I was surprised by how much I ended up liking It Ends with Us book, even though it revs up to a very bumpy start. Being a fan of the Classics and English Literature, I was incessantly miffed by how American everything sounded given Colleen Hoover, the author’s conversational tone. It was contemporary and colloquial, without the usual regurgitation of a philosopher throwing their thoughts on paper—you know, the poetic stuff that leaves you mesmerized. But watching it gradually spread its wings to become something more altogether, with its characters and the very important theme of emotional and physical abuse, ends up making it a very powerful read.
The content, which at first appears to be popcorn material, with all the raunchy bits added to deliberately tense situations, carries more weight as you delve into the emotional wreckage of the protagonist’s life. Lily, a florist who has moved to Boston, is juggling her present and past love interests. Her past is revealed through a diary she writes to Ellen DeGeneres, where she talks about meeting her first love interest—Atlas, a poor boy who lived in an abandoned house near Lily’s. Their love grows owing to Lily’s kindness and takes sinuous turns leading to his disappearance for good.
Cut to the present, and you get to see good things happening to Lily as she bumps into a dreamy guy named Ryle. The lad, who seems sane at first, carries with him hidden traits that make you realize how every story can’t do without a villain. What makes Ryle perfect is how he keeps doing perfect things for her—you know, the kind of things that are extremely appealing.
Atlas reenters the scene, and Lily’s life comes crashing down because his arrival plants a seed of doubt in Ryle’s mind, leading to chaos thereafter. But the more important battle comes after Ryle’s behavior—whenever he stops listening to Lily and instead hears his ugly thoughts.
Lily’s fight is internal as she tries to make sense of every misdeed inflicted upon her amid the smog of her white noise. As she tries to listen to her inner voice, her heart and mind play tug-of-war over how much she should allow someone to trample on her.
As I was reading the book, I was glad to find out that It Ends with Us wasn’t just your regular teenage high school drama but rather a powerful dive into the life of a strong person—someone unafraid to take big steps despite the consequence of shattering their dreams.
It Ends with Us is about the battle for self-respect and how much one allows someone else to swallow their life. It is a book about taking a stance and rising up, saying no to things despite how lucrative they seem.
The read is a joyride of emotions as you are taken through the ups and downs of Lily’s life. The USP always remains in how good everything seems to be going, and then—bam!—you are knocked out of your seat. The bittersweet punch lands hard on your gut every time, and you can’t help but feel sorry for its protagonist. Time and again, you realize how daft she is, and yet you empathize with her when you understand what’s going on inside her head—and not just her head, but the minds of millions of other sufferers across the globe who, for one reason or another, have swallowed their self-esteem for good.
This book is a beacon of hope for such souls and makes a very valid point in the way it ends. The title is justified in the end, and you can’t help but realize how, akin to your initial impressions about the flow of the book—the blunt perusal—you had ended up looking at the title with a similar oversight.