A review by redwrapped
You by Caroline Kepnes

challenging dark 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

2.0

The way You was written was fantastic: claustrophobic, highly detailed, and wholly original. I felt like I could be Joe Goldberg. It was that intense and that immersive. But the characters were so utterly unlikable they were not merely just unlikable; I fucking hated them. Which is probably what the author intended, and a reflection of how the narrator feels about the various characters, but honestly, I wanted to throw the book away because of how awful the characters are. Not so much for how they were written but what they did and said.

And why Beck was so "different" and "brave" and "interesting" is beyond me; she felt incredibly shallow and bratty, not a bad person (she's not a killer, for one thing) but she is fantastically stupid, and I don't understand how she's able to survive in New York without a job for 95% of the story, or how she got into university and writes the stories she writes, when it does sound as though her stories are mediocre and her work ethic is lacking. She doesn't spend time writing, or workshopping her writing, or working; her time is spent coddling her emotionally insecure friends, masturbating (supposedly, I don't really believe those parts), and tweeting. Why Joe is obsessed with her is past my comprehension, and unless it's just him being a dishonest, unreliable narrator, she really wasn't worth being stalked—and put on a pedestal for the length of a whole book!

The only reason I kept on was because of how the book was written, and I wanted to guess how much of the story was reality and how much was distorted fantasy. And the amount of fact versus fiction was never confirmed or truly alluded to at the end, so I guess I'll never know.
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