You

I gave this book 5 STARS... I did this for many many reasons. First I want to start off telling you that this is one of those books that you will either not like or LOVE! I LOVED it. It isn't your every day run-of-the-mill book. It's a deep and twisted psychological driven book.It's twisted and messed up! For some, it may be hard to follow. I will tell you why... First, the writing style isn't what your normal reader is used to. It truly takes talent to write an entire book in second-person. With the second-person writing comes the pop culture aspect. Caroline uses so many pop culture references, I even didn't get all of them. And I am pretty sure I should have. Then you have the mental state of the main characters.Joe, is obviously disturbed. I spent a greater part of the book trying to diagnose him. He is so messed up in the head. However, Beck doesn't really have all of her screws either. After all, she becomes close with her stalker... And in some ways, once she realizes he has been stalking her, she seems half okay with it.This book is a journey with an ending. I say it that way for a reason. It's not necessarily happy or sad or earth shattering.If I had to categorize this book, it would be in the MUST READ MESSED UP book category. Since that category only exists in my head, I would say it's part new adult and part psychological thriller. I read this book about a month ago, and I still find myself daydreaming about it with the confused head tilt. No lie!

Writing in first person is probably one of the more difficult viewpoints for an author to tackle. Kepnes proves this, at least partially, in You, her debut novel.The first half of this book is tedious, almost to the point of wanting to stop reading. But the second half picks up and makes this a worthwhile read. The ending was predictable, with a slight twist that made it satisfying.Since the main character works in a bookstore, there are several references to various well-known novels, as one might expect. This is a bit overdone, in my opinion, and felt more like the author trying to impress with her literary knowledge.What this novel lacked, was the tension or edge of your seat page turning that makes for a great mystery/suspense novel. The “praises” this book has received made my expectation high, only to find, it does not deliver.This one gets three stars, as it is an okay read, just not a great one.

I just don't know.I didn't love it. At all.I also didn't hate it. Not completely.But I did dislike certain aspects of it enough that it is a complete no for me as far as recommendations go.Positive first. There were elements I liked of this book, particularly the quick banter from Joe. I enjoyed the pace of the book. I prefer a slow read. I didn't mind the excessive obsession with sex and swearing but was rather indifferent to it. It neither added nor detracted from the story for me. It wasn't erotic, just repetative. I will say, Joe was the only character I liked, even if his snobbish views were a bit exhausting.And while I did like him, I didn't love him. He might have been more refreshing had he not felt so borrowed from many of the books the author uses to show readers she is well-read. Her literary snobbery was a bit hard to get past.Beck, I really didn't love the heroine being so flawed that she was completely unlikeable. She was gross and her responses were insane and illogical and not because of her conditions. They were basic and silly and everything she did and thought was really just done out of lazy writing from the author. It clicks and fits too easily and her bad behaviors are so over the top they're telling and not showing. Not much of this book was believable or even plausible. The cremation had so many flaws. Beck's phone goes missing in the cab where she was riding with a stranger and she doesn't cancel it out of fear of her mother's wrath, though the mother is written the opposite of this. Her suicidal pause was unrealistic. Her friends were lazily done as well.I won't be reading the second book.Lazy writing annoys me.I will be watching the show that has come out, but I am praying the series writers are better skilled.This reads like a debut novel and whatever Stephen King was on when he read it and gave that glowing review, is making me concerned for his ability to judge a good book. Is this like when a mechanic's car is always broken down, authors can't tell a good book from a mediocre attempt at fluffing one's own ego and level of intelligence?There are many other books in the sea, skip this one. I wish I had.

Slogging through this adult Holden Caulfield wannabe’s endless rant was an exercise in tedium. I bought the book because I thought it would be interesting to get into the mind of a highly intelligent stalker with a really dark sense of humor. But stalker Joe’s literary pretentiousness is embarrassingly banal, and his self-indulgent narrative soon becomes boring, as does the surfeit of masturbation scenes and the relentless stream of expletives from our foul-mouthed stalker. That this book is described as a “thriller” mystifies me since you always know what is going to happen way before it happens. And even worse, it’s hard to care about what happens because there isn’t one relatable or even remotely likable major character in the book. The “stalked” girl is a self-involved twit who surrounds herself with other self-involved twits, one so overbearing and possessive of “stalked” girl you know for sure Joe will have to off her - you just don’t think it’s going to take him more than 300 pages to do so. And if, like me, you reach a point where you just want to end this particular reading experience as soon as possible, and you skip, say, from page 210 to page 390, well, guess what? Everything you knew was going to happen either did happen or is about to happen, all tediously described by stalker Joe. And if you even bother to read the remaining pages, all you will learn is that this long, slow, self indulgent piece of crap called “You” is every bit as devoid of merit as you suspected it might be.

