#onlyeveryours

[muffledvinyl-blog]

“I dream of things I know nothing about”

Louise O’Neill (Only Ever Yours)

[itshousmansradicalbookshop]

#Repost @thecupcakephilosophy ・・・ If you've already finished The Handmaid's Tale and can't get enough of the TV show... read this next. 'Deep-ly superficial' is the best way I could possibly describe this novel. It's a dystopian tale of the insidious harm of a culture that prizes an idealised standard of beauty above all else, which writes female characters out of the protagonist role in their own lives. The constant descriptions of what each woman wears may grate at first but over time it will become clear that it forms part of the social commentary the author (@oneilllou) intended. I first saw this recommended by @housmans_books, so I knew there must be more to this than fluffy young adult fiction. Sure enough, it was a truly dark tale hidden beneath a Barbie pink exterior. | Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill 🎀 #OnlyEverYours #LouiseONeill #Barbie #YALit #bookstagram

[ukuvicki]

Review: ONLY EVER YOURS

4.5 out of 5 stars

Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill

“Freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions - wives to wealthy and powerful men. The alternative  - life as a concubine - too horrible to contemplate. But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to remain perfect becomes almost unbearable. Isabel starts to self destruct, putting her beauty - her only asset - in peril.

And then, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.”

Louise O’Neill’s debut is a nightmarish futuristic satire that has been making a splash since it was published and with the win of the YA Book Prize, I thought I should give it a whirl.

A brutal dystopian feminist novel: smart, strongly-felt, and ruthless. The rigidly stratified, hierarchical, and patriarchal society of Only Ever Yours is believable because we see its functioning in such detail. There are the girls who wants to be a chastity (the unmarried teachers and servants who never leave the School); the girls who want to be concubines so they can stay with their friends and die young and beautiful; the alpha girl who shares chocolate only so she can judge how much of it that her friends eat. We even have the necessary perspective to see what freida can't--that the boy she counts on for her rescue is also an abused cog in the social machine (though obviously less at risk than she is).

This one was quite a disturbing read, set in a world where women are powerless and only a few are bred each year with the specific purpose of pleasing men. The conditions at the "school" where the girls are raised are horrific, there is no solidarity among the girls and nor is it encouraged. Everything for these genetically manufactured beauties is about finding a husband. And then there is the harrowing story of isabel, our heroine's former best friend who suffers the most, thanks to the desires of a selfish and greedy man.

What makes this story even more interesting is that the heroine, frieda, is not a strong character. She is unable to stand up for herself, even in situations when it would be entirely appropriate to do so and is too impulsive to play what few cards she has wisely. Of course, she does not deserve her fate and the ending is a surprising one for a YA novel, though completely appropriate for the story and for the first world, where some women are oppressed by societal expectations to dress and behave a certain way in order to be considered worthy.

I was touched by the brutal, honest handling of eating disorders, addiction, and self-harm. It felt truthful, it felt real. These girls are so focused on being perfect, on making the cut, they're willing to rip themselves to shreds in order to achieve it.

As unusual or cynical as I may sound, I am so pleased to finally read a YA novel that has no hope, no happy ending and no light at the end of the tunnel. If you are too fed up of the fluff and want to be encaptured in a futuristic, controversial world, then Only Ever Yours is the book for you. I now have Louise O’Neill’s - Asking for It added to my wishlist for which I’m excited to read and review!

[beyondthebookish]

New video on my channel - link in my bio! . . 《 #books #reading #bookstagram #booktube #feminism #femalewriters #hollybourne #onlyeveryours #louiseoneill #ya #yabooks 》

[pageturner20]

Book mail!!! Days like these are the best kinds of days :-) say hello to the new additions! Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi, Spelled by Betsy Schow, Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas and Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill :-D #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #youngadultbooks #bookmail #spelled #betsyschow #onlyeveryours #louiseoneill #furthermore #taherehmafi #dangerousgirls #abigailhaas #sourcebooksfire #simonandschuster #dutton #quercus

[klarolinehoney]

isabel x freida

Thank you - or maybe not - Louise O'Neill for "Only ever yours"

[aimeeabsinthe]

Really excited to read these. Going to read them when I'm on my Christmas break. I'm also hoping to take part in #readwomen challenge for the December month. #booklr #bookstagram #igreads #igbooks #instabook #reading #askingforit #onlyeveryours #louiseoneill #sotpbookchallenge15 #novemberbookchallenge #novemberbookchallenge2015 #bibliophile