Review: It Ends With Us

I finished reading the book, It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover in 3 days straight. The high of getting to the end of 367-page book has been so refreshing. With brain fog being a bitch, it's been so hard to focus on anything. I have been yearning for a light read but not a chicklit. And this book turned out to be perfect. It was a physical copy with the right font and well paced story. I did not feel like putting it down. And it's rarely that one comes across such a perfect combination where everything falls into place and makes for a great reading experience. 

The only bummer was that the theme turned out to be domestic violence. The subject has been treated with sensitivity. It must have taken a lot of courage for Hoover to bring out her real life in a novel. 

*spoilers ahead* 

The built up is great. You only get glimpses of Lily's parents at first. The diary she's reading in between her current life keeps you on tenterhooks. I actually went ahead a few pages and read the last entry because I really wanted to know how that part of her life pans out. And while you read about her parents and then read about Ryle, you don't believe that Ryle might turn into an abuser too. You just think it's all going to be in the past. So how is this story going to be in the present. 

And then gradually, Ryle turns into the abuser. Lily goes through all the stages that her mother does, till she decides to break the patten. She justifies, she gives him chances, she wonders if she can make it all work. Does all the good balance out the bad? And she goes back and forth with that just like a woman would in real life. 

The first time it happens, the scene unfolds chillingly before us. The way we look at Ryle completely changes. You do a double take if you got it right. And then there's Lily's feelings. There are whole paragraphs about her internal struggle and dialogue, about how she justifies it because he is a nice man otherwise. You live the fear every time she is in his presence, the writing is so tight, you feel every bit of that rawness. The scene of the final attack is brutal. And you can imagine her shaking hands as she tries to use her phone to dial Atlas. 

Hoover has definitely outdone herself here (I have read 2 other books of hers) Even though the book is pretty long, at no point did I wonder what's the point of the book and where is the plot going. That usually happens to me after 200 pages. But this one was tight and neatly done.

There is a point where Lily hasn't made the decision and it can go either way. She thinks about how it is easy to judge on the outside and wonder why women don't quit an abusive relationship. And how easy it is to judge from the outside. She looks at how good Ryle is apart from the insane bouts of blackout anger. You almost think that she'll give in. But the fact that she is financially independent, which her mother wasn't/t makes a huge difference in her life. 

Another thing I love about the book is the one liners that are strewn across the book. For example: 

"That’s what fifteen minutes can do to a person. It can destroy them.

It can save them." 

And 

"Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen seconds that we’ll never get back."

And 15 seconds is all it took for us to look at Ryle differently from the handsome neurosurgeon that he was till now. it's takes just minutes to transform the equation of a relationship. The book brings this out so well. 

The way the birth of her daughter is put together with her asking for a divorce is so bang on! Ryle wants yet another chance - just one more - like very abuser does. And Lily knows that all too well that she has to make this decision for her daughter. So she turns it around to Emerson and there is no better way to form this argument so that there is only one answer! Would you let your daughter go back to an abusive relationship? What would you do if your daughter's boyfriend hit her? I think the answer is so clear to Ryle that there is no argument beyond that. They could be civil with each other like they were in the last few weeks for the sake of the unborn baby but what kinda marriage would that be! Despite wondering where this will go, her leaving him and making the right decision is a very satisfactory payout for sticking with this book till the end. 

As if that wasn't enough, the last pages make it even better. With Atlas. It almost seems like a second thought but then it does neatly tie in to Lily's first love. It's an epilogue so it doesn't feel rushed. Double payout as a reader's reward. 

The next book continues where this leaves off and I am glad that I bought both. I am curious to see how this pans out with the new equation with Atlas.