Reading has always been one of the activities I enjoyed the most. But whenever my routine breaks due to any reason, I struggle to get back into reading a book. Over time my interests in books have changed to non-fiction more than fiction, and I have been increasingly curious about historical and political nonfiction books. With this change in interests developed a prudish attitude towards certain genres of books (not proud of it at all).
With time, I classified all romance, and easy-read books under something I would not go to even on my worst days (again, not proud). I also developed an aversion to popular books on Instagram or otherwise known as 'Bookstagram'. For me, anything suggested on Instagram is not worth a shot or too popular for my taste. As much as I wanted to change this I couldn't.
I saw Colleen Hoover's book for the first time on my 11th grader's desk. I asked her opinion on the book, and she said 'Miss, don't bother.' Did she think I was too old for it, or that it was not worth my time, I will never know. Cut to present, a few days ago while doomscrolling I came across an excerpt of an interview by Blake Lively talking about her role in the recent movie adaptation of the book, 'It ends with us' by Colleen Hoover. Subsequently Meta AI carefully curated all content around this book-turned-movie and I started consuming them one after the other. From Justin Baldoni’s interview clip to some fleeting controversy around the book, I watched it all. Then came another few more clips about Lively's brand endorsement and the contrasting presentations of the plot by Lively and Baldoni. By now anyone reading this must have guessed the number of hours I spend daily on Instagram.
Anyways, that is not the point of my narration today. What you read so far, is what brought me to this book, 'It ends with us'. Colleen tells us the story of Lily, Ryle and Atlas. There are a few more characters who are mentioned, but the central plot revolves around these three characters.
**I might mention spoilers or details about the book that you do not wish to know before reading the book. **
TW- Abuse, domestic violence, manipulation, gaslighting.
Lily grows up in an abusive home, where her father constantly hits and verbally abuses her mother. She sees this happening every day and is left with little choice in life. Her mother forbids her from speaking about it and tells her that the father does love her. It is sometimes to soothe herself and sometimes to help her daughter navigate the situation around. Lily's relief is her obsession with Ellen DeGeneres, and Atlas; a homeless boy who gradually takes up space in her life and becomes important to her. She cares for him, lets him stay over at her place, lets him shower at her place. It felt like Lily was finding comfort in helping someone out, although it was not her mother. Her efforts to piece his life together feels like an attempt to get a hold of her own life and help someone at least. Once Atlas leaves the town, it takes an emotional toll on her.
Years later, after giving an anti-eulogy at her father's funeral, Lily meets Ryle; a neurosurgeon who says things that are VERY irksome. With too much importance on himself, Ryle does not come across as someone I would like to converse with for a second time. Anyways, his words and ways woo Lily, and leads to a racy romance. At one instant when she laughs at him, he pushes her against some furniture. She falls and cuts her eyebrow. Ryle apologizes almost immediately, and the cycle of abuse starts afresh. Abuse, apology, abuse. They get married. Lily finds herself making excuses for his behavior, all the while conflictingly relating him to her father. Meanwhile, Atlas has returned to the town, and upon meeting her, he realizes the loop that she is stuck in. He asks her to leave Ryle, like she once asked her mother. The story progresses into Lily's dilemma in staying in a much-too-familiar familial situation and taking the decision to end the cycle.
Lily's mother is who helps her arrive at a decision. Let us leave that be, for anyone who would want to pick this book up.
I like this book for being an easy read. I do not intend to undermine the subject treated in the book, but the language. I got out of my reading slump thanks to this book.
Coming back to the easy treatment of the subject, that is probably what worked against Hoover's book. I wish she had spent more time developing the characters of Lily, Ryle and Atlas. Apart from the abuse at her home, we know nothing much about Lily. And Ryle's character gets a lazy treatment too. There is a life-altering experience that is mentioned twice in the book, which is supposed to help her sympathise with Ryle? I have no clue. Atlas is another mysterious character, he comes into the story as a saviour to Lily, as she once was for him. We get references to his life once he left, but not enough to piece everything together. Ryle comes across as a wannabe Christian Grey; extremely rich but an assh*** in all senses and purposes. Ryle is one of the most despicable characters in the book right from the beginning, where he begs her to have sex with him on repeated occasions. He persuades her into having a physical relationship with him solely through coercion. This human doesn’t know to back down respectfully. I will not write on and on about how much I hated Ryle's character, but that would call for another blog post. There is a certain laziness in the writing and development of characters that it bored me and made me less invested in them.
There is fleeting mention of how the government is ignoring poor people and not creating enough opportunities for them. These important political statements are not at all developed and we do not get to dwell on this side of Lily. Poverty, poor governance, sexual abuse...almost all themes fail to receive the respect and sensitivity they deserve.
For now, 'It ends with us' is great to get you out of a reading slump. However, if you are expecting a more mature and honest treatment of a subject as heavy as domestic violence and abuse, you might want to skip this one and spare yourself like my student suggested.
I would give this two stars on my Goodreads scale.
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