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emilyb_chicago's review against another edition
1.0
"You" is written from the perspective of a stalker who is talking to 'you', who is the lady he has a random meeting with and then becomes obsessed with. He starts stalking her and it is embarrassingly easy to discover intimate details of her life. At the very least folks should take this as a reason to make their internet lives more private!
Apparently this will transition to a thriller/horror so I am throwing in the towel (only about 50 pages in). I rarely don't finish a book that I start, but I just don't enjoy reading about unlikeable characters and I don't want to spend any more time getting to know the main character.
I've heard great things about the book, so if you don't mind the unlikeable characters or thriller nature, then give it a go and let me know how it is!
Apparently this will transition to a thriller/horror so I am throwing in the towel (only about 50 pages in). I rarely don't finish a book that I start, but I just don't enjoy reading about unlikeable characters and I don't want to spend any more time getting to know the main character.
I've heard great things about the book, so if you don't mind the unlikeable characters or thriller nature, then give it a go and let me know how it is!
nicreads420's review
5.0
I loved re reading this in 2021 it was fun to see what I remembered, what I didn’t, what was different from the tv show. And I still loved it just as much.
kle105's review against another edition
4.0
I heard a lot of rave reviews on this one, so I gave it a try. It did not disappoint. Joe works at a bookstore and becomes entranced by a woman who enters the store. He googles her from her credit card and plans to bump into her based on searching her social media.
He molds himself into the perfect boyfriend while eliminating anyone who stands in their way. This book will creep you out till you check the setting on your social media profiles. This is the scary side of a public world.
He molds himself into the perfect boyfriend while eliminating anyone who stands in their way. This book will creep you out till you check the setting on your social media profiles. This is the scary side of a public world.
slowpoke's review against another edition
4.0
I knew there was a sequel when I picked this up and I called it at the end lol
But I'm still looking forward to the sequel anyways.
But I'm still looking forward to the sequel anyways.
jennifer26's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
diary_of_a_red_headed_bookworm's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I liked it just as much as the TV series. I read this after watching Season 1 of the TV series, there are clear differences, but I felt both were equally good. :)
dtsuji92's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
any_direction's review against another edition
5.0
Reading is hard. By this I mean that learning how to get more things out of novels (or any media) then surface level lessons or enjoyment is a skill. Like any skill it’s better to start off with things that are easy and build your way to things that are harder.
This book is fast paced and wild ride, but what I truly appreciate is that it’s easy to see what the author is doing. The phrase “unreliable narrator” gets tossed around a lot. It was first pitched to me as the narrator lying to you, and I’ve been confused ever since. I have read many a book with an unreliable narrator, I don’t think that I totally understood what was meant by this term or how to use an unreliable narrator effectively until I read this book. The block for me I think is that unreliable narrators often aren’t lying to you, it just so happens that what they believe to be true is false. The author knows that, but the narrator doesn’t. That’s confusing, but it’s so clear that that is what’s going on in this book and now I feel more intelligent.
This book doesn’t fall for some traps that other similar books might fall into. Sometimes these kind of in your face, it has a meaning books do a lot of hand holding. They’ll straight up tell you what a symbol means, or straight up state the question on the author’s mind. This book is easy to decipher, and it knows it doesn’t have to tell you what’s going on. When you write a book from the villain's perspective it’s usually in an effort to draw some sympathy for someone who maybe is a terrible person. There’s no sympathy for Joe. He’s a creep and a murderer, everyone knows it. We get to see how Joe gets there, but never do I feel like what Joe is doing is right. This is a good thing. Also, the use of the second person is fun, and enough other things are going on that it doesn’t become tedious.
If I had to make a complaint, I’d say that the literary references are too many and I’m not familiar with most of them, but I also think that’s the point. Joe is a pretentious dude-bro, if you get all the references it’s probably because you are also a pretentious dude -bro or have spent a lot of time putting up with them. (In which case my greatest sympathies, I hope they were not a stalker/murderer.)
This book is fast paced and wild ride, but what I truly appreciate is that it’s easy to see what the author is doing. The phrase “unreliable narrator” gets tossed around a lot. It was first pitched to me as the narrator lying to you, and I’ve been confused ever since. I have read many a book with an unreliable narrator, I don’t think that I totally understood what was meant by this term or how to use an unreliable narrator effectively until I read this book. The block for me I think is that unreliable narrators often aren’t lying to you, it just so happens that what they believe to be true is false. The author knows that, but the narrator doesn’t. That’s confusing, but it’s so clear that that is what’s going on in this book and now I feel more intelligent.
This book doesn’t fall for some traps that other similar books might fall into. Sometimes these kind of in your face, it has a meaning books do a lot of hand holding. They’ll straight up tell you what a symbol means, or straight up state the question on the author’s mind. This book is easy to decipher, and it knows it doesn’t have to tell you what’s going on. When you write a book from the villain's perspective it’s usually in an effort to draw some sympathy for someone who maybe is a terrible person. There’s no sympathy for Joe. He’s a creep and a murderer, everyone knows it. We get to see how Joe gets there, but never do I feel like what Joe is doing is right. This is a good thing. Also, the use of the second person is fun, and enough other things are going on that it doesn’t become tedious.
If I had to make a complaint, I’d say that the literary references are too many and I’m not familiar with most of them, but I also think that’s the point. Joe is a pretentious dude-bro, if you get all the references it’s probably because you are also a pretentious dude -bro or have spent a lot of time putting up with them. (In which case my greatest sympathies, I hope they were not a stalker/murderer.)
emilyyyhillsss's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“Someone will always watch over you and you believe that you are special. In the cage, you feel loved, not trapped. Just like me”
gracenick3's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent, and genre-breaking with its use of the second perspective, no wonder Netflix picked it up and it became a sensation. This is definitely my favorite book in the series.