I have to say, the series on Netflix is so much better than the actual book. Seriously. I'm so glad the show eliminated a lot of 'crassness' written in the story. It's quite graphic on the sexual front. It took me forever to get into the story, and I was close to putting it down and not finishing it at about 34%.The characters are all unlikable, they're all pretentious and sadistic/masochistic, etc. Beck was the worst. She was a complete attention-ho, a miserable, slobby cow and how anyone found her attractive is beyond me. Her personality made her ugly, her mood swings made me to loathe her. She was actually quite psychotic, come to think of it. Joe wasn't much better. He wasn't quite right in the head, extremely obsessive and full of himself. I loathed them both; they were just as bad as each other.Joe’s literary pretentiousness is embarrassingly banal, and his self-indulgent narrative soon becomes boring,The whole way through this book, it incredibly repetitive which is something I really don't like in a book; it truly gave me a headache.What I did like?Well, let's see. I liked the WAY it was written, it eventually became quite gripping to read though still headache inducing. I liked the use of the word 'everythingship'. Honestly, it's a great word and these characters were definitely made for each other; they're obsessive personalities are a true tinder match.I also liked the suspense, though sometimes it was dragged out a little too long. I actually loved the references to different books and movie, though most I've never read myself, I found I enjoyed that.The author's writing style is quite exceptional and her imagination is pretty wild. She wrote the unthinkable yet the believable.But, overall, this was nothing to rave about. The series? AMAZING. I'm really glad I watched the series first. I liked that they changed a lot of it and omitted A LOT of things out.Good, but not great. Okay, but not amazing. I wouldn't recommend reading the book.

This book (and author) came up on one of those '50 Thrillers You Must...' and I thought I would give it a go. I have read a couple of stalker genre books and they usually fail to completely satisfy; sometimes they are a little hokey, or try a little too hard to be creepy, but this book was a huge success. The mix of enigmatic, interesting, kooky, weird, loving, creepy and murderous in Je, the stalker, was excellent. I both feared him and was intrigued by him. Now, I am not saying there is anything positive or romantic about stalking or stalkers, but in fiction there has to be something that makes you want to keep reading and certainly I wanted to read more about Joe.Joe works in a bookshop and when Guinevere (is there a better name for a damsel-going-to-be-in-distress?) walks in and his world spins on its axis. He sets out to be a loving boyfriend for her. The chess moves that take place in order to make Joe's desires come true are fascinating as he oscillates between being there for Guinevere and being unavailable to her to strengthen her attraction to him.I thoroughly enjoyed this read, Kepnes is a very skillful writer and nothing in this book came off as incongruous or hokey. Looking forward to reading more of her work.

I’ve not been quite so confused about how I feel about a character in some time.Joe - is it wrong that I loved him at times? That I felt like he was almost right at times? He was funny and the way his thought process was written was addictive. You almost judged Beck for not wanting him more.It shows just how messy life is and how luck and small changes can set things up so differently.In a very strange kind of way I wanted Joe to be happy and I wanted him to truly find love. Beck wasn’t a good person but then you’re only ever seeing her from his perspective and his perspective on people change as to what suits his narrative.Absolutely smashing story and so creatively written. I might have a new favourite author!

