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phoebe_bondedbybooks 's review for:
Only Ever Yours
by Louise O'Neill
This is a very hard book to rate because it both grabs your attention and frustrates you. As someone who studied The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood I picked this up after hearing this being called "the modern Handmaid's Tale". But alas this book falls short.
Where Atwoods novel both in the writing style and in the historical notes shows the reader that this treatment of women is wrong, this book does not. Although I am assuming that Louise O'Neill intended this to be a book highlighting how unfortunate beauty standards and the treatment of women in todays society if amplified could lead to a society much like the Euro Zones she never has that vital point of reflection or acknowledgement that this is wrong.
Which leads me on to the lack lustre ending in which the woman who does not follow the rules and expectations set by men is still punished. There is no resolution. A depressing book with a depressing ending. This is where something like Atwoods "Historical notes" would have been helpful.
I am also frustrated that this novel does not come with trigger warnings on a multitude of issue but mainly for those with an eating disorder.
At many points I think this book went a bit too far. If you are interested I will list these moments below.
*SPOILERS*
- 125 lbs is repeatedly described as morbidly obese, disgusting and gross. I would like to point out for many people this is their goal weight. There is actually no need to list specific numbers for weight in this story. All this achieves is giving a comparison point for vulnerable readers to compare themselves too. For this reason alone I do not think that this book should be marketed as YA as I would hate it to get in the hands of an impressionable teenage girl already suffering with her own body image.
-Ipecac Syrup and the Fat girl buffet. 2 phrases used in the book that promote binging and purging in this society. This is not good for recovering Bulimics.
- Mantras. This book makes you read the mind washing Mantras over and over again like "fat girls should be made obsolete" to a point where they are in your own head.
- Abherrants. This is the word used to describe members of the Lgbt community. Even worse is that it says that it is impossible for a woman to be an Abherrant.
-Race. This is the one that did frustrate me the most as it adds nothing to the story. Yes the issue of beauty standards having an emphasis of being white should be addressed but in a better way. I think this went way too far when a character confuses the name of a non white character and then says "they all look the same".
Okay my rant is over. Now I can breathe.
Where Atwoods novel both in the writing style and in the historical notes shows the reader that this treatment of women is wrong, this book does not. Although I am assuming that Louise O'Neill intended this to be a book highlighting how unfortunate beauty standards and the treatment of women in todays society if amplified could lead to a society much like the Euro Zones she never has that vital point of reflection or acknowledgement that this is wrong.
Which leads me on to the lack lustre ending in which the woman who does not follow the rules and expectations set by men is still punished. There is no resolution. A depressing book with a depressing ending. This is where something like Atwoods "Historical notes" would have been helpful.
I am also frustrated that this novel does not come with trigger warnings on a multitude of issue but mainly for those with an eating disorder.
At many points I think this book went a bit too far. If you are interested I will list these moments below.
*SPOILERS*
- 125 lbs is repeatedly described as morbidly obese, disgusting and gross. I would like to point out for many people this is their goal weight. There is actually no need to list specific numbers for weight in this story. All this achieves is giving a comparison point for vulnerable readers to compare themselves too. For this reason alone I do not think that this book should be marketed as YA as I would hate it to get in the hands of an impressionable teenage girl already suffering with her own body image.
-Ipecac Syrup and the Fat girl buffet. 2 phrases used in the book that promote binging and purging in this society. This is not good for recovering Bulimics.
- Mantras. This book makes you read the mind washing Mantras over and over again like "fat girls should be made obsolete" to a point where they are in your own head.
- Abherrants. This is the word used to describe members of the Lgbt community. Even worse is that it says that it is impossible for a woman to be an Abherrant.
-Race. This is the one that did frustrate me the most as it adds nothing to the story. Yes the issue of beauty standards having an emphasis of being white should be addressed but in a better way. I think this went way too far when a character confuses the name of a non white character and then says "they all look the same".
Okay my rant is over. Now I can breathe.