blackbibliophile
Written on Mar 21, 2019
From the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us and November 9 comes a moving and haunting novel of family, love, and the power of the truth.
'Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.'
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her - until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.
'Emotionally wrenching and utterly original, Without Merit’s characters stayed with me long after I finished' Sara Shepard, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars
- ISBN10 1471171922
- ISBN13 9781471171925
- Publish Date 3 October 2017
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 11 June 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Simon & Schuster Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 384
- Language English
Reviews
liz089
Written on Jul 23, 2018
I really liked the messy and dramatic Voss family with all their secrets, it was fun to read.
I did miss some depth ? Or I don't know, some more feelings ?
I would give it a 3.5.. but lets round it up to 4 because it was a fast and enjoyable read.
boghunden
Written on Jul 9, 2018
This one worked for me though. I loved Merit as a character. I especially loved Luck, and I'd love to read more about him one day. I kind of shipped him and Merit in the beginning.
As for the plot, so many things were going on at once. Really. It was pretty amazing how CoHo handled it all. So many secrets! So many unspoken words. While this is a love story, it's also a story about family dynamics, accepting each others flaws, listening and not jumping to conclusions. While it is definitely a YA book, it also deals with some tougher issues like mental health and sexuality, but it suits the book and is well written.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Merit to begin with, but she grew on me big time, and I understood her actions toward the end. I'd like to see more closure for Sagan, but maybe we'll get to that some day. I really hope so.
Leah
Written on May 11, 2018
What kind of person pines after someone she believes is her sisters boyfriend? For real? Regardless of how that turned out, for a time Merit believed Sagan was Honor’s boyfriend and she crossed a line.
Can we please for one second discuss the character names also? In the Voss family there is: Merit, Honor, Utah and Moby. Then there’s Sagan and Luck. How people can call Dimple or Rishi made up names when they’re actually names in that culture but not think Merit, Honor or Sagan is ridiculous is just plain bonkers. There is no explanation for why the Voss kids are called that, except Moby who is named after the whale. Luck just randomly falls into the Voss’s life without us learning a thing about his backstory, except for a throwaway paragraph or two. Sagan also has family issues and bingo, you guessed it, we don’t know why.
Hoover has even managed to bring Syria into the mix, with a long winded, two-page explanation for one of Sagan’s tattoos that was just bizarre. Like Syria was in the news so Hoover was like well, I better put that in the book also!
Without Merit was just too much. The Voss’s has way too much family drama for one family and it bordered on the ridiculous.
cornerfolds
Written on May 9, 2018
I have read and hated two books by Colleen Hoover in the past few years, but when I found myself in the mood for a contemporary novel and saw that she had published a YA book, I decided to give her one last try.
Merit is the MC of this story and, shockingly, I didn't hate her. She runs into Sagan one day and feels instant chemistry, but through a series of misunderstandings and assumptions, decides that they can't be together. Sagan was an enjoyable character who I thought made a good romantic interest. I wouldn't mind reading more about him, honestly.
Without Merit contains the usual angst and drama you would expect in a Colleen Hoover novel, but this one was actually bearable and kind of cute at times. I think part of what made it more enjoyable was that the angsty romance wasn't the main focal point of the story. Merit and her family was much more at the forefront and, even though that's not my usual kind of read, I enjoyed it more than the author's other novels. If you've hated her other books, this might be the Colleen Hoover pick for you!
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
mrs_mander_reads
Written on Feb 27, 2018
girlinthepages
Written on Jan 21, 2018
While reading Without Merit, I sort of felt like I was reading a satire or absurdist novel. The novel focuses on a super unconventional family (with names like Merit, Honor, Utah and Moby...) living in a remodeled church complete with the marquee sign out front and an 8-foot Jesus Christ statue in the main living area (since no one's been able to remove it). All of the characters felt like caricatures but it was so crazy with such twisted family dynamics that I was never bored and always intrigued to see what kind of turn the story would take next. The novel follows Merit, a seventeen year old identical twin who's managed to become the sullen, black sheep in the family of all black sheep, and her bitterness and exasperation coupled with her habit of keeping to herself made her an interesting narrator who's living among all the chaos but seems removed from it at the same time. Despite Merit's flaws and issues, I actually really enjoyed her as a protagonist.