(This review contains spoilers for both the book and the Netflix show)So, I only discovered this book because of the Netflix show. Usually I like to read the book first, but I’d just finished the show when I saw the ebook was on sale, so I snagged a copy. Having watched the tv adaptation meant that I was constantly reading YOU through the lens of the show. I was constantly comparing, noting the similarities and differences, examining how the different mediums added—and detracted—from the story. Therefore, this review is going to contain a lot of comparisons between the story in both mediums, as I can’t really review the book without comparing it to the show, given the complex narrative style that is present in both. I also believe my reading of the book was informed greatly by prior knowledge of the show, so as I was reading it with the show in my mind, I feel my review should reflect this.From watching the show, I hadn’t expected the narrative voice of the book to be as strong—you’ve got a voice over in the majority of the scenes in the show—and I was curious as to how the book would portray Joe’s commentary. I’d even doubted whether it could portray it to such a powerful extent, but I was wrong. How’s commentary was stronger in the book than a show. I recognised many of the same lines which was a delight, but whereas Joe’s voiceovers in the show were added to scenes and we still saw the action, in the book, it pretty much feels like absolutely everything is given to use through Joe’s direct address commentary where he talks in his head to Beck, and recounts her dialogue and their conversations amid this internal monologuing. It’s almost exhausting to read.Joe is a truly fascinating character. He’s cold, ruthless, a murderer, stalker, and a psychopath, yet he justifies all his actions to us in his narration. He’s strangely likeable and there was something disturbingly alluring in reading his narrative. His voice just grabs you and keeps you reading as you wonder just how far he’ll go to pursue Beck.Unlike the show, the book tells us early on that Joe has murdered before he meets Beck. (Spoiler ahead—skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to read it.) Whereas the show reveals Candice is alive, the book tells us early on that Joe murdered her when she broke up with him. Knowing how dangerous Joe is, right from the start, really heightens the tension and makes us concerned for Beck.Beck, the female MC, is just as interesting in the book as she is in the show. She’s a writer, she’s lost, she sleeps around, she’s insecure and looking for validation, she has huge ambitions. Yet, with the book however, I found her slightly harder to picture, in that she didn’t feel as “true and real”. By that I mean, her characterisation is still strong and well written, but we see her only through Joe’s eyes in the book, rather than the more omniscient point of view in the show. This meant for me that I found it slightly harder to root for Beck as a character when reading her; I didn’t feel like I really knew her, and this was only added to by the use of direct address—Joe constantly refers to her as “you”. This book is his love letter to Beck, and he writes it as an explanation of why he (spoiler alert!) murdered her. This narrative voice means there’s distance between the reader and Beck, and I firmly believe that’s the author’s intention as where our connection to Beck lacks, our bond with Joe strengthens.The show had many added characters—such as the boy who lives next door to Joe—and the book had equally many characters who didn’t appear in the show. Or who appear in a different way. Whereas Ethan is a permanent fixture in the bookshop in the show, he’s only in the book from about the 50% mark onward. But I was glad to see the book still has his romance with Blythe. She was definitely one of the most interesting characters in the show, and her personality and voice is portrayed beautifully in the text too, despite seeing it all through Joe (who predominantly only hears of her from Beck). It’s definitely a framed narrative/Chinese Box kind of story with Blythe, and I loved how this raised questions of reliability. In the book, do we ever know the true Blythe as nearly everything we learn of her is told to us via Joe who has his own agenda and biases?Both the book and the show deliver a harrowing warning about social media, a story of stalking and murder (which I found myself also comparing to the narrative in A LONG FATAL LOVE CHASE by Louisa May Alcott, which begins and ends in the same way), and warns readers beautifully that you can never know the true thoughts of someone around you. This is a story of lies and deceit, of passion and insanity, of love and murder. There’s also *a lot* of sex in the book. A lot more than the show.YOU is a complex story, beautifully written, and I’ve never read anything like it before. But I believe that I only enjoyed it as much as I did because I had the context of the show as background. I already had a framework to map this story onto as I read. And given how unique it’s narrative style is, this helped immensely. I’m sure if I’d come to the book first, I’d have felt lost and not quite sure what was happening at several points.

So, this book is a bit of a break from the normal. It follows the story of a stalker and his victim. Unusually, the story is told from the stalkers point of view. The stalker, Joe, is completely obsessed with young writer Beck and he'll do anything to win her love. The story being told from this point of view gives the reader an insight into the mindset of the stalker. During the book, Joe breaks into Becks apartment - several times - and steals her posessions, gets rid of her current boyfriend and her best friend, and there's more than a hint that things didn't end well for his previous girlfriend. As you read on you realise that, not only is Joe completely deranged, and he's becoming more and more unhinged with every chapter. But, worryingly, he believes his behaviour is perfectly rational!Telling the story from this point of view, for me, was unusual and something I've never come across before. Although I felt it had a slow start and I didn't find it the easiest book to read, this made it an intriguing and interesting story which in the end kept me turning the pages. And, if I'm completely honest, I didn't expect it to end the way it did. I'll certainly be reading more by this author.