What would you do if the person you loved the most became the source of your greatest suffering? Is love truly so powerful that it also gives you the power to hurt? These were some of the heart-wrenching questions flooding my mind after I finished reading Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us. This bittersweet book, centered around domestic violence,is an emotional rollercoaster, giving you the experience of a gamut of emotions like love, trauma, loss, and resilience.
It Ends With Us, which was first published in 2016, centers on Lily Bloom, a young woman with a complicated past but a positive outlook. She meets the enigmatic neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid after relocating to Boston to follow her dream of starting a flower shop, and they click right away. Lily’s reencounter with her high school ex, Atlas Corrigan, causes rifts in their relationship just when everything else seems to be going well. Reminiscent of her violent father, Lily must confront Ryle’s escalating rage and make the hardest choice of her life.
At first, Ryle is presented as the ideal companion—charming, prosperous, and utterly devoted to Lily. Finding out that he is the villain in her life was devastating. I felt conflicted after learning about the traumatic event from his childhood; I almost wanted to excuse his behavior. Because his personality alternated between loving and abusive moments, I found it difficult to despise him. However, this is exactly where Colleen Hoover’s genius comes into play. Her book effectively demonstrates that abuse is never acceptable, even when it is concealed by affection and concern. Eventually, the decision made by Lily was immensely empowering and I couldn’t help but respect her fortitude and bravery.
The strengths of this book include Hoover’s ability to craft a story that evokes the complexity of the heart, causing us to identify with her characters, sympathize with their struggles, and feel the consequences of their choices. Readers are given glimpses of Lily’s childhood through her diaries which make her journey feel so authentic and personal and her character so endearing. Hoover’s writing is straightforward, making it accessible to a wide audience. Her simplicity ensures that her subjects, no matter how complex or weighty, will resonate with readers of all backgrounds. I felt that the last few chapters dragged on unnecessarily, but that was overshadowed by the book’s impactful message.
This book was definitely worth the hype it received. I gained a fresh understanding of the difficulties experienced by victims of abuse and the reasons why some decide to stay in violent situations while others muster the will to escape. I greatly appreciate Colleen Hoover’s use of her own experiences to create such an open and powerful story. This story is not only essential but also effective since the book’s target audience is particularly vulnerable to these issues, at an age where it can be difficult to distinguish between abuse and love. I’m excited to read the sequel novel ‘It Starts With Us’ and find out how Lily’s life unfurls after the choice she made.
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पुस्तक परीक्षण पोर्टल, जयकर ज्ञानस्रोत केंद्र, सावित्रीबाई फुले पुणे विद्यापीठ, पुणे