Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

You by Caroline Kepnes

19 reviews

fatimahfkhan's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the way every sentence was addressed like he was talking to her was fucking sick i loved it it was so well written. its in second person like we’re in the head of this demented fucker its amazing
everyone in this book was a piece of shit. but everyone was so well written (minus peach she was a bit 1 dimensional but that may be on purpose idk) . everyone had such bad ISSUES like beck babes rlly needed therapy
this was a bit dragged out like i think a lot of parts could’ve been removed but pretty good. joes character was written so fucking good i was rooting for him and then complete 180 and i fucking hate him but love him?? she did an amazing amazing amazing job writing joe and becks arc. 
this defo wasnt perfect but its nearly a 4 star its just 100 pages could've been reduced like there was a whole like 20% where joe and beck didn't interact it was like off idk but the writing was good and i loved the use of like popculture refs and flaws that many ppl have, like i can see parts of beck and benji in me, to show that this could very well become a real story, not just fiction. 
+ not nice references abt taylor swift but im happy she was mentioned Lmao
ik a lot of ppl see the point of this is like oh social media bad! and shit but like idk i didn't see a way beck could've avoided joe's inevitable obsession. like obvs she posted everyt and that gave him a way to learn shit but like i feel like he wouldve found them out anyway
decent social commentary but if it was deeper, rating defo goes up
3.5 stars!!!
looking back id defo give it 4 i think abt this book alllll the time!
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brittsky's review

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Every time I read this (and this was my third time through), I’m surprised anew by how endlessly explicit it is. Joe’s inner monologue is lurid and obscene and it does not let up for a single second.
And yet, for some reason, this particular stream of obscenities really works for me. I think Caroline Kepnes is a uniquely talented writer, capable of giving us a cast of horribly depraved characters and a sick, twisted little plot, and making it both explosive and educational. I feel like this is the best sort of cautionary tale, getting to live in Joe’s head and listen to him rationalize how nothing he does is ever his fault. It’s so disturbing, but in a way that feels purposeful, and the unique second-person perspective makes the readers feel they are in it, experiencing it. 
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te_ss_i's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bgmccloud's review

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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unnamed_individual's review

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

1. Organization: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The book is organized in chronological order. Each chapter is easy to understand. Almost every book gets the organization star. 

2. Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story has a strong plot. One man falls deep in love with a woman, who is extremely imperfect. In fact, she is a very seductive and narcissistic woman who want love, attention, and desire from her friends and lovers. The issue is, Joe, the main character) is so driven by love, he ends of killing someone. And while the plot is interesting, I took out two stars because the story is not that interesting that I want to continue reading. There is no plot twist or surprise. Everything is very predictable. I did not care for the characters. The ending did not make me want more. It is unlikely that I will read the next book without checking out the reviews and the star rating first. Most of all, there was absolutely no character development. Joe is a narcissist sociopath without a shred of empathy towards others. Naturally, he never learns from his mistakes, and he justifies everything by blaming the other person. He had no fear, and if he did, the writing didn’t show me that. Even his anger, which he expresses frequently, is dulled by his antisocial personality. 

3. Writing Style: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Written in first and second person. As the book shows, it is called “You” because he speaks very fondly of one woman and calls her you through out the entire book. There were many moments in the book where I’m I was in awe of the beauty of the writing. It had quotable phrases (which I didn’t save, whoops). Since the book is in first and second perspective, it kept the reader engaged in the content just to continue reading the oddity of the writing.  I removed a star because after half the book, the writing loses that artistic touch and becomes hurried and lackluster. 

4. Audience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Let me list the genre of this book according to Goodreads: thriller, fiction, mystery, contemporary, audiobook, adult, horror, suspense, crime. Personally, as someone that loves a good mystery that ups my heart rate, this book did not meet up to standard. If someone were to ask me for a thriller or suspense, I would NOT recommend this book. I felt bored throughout the book and honestly didn’t see any mystery. It was obvious what was going to happen the second the character came to scene. However, this book retains 3 stars because it does meat the crime, horror, and contemporary genres. It opens the reader into the world of a serial killer. The reader understands how easy it is for one to draw in his victim. It was genuinely disturbing how manipulative, sneaky, and deceiving he is. 

