It Ends with Us: a letter in the voice of Lily Bloom to Ellen

Dear Colleen,

this was a really, really beautiful book about things that you might not think are even possible, the sweetest bliss mixed with the deepest agony. i feel like parts of it are not possible. it’s hard to say that it didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat, because it really did. i am such a romantic and a sucker for drama in books. this story is about loving a person so hard, until you can barely breathe, until everything swallows you, but then realizing that you’re in pain. you know lyrics somewhere that say, “you can think that you’re in love when you’re really just in pain”. sad beautiful tragic. people who haven’t even glimpsed abuse before can begin to understand domestic violence through our protagonist’s eyes, as she herself feels swallowed by love and pain, simultaneously, multiple times. so, so strongly.

i’m giving this three stars because i watched “the tinder swindler” on netflix today and i think that asshole deserves a lifetime in prison (not related to your book, but i’m getting there). when it feels too good to be true, it’s too good to be true. here, our hotshot massachusetts general neurosurgeon, with a sister/best-friend who owns an entire penthouse floor is too good for me. i didn’t even really like him because i cautioned myself to emotionally invest in a guy like that. and my instincts were right. i don’t really think that you should keep enforcing these stereotypes of love being so unbelievably breathtaking simply because a good-looking, rich, and smart guy with a handful of personality just lands in front of you. yes, this type of writing makes people swoon, but it also invites these unrealistic expectations and unnecessary drama for people who want to find their own true love as scripted. i think love is a lot more internal and varied than that. i’m telling you what i think, and i’m sure you understand. but at the end, i think this book deserves its insane popularity and praise. sometimes, people just like being shockingly swept off their feet, briefly for the duration of an 11-hour narration.