The writing was poor by published standards. At many times, the author reverted to exposition, choosing to tell us what we needed to know rather than show us through the actions of characters. One section of solid writing stood out to me in the entire novel. The rest, by comparison, was unpolished and unrefined – though readable. 

The characters in It Ends With Us are almost all flat. Even our MC, Lily, seems at many times a flat character who exists as an empty vessel to carry us through the plot. Other than her hatred for her father, her love of gardening, and her attachment to Atlas, I really didn’t learn anything about her that didn’t feel universally applicable to almost anyone. Similarly, Atlas was one-dimensional: essentially a ghost who haunted Lily throughout the novel, only to show up at convenient times to say exactly the right (or wrong) thing. Allysa is maybe the worst of the bunch. Her character is rich, kind, and sad, as she’s an “infertile” woman who wants to work for free to rid herself of the thoughts of her childless life. Of course, though that character might have been interesting, Hoover decides to retcon this by making her get immediately pregnant, despite believing she can’t get pregnant. Sure, okay. 

Beyond this, Ryle is the most developed character in the novel, mainly because of his *spoilers* abusive tendencies and the author’s need to justify this through history. We understand that he’s abusive because of an unnamed mental illness that has plagued him since his brother’s death. We see Ryle as kind and loving yet capable of great abuse and hurt. I can’t feel good about the fact that the most developed is an abusive, rich, privileged man.  

Colleen Hoover tried to invert parts of the romance genre. For that, I can be appreciative of what she tried to do with the plot. However, much of this novel is so underdeveloped that I can’t understand why the plot wasn’t pushed further. At many points, Hoover seemed to abandon a hard topic by way of easier plot devices. For example, as Lily is attempting to leave Ryle, she easily remembers Atlas’ phone number and rides off in his car to the hospital. The sheer abandonment of a more interesting plot (where Lily has to find her own way, for once, in this world) for an easy out by the author made the book less interesting. Similarly, I wondered how a woman who is attempting to leave an abusive relationship doesn’t consider (even for a small, guilty moment) getting an abortion of their love child. Lily has spent the entire book discussing how terrible it was to grow up in an abusive household and watch an abusive man, only to be a-okay at the thought of bringing an abusive man’s child into the world. The plot’s desire to talk about only one hard topic (domestic abuse) is concerning for me, when there are so many other topics right around it, waiting to be discussed. 

I almost threw my phone against the wall. I regretted reading it so much.