A review by evie_dora
Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

0.0

i cannot put into words how messed up this whole book was.
we find out that Merit’s mum has an illness and lives in the basement of the house, while the rest of the family - including the mother’s carer who Merit’s father now has a child with - lives in the upper levels of the house. we later discover that merit’s mother actually suffers from a mental illness which makes her believe she suffers from a purely physical illness. the mother is repeatedly portrayed as villainous for her behaviour - and while i am not denying mentally ill parents can have a negative effect on their children, i do not like how the mother was treated because of her illness. merit almost loses her virginity to her step-uncle. she also kisses a guy who she believes to her twin sister’s boyfriend. when merit attempts su!c!de (for which there were NO content warnings that i could find) she writes letters to everyone living in the house outing all their secrets. this includes her brother’s - he sexually assaulted her when she was younger, and in turn, she outs him as gay to her entire family. all in all, this book was horrific.
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