You by Caroline Kepnes [spoiler-free book review]

If you are on social media you've likely seen all the rage for You. A book to TV adaption that has taken over Netflix. It's now all Birdbox and You everywhere, we can't escape them. I suppose we should be thankful that they're continuing to make adaptions from books, but, um, could they maybe choose better ones? A Little Life mini series?  A Beartown adaption? Yes, please. Anyhoo, I digress.. because of all the hype I decided to be super original and read the book first. I know, what an original lady blogger. So this review is solely about the book, I haven't yet watched it's shiny new version.

When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the bookstore where Joe works he is instantly smitten, so he does what anyone else would do, he memorises her name from her credit card and seeks her out online. It isn't long before he's inserted himself into her everyday life. But with the hurdles that come with being a stalker, things quickly take a rough turn. Even Beck's BFF Peach's Louis Vuitton spider-senses are tingling, what's a guy to do? (This is a fast-paced psychological thriller, in case my synopsis threw you off. It's just really hard not to be sarcastic.)



The summary would've likely caught my attention even without hearing about the TV show. I've always enjoyed thrillers, they're my guilty pleasure read. The plot can be insanely stupid and I'll still stick with it. You easily fell into this category. Much like any CW show, we have a bunch of beautiful people strutting around falling in love with eachother and having a lot of odd sexual encounters. Only this has a stalker thrown into the mix who stalks Serena Beck from the Internet.

Speaking of her, Beck may be one of the most dislikable characters I've had the displeasure of reading. She's a cliche blonde 20-something vapid character that I thought we'd outgrown in entertainment. She's a bitch for her "writing", uses her sexuality to get whatever she wants, uses Daddy's money to support herself, and still expects people to dote upon her. I get it, before you say anything, you don't have to like the characters in a book for the story to matter, and though I can appreciate that, I find it hard to accept when the only character I support in a book is the psycho stalker. Was this a character study? No, but it sure felt like one at times.

Much like Psycho, it was really interesting to read a story such as this in the POV of the bad guy. It stops the book from being so black and white. It seemed as though Joe was constantly seeing the world through the eyes of a reader, which was weirdly fascinating.

My main problem with You was the pure filth of it. We have multiple scenes of Joe watching Beck hump a green pillow that she stole from her father. I mean, err, what? He could smell her used tampons in the trash. What is this, Twilight? I mean even given the plot, that shizz just isn't normal.

This is a two star book, no doubt. But for some reason it kept me engaged. I'll admit to having read the spoilers for the TV show's ending, and it is completely different than the novel. Saying that, You does have a sequel, so maybe they have just mashed up the stories? Who knows. Either way, I'm giving it a reluctant 2.5/5.

Have you either read You or watched the show? What did you think? Let me know!