You by Caroline Kepnes

Rating: ★★★★

This book was very intriguing and engrossing, but after finishing it, I’ve realized I didn’t like it or enjoy it. I found myself disgusted by and scared of Joe. I wanted something bad to happen to him. That’s what I kept reading for. Since it kept me so interested, I have to give this book a high rating. I can’t give it five stars because it just didn’t have that spark for me, but this story is definitely different and kept me turning pages.

Joe Goldberg is a stalker through and through. That’s not a spoiler. The book begins because a girl walks into his bookshop, named Beck, and he becomes so instantly obsessed that the entire book is written in second person directed at her. The whole story is written from his perspective. Everything he does is for Beck in some way that he justifies. Very creepy, and very well done.

The best thing about this book is how Joe’s emotions change his perspectives. One minute he’s in love with Beck, then he realizes something, and she’s a slut. He wouldn’t say this out loud. He’s very careful with what he says out loud. But the running inner monologue demonstrates how unhinged he is.

The book kept me turning pages to find out what would happen to Joe, or what he would do next. It was enthralling in that way. It’s not slow, though there are some lags where time has to pass in the book. However, the last 20-30 pages is where a lot happens, and I’m not about to discuss it here since I don’t want to spoil anyone. I thought the ending was done well and it made me have strong emotions. At first I thought I didn’t like the whole book because of it. But then I realized… Well, I really don’t want to spoil anything.

I know about the tv show and the sequels. I haven’t watched the show and I don’t know if I want to read the sequels. When this first came out, I swear I remember it being marketed as a stand alone book. Then it was popular, so then there was a sequel. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves. It’s either a stand alone or it isn’t. So I kind of just want to enjoy it as a stand alone. If you’ve read the series, though, and think the sequels are just as good, please let me know.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

Rating: ★

Catherine House is a strange story about a fictitious, prestigious school. It follows Ines who isn’t all that invested in her classes. She has a mysterious past. The school itself allows students to do whatever they want as long as they pass their classes. There’s drinking and parties and sex. However, the students aren’t allowed any contact with the outside world for three years. Ines is soon put on probation, but she seems to drink a lot and sleep. It’s clear she’s running from something that happened before coming to Catherine. What’s more to this story is something called plasma that the school is studying for seemingly magical properties; or at least the story frames it as beyond the realms of known science. Ines isn’t in the plasma concentration, so she sees certain things from afar and is interested in delving farther.

I’m a slow reader and I’ve been in a slump for quite some time. Many, many months. I picked up this book thinking it was a gothic mystery that would have me turning the pages quickly. That wasn’t the case. I started reading this book around May or June and now it’s October and I’m only half-way through. I finally asked myself, Am I in a slump or is this book boring? Everything happens so slowly, and nothing seems to happen at all. Our main character doesn’t care about anything. She’s depressed and hiding. She doesn’t interact a whole lot with anyone. The interactions she does have are very muted. I suppose this book could be seen as highly philosophical, which is why it bored me. I’m not in the right headspace for it, so I couldn’t enjoy it. I like strong characters and interesting plots. Ines is not strong in any sense. She’s weak-willed, sleepy (literally), and detached from reality. Her perspective is utterly uninteresting. Perhaps that was a choice so that the school itself would shine, but the descriptions of strange goings-on don’t hit very hard since Ines isn’t all that involved. She also doesn’t seem to care. There’s no meat to this story.

When I don’t or can’t finish books, I always rate them one star. It couldn’t hold my attention so I couldn’t be bothered to finish it. When thinking about reading it at night, I would consistently turn away because I didn’t want to go into the story. Painfully boring.

Misery by Stephen King

Rating: ★

I hated this book from the beginning. I generally save one star ratings for books I DNF, but this one deserves it. I only finished it to see how it differed from the movie. It is full to the brim with misogyny and hatred for the mentally ill. I even took screenshots (I read the ebook) while reading to share on Twitter.

I won’t spoil anything, but Paul, our main character, uses the rape word twice to describe something unpleasant. He refers to most women in the book as bitches. He goes on tangents describing how simple minded his female fan base must be. It was highly insulting and aggravating to read. Hating Annie, calling her a bitch, makes sense. But Paul feels the same towards all women.

Then there’s the talk about the mentally ill. In this book, they don’t need help. They’re just scary. King boils it down to this handy statement: “Depressives kill themselves. Psychotics, rocked in the poison cradles of their own egos, want to do everyone handy a favor and take them along.” That’s useful.

I hate this book. Do not recommend. Even if I could get past these things, the actual story is boring, gruesome, and gratuitous. This should have been a short story or novella.