No, seriously....what is going on with It Ends With Us?

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:06 Today's Sponsor!
2:30 What Is Colleen's Deal?
4:05 My Thoughts On The Book
7:53 Mysterious Production Drama
9:35 My Thoughts On The Film

Music:
End Slate:

Bestselling author Colleen Hoover, 44, wrote her first book as a gift to her mom Vannoy Fite, but it was another family story that really made her a star.
Hoover's 2016 novel, It Ends With Us, which is based on her parents' relationship, will hit theaters as a feature film she co-executive produced with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (who also directed) on Aug. 9. And while the book is a runaway hit, ranking No. 1 on Amazon as of the time of publication, with more than 300,000 reviews and a 4.7-star rating, it's not without its critics. That's not unexpected, Hoover told PEOPLE for a story in this week's print issue.

[theshire]

If this is based on Colleen’s actual experience, it did not End With Us. Her son SA’d a girl and Colleen chose to victim blame rather than educate her son. I do not trust this woman to write about abuse

[vicg]

Her name is Lily Bloom? And she runs a FLOWER SHOP???? That

[megan]

will never forget that in the height of the adult coloring book fad, they planned one based on this book. then had to pull it. bc it would have been an ABUSE THEMED COLORING BOOK

[justjoannak]

Considering the fact that Colleen Hoover's son SAed a woman who was an underaged girl at the time of the SA (she was 16 to his 21), which Colleen then tried to cover up and proceeded to use victim blaming afterwards makes genuinely not want to read any of her books ever.

[trinaq]

While I appreciated that Colleen Hoover penned a novel about domestic violence, and how individuals who've grown up exposed to such abuse could end up in a similar situation in their own relationships, it all seems to end a little too smoothly. Lily allows Ryle to have joint unsupervised custody of their daughter, her logic being that her own father abused her mother, but never Lily herself. In reality, not all abusers operate the same way.

[mutantsupremacies]

i will never forgive colleen hover for having a couple in her book talk about how big their infant son’s “balls” are before getting in a car crash

[bear]

the biggest horror in this whole thing to me is that Hoover used to be a social worker before becoming an author. the way she 'handles' heavy subjects like trauma and mental health comes off as deeply irresponsible to me, especially for an audience of young women. the men are just Damaged and you can fix them, and the women either ~heal enough to become Mothers~ or are Evil. I sincerely hope she didn't make those opinions obvious as a social worker, but it's very evident in her books.

[trinaq]

It always struck me as ridiculous that Allysa, Ryle's sister, named her baby after him, despite knowing that he repeatedly abused her best friend. She might want to see the best in her brother, but that's too far. Also, Lily willingly names her own baby after her abuser's late brother.

[CaulkMongler]

If this book can sell millions, spawn a movie starring Blake Lively, y’all can really accomplish your dreams if you actually just GO for it.

[taylorgrace]

I have been abused in the past, but now am dating my boyfriend of two years. Just the fact that he wouldn’t hit me, a month into us dating, made me emotional and realize how “traumatized I was”. A year into our relationship, I read It Ends With Us. I had been working through a lot of my trauma and feeling so much better. CPTSD symptoms were lessening and everything. My friends suggested I read the book, and I did. It honestly hurt how I even view my friends. This book is terribly written and glorifies abuse. The thought patterns in the book (as a victim) are almost exactly how I’ve felt in the past. It was terrible for me to “re-live” it. This book kept making me feel like the abuse I went through was actually love. I have a super hard time believing love is kind and calm - and not abuse. This book almost ruined my whole “survivor” mindset. And I think Colleen should be ashamed that so many people got that take-away from her.

[Krissy_K]

I have many issues with how this book handles domestic abuse, but my main issue is how it handles the climax. Abusers don't suddenly become reasonable people when confronted with their behavior. It is incredibly dangeros to do that, especially when physically vulnerable, like Lily was in that moment. It scares me that Hollywood heavyweights like Taylor Swift and Blake Lively would put their names behind this. Oh, and don't even get me started about the author's hypocrisy on being a cycle breaker (google the allegations against his son if you don't know...). Btw, if anyone is interested in an actual eye-opening book on domestic abuse, I recommend one called "Why does he do that?" by Lundy Bancroft.

[NouveauArtPunk]

I'm also a librarian with a distaste for Hoover's books. Sadly I've read too many of her books. Tell me if anybody else feels this way: There's a very pernicious trend within her work of what I would charitably call "strawman" depictions of stereotypical "independent" "Liberal" white women being subjected to abuse by damaged men who are coded as being "intellectuals" or "educated" professionals (i.e. strawman stereotypes of what conservatives think "liberal" cishet white men are like) and these women being saved by men who are coded as being more "traditional" (read: conservative). I have a feeling that all of her work is playing into a fetish she or perhaps an audience she has cornered has of a sort for seeing "liberal" "strong independent white women" being abused as a way of teaching them a lesson to not stray from men who are more "traditional."

[mrscru]

I’m sad about Justin Baldoni. He was very loved by the cast of Jane the Virgin and is very much involved in the feminist movement by the construction of new masculinities. He actually has a Ted Talk talking about it and has written a book. I think that’s why he wanted to challenge himself in this movie and in this role. Idk what happened.

[cfaranda]

If Colleen Hoover has no haters then I am dead

[makaylagrant]

My problem with the book is the implication that the only bad thing Ryle has done was physical abuse. Everything else he did such as coercion and manipulation was implied to be romantic from how the author wrote it.

[donniedoorko]

Literally the only good thing about this movie adaptation is that Ethel Cain probably got a fat check for the use of “Strangers” in the soundtrack

[AlexandreFilho]

i have learned today that Justin Baldoni is not participating on the promo tour of his own movie, and that's weird but knowing close to nothing about this situation my gut tells me he's the good guy here.

[_sarah.honey-]

Also fun tip if you don’t want to pay for a book from a bad author, you can read it through your local library. You can also use Libby which is free through your school or library

[sarcasmxkate]

It is interesting to me that Justin is the only person really talking about the DV aspect of this film. I have no issue with having some fun on a press tour, but part of why people will be so blindsided by the plot is that everyone else is sort being a bit blasé about it.
It just feels a bit weird to not use your platform to really shine a light on something that affects SO many people.

[lilhonor]

I appreciate the fact that you brought up that the premise of the book is not necessarily a bad premise it’s mainly the execution and quality of the writing. I do feel like sometimes people online can veer into this weird “you shouldn’t depict bad things in media ever” rhetoric because someone might take the wrong messages from it. Not saying that doesn’t happen (it did with the original dune novel funnily enough) but often when this handwringing is aimed at media predominantly consumed by women it feels pretty patronizing.