stranger, especially an unhoused one. So self-centred.
11. 'approximately 54 days' THAT'S A VERY FUCKING EXACT NUMBER, NOTHING APPROXIMATE ABOUT IT.
12. How the fuck is a grown man begging for sex on his hands and knees in this way meant to be in ANY way hot or desirable?
13. Hoover is apparently incapable of keeping the book’s formatting consistent – there’s a header telling us when a six-month time skip has happened, but not when it’s been two months?
14. Such fucking clunky dialogue.
15. The diary entries are written as you'd normally write a book - exact wording, all events etc. – like an exact play-by-play of real time events. No diary is actually written like that. Pretty lazy way to get the Atlas story across.
16. 'Most plants do need a lot of care to survive.' No they don't? Mankind didn’t plant and look after all of fucking nature did they?
17. 'I'm so excited to be your husband, I could piss my damn pants.' - gross, ew, nasty, not endearing in any way whatsoever. Even before the abuse what the fuck did she see in this guy??
18. This book is domestic abuse apologist propaganda. I understand that it’s told from the viewpoint of the person being abused, but there’s a line, and this book definitely crosses it. It does nothing to show that Lily's viewpoint is wrong, and a less discerning reader (especially a young one) could very easily read this and think what Lily's doing/thinking is perfectly ok and not the result of being a domestic abuse victim. It’s so irresponsible.
19. 'Work on his anger issues together' - there's anger issues, then there's violence and abuse. You can be as angry as you like, but getting violent is a whole other matter.
20. The 'just keep swimming' ruins the weight of every. single. situation it’s used in.
21. She says she feels like her father because she stood up to her abuser? Not sure that’s the same as BEING an abuser, but pop off I guess.
22. Too much 'children are the best thing you’ll ever do' propaganda for me.
23. It’s so fucked that Alyssa and Marshall are still friendly with Ryle after knowing what he's done, where’s your moral compass??? Hold your family/friend accountable please! Especially when the person he abused is apparently your best friend??? Horrible, horrible people.
24. The book perpetuates the idea that fathers deserve to be a part of their unborn child's life as if it’s a guaranteed right - no they don’t and no it isn’t!!! I would never let a child near someone I knew was so abusive, but the book makes it seem hunky dory and normal.
25. Once again, I know it’s meant to be told from the victim’s perspective - but it still shows Ryle in an uncomfortably positive light. I could see how less discerning readers or people in abusive relationships themselves could read this and diminish their problems/make excuses for other’s behaviour. It’s way too romanticised, and it’s not ok. This book wasn’t written as a think piece, societal criticism, or an informative or activist work, it was just written for the sensationalist story and shock factor, which is gross.
26. SHE LETS HIM BE ALONE WITH HER DAUGHTER????????? FUCKING INSANE.
27. Not Dory as the middle name - the final scene that could have been semi-good, of course was ruined by fucking Ellen DeGeneres.
28. I don’t think I’ve ever read a worse final line of a book. Kill. Me. Now.
29. Even right at the end it doesn’t do enough to tell the reader that Lily's thoughts aren't good. This is a HUGELY irresponsibly written book, and I can see it being very damaging to so many people.
30. JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT MARRIED TO A MAN DOESN’T MEAN HE WON’T BE VIOLENT. AND JUST BECAUSE YOUR DAD WASN’T VIOLENT WITH YOU DOESN’T MEAN RYLE WON’T BE WITH YOUR DAUGHTER.
So yeah, that’s my rant review of this book. I read it because I felt like I was missing out on all the drama, and now I understand the widespread hatred for this book. What’s even worse is that everything that isn't problematic in the book is just a massive cliché and been done a thousand times, and I barely read romance! I imagine it must have been a torturous read for those who read a lot of romance.
The .5 star I’ve given this is purely for the Atlas side plot/romance. That was the best thing about this book, but probably because the only other things I had to compare it to internally were absolutely appalling.