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A review by ladywestfall
Without Merit by Colleen Hoover
5.0
"Don’t make your presence known. Make your absence felt.”
Now, I get why people have been saying that this is not a typical Colleen Hoover book. The book is less focused on romance compared to her other books. This very reason made me love this so much. I love that Colleen has started writing books about some of the most current issues we are facing today which started in IEWU. Now, with Without Merit, she tackled about mental illnesses and depression, as well as family issues. The Voss family is like the weirdest family I ever had the pleasure to read about in a book. Who even lives with their current wife and ex-wife under the same roof? Who even asks her step-uncle to have sex with her? Who even have sex with his uncle? Who even digs a grave to bury a dead dog? *sighs*
I also personally love Merit so much. I like how I was able to see things in her perspective. I also like how she was able to realize that she has been living in her own bubble all along and has been depressed for some time. The slow journey of her realizing that she needs professional help is just enlightening to me. We don't realize it but most people do experience this in real life. The denial stage and the feeling of emptiness and lack of motivation to live.
I definitely did swoon over Sagan!!! My most favorite moment of him was after Merit's suicide attempt where he shoved his finger down her throat and made her vomit all the pills to try and save her. I love it when he hugged her on the bed and rapped a song until she fell asleep. AND THE TATTOO "WITH MERIT" is just so sweet. Ugh. I also like that Colleen did not (in my opinion) romanticize mental illnesses. Which most of the time are the mistake that some authors and tv shows/series commit. Sagan distancing himself and telling Merit to love herself first before starting anything with her really hits hard to me. It's just pure genuine for someone to say it and to not rush on to things without a clear mind. For people saying that this is a very damsel in distress situation and why Merit had to be saved by a guy from all these issues going on in her mind, I personally think that Sagan's character needed to be there. For Merit. If he was not, she could've lost it all all. She could've been so much worse. If it not for Sagan's character, Merit wouldn't have had faced her family issues and learned to love herself. Sagan was the push she needed to be finally honest with herself and her family. This damsel in distress situation makes true sense and I did not find it bad on this book. You know, cliché as it may sound, sometimes, it only takes that one person to change everything you believed in. To break every wall you've built. Merit has felt alone and unwanted for most of her life even if she doesn't seem to know it. It only took Sagan for her to realize that it was her who made her feel that way. She hasn't been honest with her family and kept every secret to herself until it broke her. Often times, problems occur because we are afraid to face it. To face the real issue.
LUCK!!! I ABSOLUTELY ADORE LUCK!! It was a very touching moment when he talked to Merit about his depression and what he has been through. And helping her realize that being depressed doesn't make you abnormal. It's just a good turning point for Merit's character too.
I like that Colleen has been writing about real shits that happens in real life and it actually widens my horizon and understanding of things that I have not *fortunately* personally experienced. I just love that I have this idea on how these issues occur, their reason and causes so that if the time comes that I or someone does experience it, I would have an idea what to do or to look at the signs.
I really love how everything came down with this book and I hope that Colleen continues to write books such as this. She did great on this one and I'm hoping that she keeps on venturing with these topics because someone needs to write it. Someone needs to open people's eyes on issues that we keep on setting aside.
I also hope that she writes a seperate book about Honor Voss and also, Luck!!! It would be really interesting to see how their story started. Actually, every single character has an interesting back story. Even Barnaby and Sagan. I would love for Colleen to (somehow) write a little more about them someday.
Now, I get why people have been saying that this is not a typical Colleen Hoover book. The book is less focused on romance compared to her other books. This very reason made me love this so much. I love that Colleen has started writing books about some of the most current issues we are facing today which started in IEWU. Now, with Without Merit, she tackled about mental illnesses and depression, as well as family issues. The Voss family is like the weirdest family I ever had the pleasure to read about in a book. Who even lives with their current wife and ex-wife under the same roof? Who even asks her step-uncle to have sex with her? Who even have sex with his uncle? Who even digs a grave to bury a dead dog? *sighs*
I also personally love Merit so much. I like how I was able to see things in her perspective. I also like how she was able to realize that she has been living in her own bubble all along and has been depressed for some time. The slow journey of her realizing that she needs professional help is just enlightening to me. We don't realize it but most people do experience this in real life. The denial stage and the feeling of emptiness and lack of motivation to live.
I definitely did swoon over Sagan!!! My most favorite moment of him was after Merit's suicide attempt where he shoved his finger down her throat and made her vomit all the pills to try and save her. I love it when he hugged her on the bed and rapped a song until she fell asleep. AND THE TATTOO "WITH MERIT" is just so sweet. Ugh. I also like that Colleen did not (in my opinion) romanticize mental illnesses. Which most of the time are the mistake that some authors and tv shows/series commit. Sagan distancing himself and telling Merit to love herself first before starting anything with her really hits hard to me. It's just pure genuine for someone to say it and to not rush on to things without a clear mind. For people saying that this is a very damsel in distress situation and why Merit had to be saved by a guy from all these issues going on in her mind, I personally think that Sagan's character needed to be there. For Merit. If he was not, she could've lost it all all. She could've been so much worse. If it not for Sagan's character, Merit wouldn't have had faced her family issues and learned to love herself. Sagan was the push she needed to be finally honest with herself and her family. This damsel in distress situation makes true sense and I did not find it bad on this book. You know, cliché as it may sound, sometimes, it only takes that one person to change everything you believed in. To break every wall you've built. Merit has felt alone and unwanted for most of her life even if she doesn't seem to know it. It only took Sagan for her to realize that it was her who made her feel that way. She hasn't been honest with her family and kept every secret to herself until it broke her. Often times, problems occur because we are afraid to face it. To face the real issue.
LUCK!!! I ABSOLUTELY ADORE LUCK!! It was a very touching moment when he talked to Merit about his depression and what he has been through. And helping her realize that being depressed doesn't make you abnormal. It's just a good turning point for Merit's character too.
I like that Colleen has been writing about real shits that happens in real life and it actually widens my horizon and understanding of things that I have not *fortunately* personally experienced. I just love that I have this idea on how these issues occur, their reason and causes so that if the time comes that I or someone does experience it, I would have an idea what to do or to look at the signs.
I really love how everything came down with this book and I hope that Colleen continues to write books such as this. She did great on this one and I'm hoping that she keeps on venturing with these topics because someone needs to write it. Someone needs to open people's eyes on issues that we keep on setting aside.
I also hope that she writes a seperate book about Honor Voss and also, Luck!!! It would be really interesting to see how their story started. Actually, every single character has an interesting back story. Even Barnaby and Sagan. I would love for Colleen to (somehow) write a little more about them someday.