Now, despite the fact that I was constantly entertained while reading this book, it was also a bit of a hot mess and honestly completely all over the place, which I think stems from Hoover trying to tackle/integrate too many issues in the novel. There's everything including (but not limited to): mental illness, terminal illness, attempted suicide, assault, adultery, the Syrian refugee crisis, etc. At first it was manageable and made sense with the story (since the family was so large, it was understandable that there would be multiple issues), but by the end of the story I was literally rolling my eyes when yet ANOTHER "issue" was introduced- there just wasn't enough time/storytelling to do enough justice to all of them.
I think despite all of the above, I was still able to enjoy the book in all its bizarre glory because I viewed all of the characters as caricatures with their quirkiness levels turned up to 8000%. There was a romance that was ok, a big family secret revelation toward the end (gotta love those), and honestly more than one scene that was uncomfortable to read (mostly involving Luck- yes, Luck is a character name along with Moby, Utah, and Honor). It definitely has that "older YA feel" which I've been craving when it comes to high school settings (I've outgrown a lot of YA that takes place in high school). However after the emotional depth that's prevalent in the only other Colleen Hoover book I've read, It Ends With Us, this book was a bit of a letdown.
Overall: While this book was definitely unique and bizarre enough to hold my attention, it was such a departure from what I was expecting it to be. I don't regret reading it, however I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone either.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
Kelly
Written on Oct 21, 2017
Proceed with caution.
anastasia
Written on Oct 14, 2017
Linda
Written on Oct 7, 2017
Without Merit brought out all the feels, and it also explained the DYS when it comes to dysfunctional families and relationships. I loved every word!
Story:
Merit, the main character, is fairly self-absorbed, and still, I really loved her. Growing up in a household with three children with less than a year between them (total). And an identical twin sister whom she doesn’t really get along with, Merit lives inside her own head quite a bit. Between the resentment she feels towards her family, and the weirdness she feels about school, she throws herself a curve-ball and then tries to just go with it.
There is a lot going on in Without Merit, and most of it has to do with the extremely complex family relationships, and all the secrets that they keep. It makes things more difficult for Merit that she feels like an outcast in town, and in school. All because of her dad, and the decisions he has made that led up to them moving into an old church.
Characters:
Merit is 17 years old, and she’s not very self-aware. And at the same time, she’s not all that aware when it comes to the rest of the world, either. She does have her own preconceived thoughts and judgements about her family and other people living in the same house as her, though.
Honor is Merit’s identical twin, and at the surface, she seems very different from her. Honor has a thing for boys with terminal illnesses, and Merit judges her quite harshly for this.
Barnaby is Merit’s father, and she hates him with a passion. She feels as if he doesn’t care about anyone but himself - he divorced her mother, Victoria, when his mistress (also Victoria) was three months pregnant... And to add insult to injury, the 2nd Victoria was the first Victoria’s cancer nurse.
Utah is Merit’s older brother, and their relationship is nothing but a huge strain. On both of them.
Sagan... what can I say about him? I loved this character the most, even if he was kind of an outsider. He was wise for his years, and he was able to see things from more than one perspective.
Victoria - the mom in the basement, she was definitely a mystery for most of the story, but once things came to light, she became more ‘real’.
Victoria - the step-mom... seemed like a bitch, but I don’t really think she was one.
Moby, Merit’s half brother was one of the sweetest four-year-olds I’ve ever read about.
Writing style :
Hoover has a way with words, and she proved that with Without Merit! The novel is written in first person point of view from Merit’s perspective, and in present tense. The many dialogues helped me get to know all the characters well, and they also moved the story along at a nice pace.
Feels :
A tangle of feels for Without Merit! Even with how self-absorbed Merit could be, I really felt for her, the difficulties she was living through, and how her past put a huge shadow on her present. I was sad, happy, elated, afraid, and I wanted more. Which is usually the case when I read a Hoover novel.
He takes a step closer to me and it suddenly feels like I’ve swallowed his heart because I have all these extra beats in my chest.
This is almost comical - this stranger kissing me as if it were the last thing left on his bucket list. It makes me wonder what compelled him to do this.
I can feel the color drain from my face at that sentence. All the color in my body - in this ridiculous moment with this random guy - pools at my feet, leaving me feeling like a second-rate carbon copy of Honor Voss. My twin sister.