TW domestic abuse, assault
It Ends With Us. I'm sure a lot of you guys have heard about this book - just from all the attention its been gaining from social media and my curiosity got the better of me so I decided to get myself the book too. This officially marks the end to my 5 year "book break"! Before we dive into the nitty gritties of the book - I must say - what a great way to start off my book endeavours. Colleen Hoover writes in such a convincing and believable way, you can't help but to fall deep into the characters you are reading about. This is what makes this book so heartbreaking - I think. You fall in love with the character so when they mess up, real bad, you start to question yourself and make excuses for the person. This appears to be the bigger narrative that Hoover is aiming to write about, also evident in the author's note at the end of the book, as she commentates on the state of society and attitudes/prejudices against women (or men) who decide to stay in abusive relationships. To be honest, I often found myself in the third person perspective, wondering why the victim couldn't just leave the situation. From this book, I realised how in most cases you are so tangled in the other person - in the case of Lily and Ryle, I felt as though Lily couldn't leave because she loved the parts of him that didn't hurt her and wanted to hold on to this person even though his abusive nature was so shattering. This reminds me of the part of the book where Hoover talks about how everyone has a limit and when someone breaks it, we naturally start to create exceptions to this limit until it becomes a blurred line with no real meaning. ALSO, a little side note but why did he have to be a neurosurgeon of all the possible jobs man... CoHo really knows how to add these certain details for Ryle to appear more... respected? I guess. But this could go into a whole other tangent about societal views about certain jobs and what not but lets not go there right now !! From pretty early on in the book, we get flashbacks to Lily's first love, Atlas, through the form of diary entries and I will say, it makes up quite a substantial portion of the novel. Through these entries we get a glimpse of Lily's past, the abusive household she grew up in, what kind of person Atlas is and their interactions from a young age. But I have to point out because the chemistry between Lily and Ryle was so tangible even from their first interactions and continuous throughout the book, I did feel Lily's relationship with Atlas a bit unrealistic but hey - that's what books are for right?? Overall, I am really really happy with how the ending turned out, in regards to Lily's relationship with Ryle. I felt Hoover did a fantastic job in portraying the struggles of the victim of abuse and finishing the novel in an uplifting and hopeful way - a message of hope and strength to anyone going through similar situations. “It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.” - recommended for 16 years and up - 4/5 !! coming out of bookland, alice xx Looking for "It Ends With Us" ? Find it here! - https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/it-ends-with-us-by-colleen-hoover-9781471156267
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