5. Lasting Impact: ⭐️
Absolutely no lasting impact. It gets one star because it did show me how well a serial killer can deceive their closest friends and family into believing he is an innocent and kindhearted man. I don’t think I finished this book feeling like a new person with newfound knowledge. 

Final verdict: the average for this book is 3.2 rounded to 3.25!

Review criteria taken from: https://medium.com/@sarinarmichel/book-review-criteria-6c7f37fab62d

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phantomgecko's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

A stream of consciousness from a misogynistic narcissist. Pretty disgusting tbh. Originally I tried to listen to the audiobook, but it was too intense. This is a book where the language really bothered me. Extremely vulgar and obscene. Very much reminded me of the internet, esp Reddit, which obvs was the goal.

Think of the whiniest, most foul-mouthed little incel you can, and that's this dude. Note how many times he refers to women as objects. How many times he reduces Beck to her sexual availability or genitals. How many times he misinterprets media to justify his actions. Also, lol at how judgmental he is about books. I think this is a more fun variation than being super judgmental about music or comics or video games.

Joe is seven layers of delusional, from thinking Beck is obsessed with him to awaiting the collapse of the internet so he can lord it over with his typewriters to thinking he ever helped anyone. However, some of what I thought he was making up at the beginning turned out to be close to the truth. Like how he says that Beck loves attention and is an exhibitionist. Still, I'd categorize him as an unreliable narrator. 

Beck isn't a great person either. She has real issues and a way annoying personality. Joe's observation that she wants to be a writer more than she wants to write is spot on. Nevertheless, a victim is a victim whether or not they are "innocent" or you personally dislike them.
See also Dr. Nicky.


One of the book club questions at the end asked something along the lines of, "did you find yourself wishing Joe would be punished for his crimes or did you want him to get away with it?" And like... ?????????? If you found yourself sympathetic to Joe's self-imposed, imaginary, selfish plight, maybe you need help too?

Here is a guy that murders four people by the end of the book, and frames another guy for one of the murders. This isn't a crime mystery, so the fact he gets away with everything shouldn't hold you up. Willing suspension of disbelief and all. But he actively and repeatedly blames every victim for their own murder. Most psychotic of all, he kills Beck, starts freaking out because he didn't mean it, realizes she's actually still alive, and then kills her again IMMEDIATELY and then cries because it's all her fault.


I honestly cannot adequately express how despicable the main character is. I understand that that is the point. I feel dirty for reading this book, tbh, and I'm not continuing the series. Joe is too accurately written, and that's too depressing for me.
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coco78337's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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theyannibannireads's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It was good, tried reading it before but that's when I thought it was a dark romance. It wasn't.  This book is a horror book, Joe is a psychopath, a fucking stupid misogynist. It was incredible creepy and off-putting reading his thoughts. How he explains away his actions and opinions even when they harm/ kill people and then him explaining away everything, how he's actually the "victim" . I've meet men who have bits of Joe and it made me realise he's kinda just made up off little bits of the everyday man. Which just adds to the terror/horror of this book. The story really is just the the journey of a mad man. So the plot is kinda non existent. Its about the lengths he'll go to to make his  delusions come true .He's a unreliable narrator so we only see / understand the other character  from his pov so we never really get to know them. His assumptions about them aren't true so we never really know who they are. Like they all just felt like half made. I was just stuck with Joe, the last person on earth want to spend time with. 

This is one of those times I like the book but dislike everyone in it. Think most of the like comes from the authors writing, its good. It feels like reading a diary. So maybe that's why it's good, its a easy read even better if your listening to the audiobook, which I did. 

All in all I liked it but just to clarify this is not a romance book its a horror book everything that happened to the women in this book is tragic. Joe should be in prison. 
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victaphone's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This is one of the few books I would entertain the idea that the show was better than the book.
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talyahonor23's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Strong start, super weak and boring middle and chaotic end. Was so incredibly creepy but the book should have been 150 pages shorter and it would have had way more of a punch.
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