Author: Colleen Hoover
Title: It Ends with Us
Genre: Emotion—Relationship fiction
Publication Date: 2016
Number of Pages: 384
Geographical Setting: a small town in Maine and Boston MA
Time Period: present day (2016) and 2007
Series (If applicable): It
Ends with Us series (2 books)
Plot Summary: Reeling from her father’s funeral, Lily meets a
handsome doctor (Ryle) who says he doesn’t want a relationship, ever. After it
turns out Ryle is the brother of her new friend Alyssa, they begin to see each
other, tentatively. As Lily and Ryle’s relationship grows into something far
more serious, Lily revisits her teenage diaries, which tell the story of her
first relationship with a homeless boy named Atlas and her father’s abuse of
her mother. Spoiler: As Lily finds herself forgiving Ryle for hurting her, she
gains an understanding of her mother’s choices and ultimately makes the
decision to leave him.
Subject Headings:
Man-woman relationships – fiction
Triangles (interpersonal relations) – fiction
Business women – fiction
Neurosurgeons – fiction
First loves – fiction
Boston (Mass.) – fiction
Domestic violence – fiction
Appeal:
Relationships—It Ends with Us focuses on romantic relationships
in youth and early adulthood, the complexities of loving someone dangerously
flawed, and friendships that endure.
Sexuality—The novel does not shy away from intimate encounters.
Pacing—Hoover’s novel clips along at a rapid pace, providing a
sense of tenuous control of Lily’s life and loves.
3 terms that best describe this book: bittersweet, tense,
hopeful
Similar Authors and Works (why are they similar?):
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
Goodbye, Sweet Girl: A Story of Domestic Violence
and Survival, Kelly Sundberg
This is a memoir
about surviving domestic violence and the loving relationship that confused
Sundberg for nearly a decade.
No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About
Domestic Violence Can Kill Us, Rachel Louise Snyder
Snyder
explores the epidemic of domestic violence as providing the roots of more
public acts of violence.
Small Business for Dummies,
Eric Tyson and Jim Schell
Lily starts
her own business in It Ends with Us, and Atlas owns his own restaurant.
3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors
The Happiness Plan, Susan Mallery
Three best
friends navigate their own relationships; like It Ends with Us, Novelist
describes this book as “heartwrenching, moving, and intricately plotted” with
the theme of “surviving abuse.”
Love and Other
Words, Christina Lauren
Both
books are about bumping into their first loves while in relationships with
someone else. Lauren’s book is less intense than Hoover’s.
Under Her Skin, Adriana Anders
Both
books are about heroines who survive abuse and the gentler men whose paths they
cross.
I know Colleen Hoover gets a lot of hate but I have loved the books that I have read by her and this is one of my favorites! I thought it was such a great book and made me understand better why people stay in these types of relationships.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren is such a great book as well! I love that book so much.
HI Allison, I didn't hate it (although I expected to)! I thought Hoover's description of domestic violence was strange--Lily's parents seem to have had a "typical" DV situation where control and self-esteem are wrapped up in the relationship, whereas Ryle's abuse was from some trauma-induced place of uncontrolled rage that I didn't quite understand.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that it's been a while since I've read it so I don't totally remember everything like the explanation of why Ryle was like that. I can't really remember what happened to him. I will never disagree with anyone that has problems with it though. I can understand why you wouldn't like the explanation of the trauma-induced abuse. Two things I do remember about the book that I didn't love was 1) the name Ryle (pretty sure I called him Kyle in my head the entire time) and 2) this is a spoiler so no one read this if you want to read this book!! if someone was abusive towards me and I left them I just don't think I could let them around my children alone. I have never been in that situation so I can't say for sure what my reaction would be but I think I would constantly be afraid that he would be hurting them.
DeleteWith that being said, I have no problems finding all the faults in a book and still loving it! My favorite series is the From Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and that series is CONFUSING. I still don't understand everything that happens but I am obsessed with it.
haha, I hated Ryle's name, too! And yeah, I'd insist on supervised visits with my kid around someone with that dangerous unpredictability. I think Hoover just wanted to wrap up her story with an uncomplicated happy ending
DeleteHi Jenni - I have not read a lot of Relationship Fiction, but one thing that stands out to me is the "diary/journal" aspect, which seems to be a popular way of the main character explaining heavy topics to the reader. Also to piggyback on your comment to Allison, I am curious if the diary entries exclusively describe the DV - maybe Hoover intended for it to sound like it was coming from a teenage/limited perspective? Wondering if that adds to the strangeness that you felt. Or it could just be bad writing! I have not read this one (or any Colleen Hoover...it's on my list). I was just curious as the one I read this week definitely had some teenage diary entries that didn't always have the full story.
ReplyDeleteHi Callie--I liked the teenage diary entries and was ok with those coming from a limited perspective. It was the adult Lily's relationship I found problematic. Ryle's explanation for his behavior seemed too easy, and too easily accepted by Lily. And while Lily struggled with loving someone who hurt her, she didn't express any... let's call it a diminished sense of self... psychological fallout from staying with an abuser. Lily remained a strong voice with her own plans, making the decision to leave an unfettered one. Colleen Hoover is definitely worth becoming familiar with as a librarian, and I found her writing acceptable--my expectation was a poorly written romance, and I got a well-written relationship story. Well-written in that it was very easy to read and lose oneself in the story, but not a deep or lyrical presentation.
ReplyDeleteControversial book alert! I love that you chose this one, and I think you did a great job of keeping bias out of your annotation, whether you loved it or hated it (or somewhere in between). There are a lot of people out there that really enjoy this book, and as librarians it's important for us to understand why so that we can help patrons find books even if their tastes are different than ours.
ReplyDeleteGood job on this annotation! This is definitely a popular one!
ReplyDelete