Only Ever Yours

by Louise O'Neill

[Leah]

When I was offered the opportunity to read and review Only Ever Yours, I thought it sounded like such a fascinating novel. I don't read many Dystopian novels - though I'm not sure if that's the correct genre to put this novel in. But, it's definitely not set in the "now", that much is for sure because if what goes on in the book happened today, there'd be repercussions (and it makes me kinda sad that in this world, that is the norm because it's AWFUL). I was interested to see how the novel progressed, and very much intrigued by all the positive comments I've seen about the novel. And it is a VERY interesting read.

Probably one of the only complaints I have about Only Ever Yours, is how the girls are treated. They're like meat at a market. And it pained me that the men clearly ruled the roost. That the whole purpose of these girls, who are manfactured (NOT BORN - MADE!!!!!! DESIGNED!!!!!) are for the purposes of becoming a "companion" to 10 eligible (or not) bachelors. It was ICKY. That was a major issue for me, and I took offense because I'm a girl and because the rules and regulations are just so awful. A mandatory weight for the girs to maintain or be ridiculed and called fat, calorie blockers, all sorts of awful nonsense that just made me want to close my eyes and scream, "NO, NO, NO!". I couldn't imagine being in Freida's shoes, competing with all the other girls to be picked as a companion, because that's the most desirable option of the three where the other two options are to become a concubine (basically a doll, to be treated poorly by the men) or a chastitie which nobody wants to be.

But, I can't deny that the bizarre ways, and treatments and stories are fascinating. Freida's - and all the girl's - lives are awful, but it's immensely readable because you can barely believe your eyes! It's just so bizarre. It took a while to get used to the girls' names being uncapitalized (so bizarre, and I have capitalized all the names in my review, which may be wrong of me but oh well) and words being spelt different (ice kream, chocco, myface) but it really helped to get into the world of the girl's. This bizarre-o world they live in, where being fat is a curse, and being picked as a companion is a blessing, and poor Freida just doesn't know what to do with herself. Her best friend, Isabel, has left her in the lurch, and she can barely function - she can't sleep, even with the help of SleepSound, and she's slowly disengaging from everything. What I would have liked to see was more of Isabel and Freida's friendship. We only get very brief glimpses, and I still don't really understand why Isabel pulled back. I do not agree with Freida's assessment at the end, as to why. I think there was more there, and having Isabel as another narrator would have helped massively.

Only Ever Yours is one of the most fascinating, disturbing books I'll probably ever read. I'm dying to know where Louise O'Neill came up with the idea because it's just so clever, and creepy all at the same time. Despite all my bad feelings about the fact it was the girls being groomed for the boys, and not the other way around, I was still flipping the pages as quickly as I could, desperate to know what would happen. I probably would have preffered a different ending - considering everything we go through, I felt a little teensy bit cheated. I expect something more, I suppose, but nevertheless it's a solid, solid read. I can't wait to see what Louise O'Neill writes next, she's clearly got a very imaginative imagination and she's written a corker of a debut novel, I'll be thinking about Only Ever Yours for a very, very long time. (And I'm still not sure if that's a good thing!!!!)

This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read