YOU

SUMMARY

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.

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OPINION

First off, I need to be honest. I love the show. I first saw it when I was in college and I was very much disturbed...and yet fascinated...I often put it on just to listen to it because it feels like Penn Badgley is reading an audiobook to me with added voices. And, God, that man has a beautiful voice. So, just a heads up, this review will be comparing and contrasting the show and book. You've been warned.

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From the outside, you have this creepy story of a man who becomes obsessed with this woman to the point of getting rid of the people in her life that get in his way of making her (and him) happy. He stalks her. Manipulates her. Gaslights her. So, why the hell would I like a show like that? Everyone is terrible in it! (Except for Paco, we must all protect Paco) And yet, when season 2 was announced, I was ready for more. I think what made me hooked was the fact that what's going on in Joe's head is open for us to digest. We could've gotten this creepy thriller of a guy stalking this girl and calling it love without getting into anyone's head, but no, we got something a little bit more. We got to see what was going on inside of Joe's head, how his thought processing worked, and how he was so convinced he was the hero in Beck's story, that he didn't even think for a moment that he might've been the villain.

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Second confession, I did not realize that the show was based off of a book. And it only took me 5 years to get my hands on it! And...I see why the show writers changed quite a bit from the original source.

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Book Joe is all terrible. Did not like that guy at all. Did not find him charming. Found him very disturbing and quite frankly, that guy needed some serious professional help. And yes, Show Joe is some of those things too, but they also gave him a soft side, a good side. Show Joe struggles with wanting to be good and wanting to prove he isn't a bad person. Book Joe has already accepted himself for who he is and is a terrible person.

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My roommates caught my reactions reading this book and told me that I looked mortified. Which was pretty accurate to how I was feeling. I do not want Book Joe anywhere near me. At least with Show Joe, I saw hope and redemption. Book Joe...nope. Get him out of my sight.

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Other than Joe, the story was relatively the same. Beck is hooked on her "complicated" "boyfriend" Benji as Joe stalks Beck and unravels everything about her life, Peach hates Joe and is in love with Beck, Joe and Beck finally get together, there some murders, Beck sees and has an affair with her therapist, and of course, Joe locks Beck in his library basement cage and then kills her.

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I still didn't like any of the characters. And I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to. I wasn't rooting for anyone. This story is a complex mess of flawed characters, and it was hard to find any redeeming qualities with anyone. Okay, maybe except for Ethan. ONE. There was ONE character I didn't hate.

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Still, I did found Joe's tangent thoughts was what kept me reading. Again, it's fascinating to "see" what's going on inside of a psychopath's head. How narcissistic they are. How they think they're above everyone else and they can do no wrong. The way he gaslit Beck so many times was a marvel to read. How he literally described her as being an animal he just had to tame and put back in the cage when she was acting crazy when she discovered his true colors. Joe is a scary man.

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And I very much prefer Show Joe. He comes from a troubled past, has mental and social issues, wants to be loved for who he is, and wants to love someone wholeheartedly. He may take it too far sometimes but he becomes aware of his demons and at least tries to overcome them. But I mean, we (Fantasy Readers at least) read about these morally grey men who would burn the world for the woman they love, who would kill anyone who hurt her, and we find it romantic! But that's fantasy.  With You, the setting is here, on Earth, in present day, where we live, and even though Joe does kill the people in Beck's life that are holding her back or harming her, in the name of love, we find it repulsive. Granted, there are other parts of his character that make him much more harder to like, but again, he truly believes he's the good guy. Beck's knight in shining armor.

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I think the first book was enough for me. I'm going to continue to re-watch the show over and over again. But how do you rate a book like this? I knew I wasn't going to like it, so I needed to reevaluate how I wanted to star this. I give books that I love and want to reread a 5 star. Books that I thought were okay and neither bad or good, I give a 3. But for a 4 star, they're typically books that I liked. I liked how this book made me feel. They weren't great emotions but they were different from how the other books I read made me feel. I was uncomfortable, disturbed, disgusted, scared, worried, astonished, and relieved when it was over. If that was the author's goal, she succeeded.