Okay, first of all it feels weird praising and recommending a book that’s so terrible. And no, I don’t mean it’s terribly written—You is full of many beautiful passages—but it’s terrible as in what it’s about. I felt slightly guilty while reading it.
This book is about a stalker.
Now before you click off my review in disgust, let me explain why I liked it. I think it could be very important for people who read a lot of YA. It counters the trend in YA books where the love interest (usually male) obsesses over and orders around the main character. While it is so obviously unhealthy, in YA, this is portrayed as hot.
In You, Kepnes shows how deeply unhealthy this kind of relationship is.
Meet Joe, the manipulative narrator. He is obsessed with Beck, a wild and sexy girl who walks into his bookshop. Through Joe’s eyes, the two instantly share a connection. He knows he and Beck are soul mates.
It’s a true sign of a good writer when you know the narrator is messed up but you kind of like him anyway. I admired Joe’s intelligence, his love for reading, and his poetic thoughts. As the book went along, he became more obsessive and violent.
I liked that Beck wasn’t the innocent, helpless victim—one could argue that she’s as messed up as Joe. What a twisted pair they are. Both characters have an attractiveness to them; Joe is charismatic while Beck is vibrant.
It unnerved me how easily Joe got ahold of Beck’s phone, stalked her on social media, followed her, and broke into her apartment to steal her personal items like hair clips and underwear. It showed just how simple it would be for someone to do this kind of thing to me—and I’ll admit it made me look over my shoulder a few times.
This was a disturbing and psychological contemporary/thriller. I wouldn’t recommend it to the faint-hearted. The ending was marvelously clever and sick. I expect this will stick with me for a long time.
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