“The only thing crueler than a cage so
small that a bird can’t fly is a cage so
large that a bird thinks it can fly.”

From debut author Caroline Kepnes comes You, one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, and a brilliant and terrifying novel for the social media age.

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.

A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age. You is a compulsively readable page-turner that’s being compared to Gone Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery. (Goodreads)

On another episode of “Books I Read Because It Will Soon Be Adapted on Netflix/TV/Motion Picture” we have You by Caroline Kepnes 😅 This was compared to a combination of Gone Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery–all of which are among my top favorite books. Let’s just say it was a mistake to expect this would be as good as those masterpieces.

This got me so confused. I absolutely hated the main character’s voice—he has the most disturbing, offensive, misogynist and delusional thoughts ever. So is American Psycho, I know. But somehow that made more sense to me. I guess it’s weird how You made me creeped out but it’s also almost sweet and romantic at times?? I just didn’t know anymore. Maybe that’s the whole point of the novel, but it’s certainly not written for me.

“You are a woman and I am a man and we belong in the dark together.”

I was expecting more conflict, but it seems everything was too easy for Joe. There was no remorse, no redemption, no character development, really. Guinevere on the other hand, was quite interesting at first but then she just lost me towards the end. None of the characters are likable, which means I did not really care what happened to them. The only thing I liked about the main characters is their love for books but that’s about it.

“The problem with books is that they end.”

I kept on reading in search for that something that would blow my mind like I was promised, but it was just the same thing over and over again. I am still giving this a 3⭐️ rating because I did like the observations of the author about human behaviors in this modern age. I can also agree that it is a page-turner like everyone said it would be and I can imagine how others would enjoy it more than me. I just did not find what I was looking for.

Did I end up watching the series on Netflix? Yes, but only 2 or 3 episodes. I didn’t really see the point of going through all of it. ✌🏻

Overall Rating: 3/5⭐️

About the Author

Caroline Kepnes is the author of You and Hidden Bodies. She splits her time between Los Angeles, California and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

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