It Ends With Us

‘It Ends with Us’ is a romance best-seller by Colleen Hoover. It handles the themes of abuse, love and hardship through the perspective of the protagonist, Lily Bloom, a college graduate who has moved to Boston from Plethora, Maine. It has bold messages well concealed in the storyline yet evident enough to make an impact. It offers us an interesting outlook where life is primarily compared to an ocean and people to waves. As someone reading romance for the first time, it was a terrific novel of an addictive genre.

“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.”

- Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

The book begins with the death of Lily’s father, an event that would have ideally been associated with heartache and sorrow but is met with great relief and even humiliation. While Lily is reflecting in solitude at the rooftop, she is disturbed by the unwanted company of a man, Ryle Kincaid. He later reveals he is a neurosurgeon who had witnessed a death that provoked past trauma. It is discovered that Lily is comforted by the death of her father while Lily and Ryle take turns telling each other what they call “naked truths”.

“Imagine all the people you meet in your life. There are so many. They come in like waves, trickling in and out with the tide. Some waves are much bigger and make more of an impact than others. Sometimes the waves bring with them things from deep in the bottom of the sea and they leave those things tossed onto the shore. Imprints against the grains of sand that prove the waves had once been there, long after the tide recedes.”

- Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

Lily’s father, Andrew Bloom, although having a good reputation among the town he is the mayor of, is in truth an abusive husband to Lily’s mother, Jenny Bloom. Through the course of the novel, Lily expresses her furiousness with her mother for not leaving him, not understanding the financial and internal conflicts. Lily’s diaries also give an insight into her love life as an adolescent. Her previous relationship with a homeless boy, Atlas Corrigan, is talked of in great detail. He has a significant impact on Lily, forcing Lily to accept that people are ignorant and selfish. His presence in Lily’s life is bittersweet. Lily felt true happiness in the moments she spent with Atlas but was depressed and numb months after he left for a better life in Boston. Even though she tries, she is never able to completely move on from Atlas.

“It’s not a person’s actions that hurt the most. It’s the love. If there was no love attached to the action, the pain would be a little easier to bear.”

― Colleen Hoover, It Ends with Us

Since the beginning of the story, Lily and Ryle have romantic tension between them. For six months after the night at the rooftop, they never cross each other’s paths until Ryle’s sister, Alyssa, volunteers to work at Lily’s newly established floral shop. Following this, there are many complications between Lily and Ryle because of their different takes on relationships. Finally, they start dating. One night, when Lily is at dinner with Ryle and her mother, she is stunned when she learns that Atlas is the owner of the restaurant. Lily and Ryle have a perfect relationship until one night Ryle loses his temper and pushes Lily causing her to get hurt. This makes Lily think they resemble her parents. After heartfelt apologies, Lily decides to forgive Ryle. The next time she is at Atlas’ restaurant, he notices the bruises on Lily’s face and makes her promise she will seek his help if needed, even though Lily wants to believe that is unnecessary. This incident repeats itself and once again, Lily forgives him after learning about his childhood trauma concerning the death of his elder brother. Lily and Ryle get married. After their marriage, Ryle again harms Lily. After this, she asks Atlas for support.

“It’s easy when we’re on the outside to believe that we would walk away without a second thought if a person mistreated us. It’s easy to say we couldn’t continue to love someone who mistreats us when we aren’t the ones feeling the love of that person. When you experience it first hand, it isn’t so easy to hate the person who mistreats you when most of the time they’re your godsend.”

― Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us

During the time Lily is at Atlas’ house, she tries her best to give meaning to her baffled thoughts, especially after she is hit with the news of her pregnancy with Ryle. She realizes that she was callous in thinking lowly of her mother for not leaving her father. She understands that apart from socioeconomic difficulty, it is hard not to believe in the good intentions of the someone you love even when they have failed you numerous times.

“In the future, if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again . . . fall in love with me.”

― Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us

For a long time, nothing seems to be going right in Lily’s life. However, the idea of bringing life into the world gives her hope for a new beginning. Ryle agrees to have the baby on Lily’s terms. When their daughter, Emerson, is born, Lily decides to divorce Ryle to break the cycle of abuse. She rekindles her relationship with Atlas while sharing a daughter with Ryle.

“You can stop swimming now, Lily. We finally reached the shore.”

― Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us