The last time I posted about this was about the frustration I had with the main character Lily. Many of you guys have told me to just stop reading since. Colleen Hoover has a history with writing poor plots about bad relationships. Well, I decided to finish it just to see where it would go and honestly I have my likes and dislike. This list can go on but for the sake of this post, I’m going to try and keep it short. Just fair warning there may be some spoilers if y’all plan on reading the book.
I’ll start with my likes. I liked how Hoovers book focuses on the topic of abusive relationships and how many of these scenes with Lily and Ryle are relatable personally for me and for others I know as well. Lily’s thought process became very real for me as she struggles to process the abuse with Ryle and then decide what her next move will be. All her reasonings lead to excuse after excuse for him, especially with when Alyssa tells Ryle to tell her about their dead brother who Ryle had accidentally shot when he was young. Now for some reason that made me really mad at Alyssa because it just seemed she was defending Ryle’s abusive behavior. I understand it’s her brother and maybe that’s why she seemed to defend him, but at the same time her brother was beating her best friend. That was just something I sort of had a hard time understanding but who knows. Perhaps she said something to him and that was not revealed in the story🤷🏽♀️ Anyway, when Ryle asks Lily to help him, that’s when the excuses came for him which made it harder for Lily to leave due to her possibly believing that she could save or fix Ryle. That for me was relatable since I had always believed that by fixing my boyfriend at the time, hopefully the frequent fights we had would later stop. However, that is never the case since nobody can fix a person in a relationship. Only the person can fix themselves with support from their partner. A quote that best paints what most people think while in a toxic relationship was from Lily’s account after the first time Ryle abuses her. She says, “I love him. I still do and I always will. He was a huge wave that left a lot of imprints on my life, and I’ll feel the weight of that love until I die. I’ve accepted that….Sometimes an unexpected wave comes along, sucks you up and refuses to spit you back out. Ryle is my unexpected tidal wave, and right now I’m skimming the beautiful surface.” (218). Although she maybe able to withstand a tidal wave, if she’s not careful she can drown no matter how strong of a swimmer she may be.
Something I disliked was the love triangle with Atlas. I understand the author used Atlas as a way to explain Lily’s past with abuse, get the conflict started between Lily and Ryle, and be her savior towards the end, but she displayed it as a love triangle where Lily still seemed to have feelings for Atlas. A love triangle like that can take the readers’ attention away from the awareness of abusive relationships which explains why many of you as well as other reviewers perceived this as a romanticizing of some sort. I read the author’s note in hopes that perhaps Hoover can explain her thinking when it came to including Atlas in all of this, but she mainly focused on exposing how the relationship between Lily and Ryle relate to her parents’ abusive relationship. So my question for her would be, why include Atlas? Is his only purpose as a character is to be a key to Lily’s past, start conflict between Lily and Ryle, and be her savior once again like he was in the past? If that’s the case I feel there are other ways the author could’ve used to do all three of those things. For instance, Lily reading her Ellen journals can serve as the key to her past where Atlas can be mentioned if needed since he is a part of her past. To start conflict with Ryle she could’ve used anything since Ryle seems like the type of person who would get mad easily at every little thing Lily does. The Casserole scene is a great example of how little conflicts can turn huge with Ryle. And to be her savior, Atlas could be mentioned in the Ellen journals as a savior in her past and for the present other characters such as Devin could serve as that temporary safe place until she is ready to talk with her mother and Alyssa. What I would want to suggest is having Lily go through the motions of the story without Atlas being present and having him appear towards the end after Lily has overcome the abuse and the second sequel could be the blossoming of their relationship. That way one book focuses on the topic of abuse like Hoover intended and the other can focus on the romance in order to avoid a love triangle.
What I learned from this is that abuse is different for everyone depending on their own experience. Leaving a toxic/abusive relationship is not as easy like most of us think. Many of you may disagree with my take on this book and that’s fine. I’m honestly not sure if I would want to read another Colleen Hoover book besides the sequel to this current one I just finished. If you have any thoughts or opinions please share it. For those of you who have read it, what are your thoughts? Have you guys read any books that may be similar to this one? If so what are your personal takes on it?
by Blossoming_tulip99