You by Caroline Kepnes – A Book Review

You all have probably read by now my screen comparison between the book and the show but today I thought that I would dive into my thoughts on the book. It’s been a month since I read it and I feel as though I could pick this book back up again and read it without feeling like it’s been too soon. This is a book that will stay with you for a number of ways and I have to say that I quite enjoy that about books.

You has a unique perspective, unique characterizations and the ability to somehow make you loathe a character so completely but still want to read about them. It is dark and twisted, raw and real. It’s scary in ways that tell you just how amazingly perverse human beings can be. It is a book that I will forever praise. But let’s get further into why I love this book so much.

It’s real. The story follows Joe, a bookstore manager who obsesses over a woman that comes into his book store. Throughout the book Joe is talking to Beck, the woman of his twisted affections, and that makes it feel as though he’s talking to you. The reader which makes it all so much more intense throughout the entire book.

As I read, I found myself completely engulfed in the reasoning behind Joe’s actions but also disliking pretty much every single character for varying reasons. In my comparison I wrote that the characters are darker in the book and that is so true. I hated Joe for his twisted idea of love, perverting the whole relationship from the beginning. I hated Beck because she wasn’t a good person, treating her friends terribly. I hated Peach because she was just a bitch, she cared only about herself and winning Beck but not about Beck.

The problem with books is that they end.

Caroline Kepnes – You

There wasn’t many other people in Joe’s life so my liking or disliking didn’t matter because they didn’t matter. Joe isn’t a nice guy that’s just misunderstood. He’s disturbed. His justification for his actions weren’t enough to excuse any of his behavior.

Joe has no redeemable qualities, at least in the show there was Paco to help humanize him, to make him likable. He was my least favorite person to read but it was like looking at a car crash with casualties. Sometimes you just can’t look away. I couldn’t put this down. I had to know what he was going to do next, had to know what the next excuse would be, what he would come up with to make what he was doing okay in his eyes.

Even though I knew how this was going to end, at least somewhat, I was pleased with the ending. I was happy over the revelations that happened, I was happy that things played out the they did. It wasn’t because anything good really happened to the characters themselves, but because things were said that I wanted out there.

You blush. You are Charlotte’s Web and I could love you.

Caroline Kepnes – You

It was nice to see that it wasn’t like the show, it was it’s own story that was far more dark than the show. I enjoyed this book so much and I really look forward to when I can read the sequel Hidden Bodies.

Speaking of Caroline Kepnes, she can write. She knows how to tell a story that is engaging and interesting. The writing style was so unique and I love that about this book. I highly recommend it. The book doesn’t dramatize or romanticize stalking, it doesn’t make it sexy or playful. It showcases how easy it is, how quickly someone can find you with the power of the internet. I found it extremely insane that one man could do so much, so easily, and be so dangerous without anyone knowing.

You are a woman and I am a man and we belong in the dark together.

Caroline Kepnes – You

Read this book. Learn from it. It’s a lesson underneath all the creepy, dark plot lines. Don’t easily trust someone. Don’t put every inch of your life on the internet. Not everyone is a bad guy of course, but there is probably a Joe in all our lives but we just don’t know it.