Review: You by Caroline Kepnes

You by Caroline Kepnes

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Santino Fontana

Published By: Atria/Emily Bestler Books, Simon Schuster Audio

Genre: Adult - Thriller, Contemporary
Series: You

Rating:
✮✮✮

Review:
First, and foremost, I want to acknowledge the fact that You by Caroline Kepness is unlike any other book that I have ever picked up. You is about Joe who obsessively "falls in love" with Beck, and it shows from the point they meet, how Joe handles his feelings towards Beck, and how their relationship develops as the story progresses - or more accurately how Joe sees their relationship change, but not as much so on Beck's side (although you never see her point of view).

Before I get into what I love about this book, I first want to mention what I don't like about this book. This is a very personal thing, so this may or may not bother you, but there is an excessive amount of profanity. Although, I will admit that I felt the way the language is used definitely fits with Joe's character. Another thing that I didn't like was how slow the book felt as I was listening to it - maybe it would have felt faster if I had read it, but I just felt the events were really fast-paced and nothing exciting was happening.

Essentially, this book is told from the perspective of this guy who is obsessed to the point of being a stalker, and I think it highlights a lot of the dangers that we face today with all of our social media and the amount of information we share about ourselves online. And the scary thing about how Joe is depicted around other characters is the complete opposite of what he is like because you get to see the real him as you read the book.

I absolutely did not like Joe in any way shape or form, like other readers seemed to have done. I couldn't separate the funny comments and actions he did from all of the creepy-stalkerish things he did - he is so psychologically twisted. But I definitely think Kepnes did a fantastic job at developing Joe's characterization. I actually didn't like many of the characters in the novel, but I felt that was how it was meant to be, because it let me not get too invested into the lives of the characters, and allowed me to sit back and just see how the story played out.

I was definitely expecting You to end the way that it did. I don't think there was any other way that this novel could have ended because of what the book was about, and any other ended wouldn't have worked in my opinion - this was the only ending that could have happened.

I am looking forward to listening to the audiobook of the second book, and to see how Joe changes, or if he has changed between the books. I'm anticipating another creepy, yet oddly, enjoyable story that will hook me from the first page as this novel did.