How short-lived can fame truly be when it comes to the publishing industry? Colleen Hoover is a well-known author who has grown in popularity since October 2021, with some of her popular releases like It Ends With Us, Reminders of Him, and Verity. Initially, these stories appear to be simple, easy-to-read fiction, but as readers delve deeper into the intricate details and the underlying themes, they begin to question the stories’ true meaning. Not only are people finding out about the books themselves, but more information on Hoover’s personality.
Hoover’s backlash started when information about her son was being released into the media. Her eldest son, Levi Hoover, was accused of sexually assaulting a young 17-year-old. Upon hearing this news, Hoover remained silent and did not attempt to apologize to the girl for her son’s actions. Instead, when the young girl reached out to her, Hoover ignored the messages and blocked her, siding with her son despite providing proof of his actions. This led to a backlash against Hoover, as many people expressed disappointment in her actions, given that she often writes about mature topics in her books.
With this news reaching the public and people’s opinions of her writing fluctuating, it has caused many to retaliate and not read her books. However, one must wonder, what is it about her writing that has elicited this reaction? The story follows the protagonist, Lily Bloom, who has seen the effects of domestic violence through her parents’ relationship. She eventually meets Atlas, a young homeless boy who was living next door to her home, and they started to build a bond, since he also has seen the effects of domestic violence with his mother and her boyfriend. As their bond grows, they soon start to fall in love with each other.
But as time passes, Atlas enlists in the military while Lily moves to Boston to open her dream business, a flower shop, which ironically matches her name. During this time, she meets Ryle, a neurosurgeon, with whom she starts to spend time, and they grow to like each other. As their relationship starts to grow more serious, Ryle’s violent tendencies begin to show. Lily begins to face abuse from Ryle and starts to see herself as her mother, describing the violence as “accidents.”
The significance is that a person needs strength and courage to be able to not only endure domestic abuse but also be able to end the relationship instead of making excuses. Since this is the main point of the story, many readers were concerned about how it would be portrayed in the movie adaptation.
However, the movie turned out to be far from an accurate portrayal. During the premieres, especially, both Hoover and her lead actress Lively failed to portray the main idea of the movie and bring awareness to domestic violence. Instead, they presented it as a rom-com that is lighthearted and fun to watch with girls. They even had a “Girl’s Night Out” movie day at AMC, which also contributed to the inaccurate portrayal.
Many fans of the books experienced shock, prompting them to turn to social media platforms to express their thoughts on the developments of the book and the release of the adaptation. This caused for the fire that had already been created from all the backlash that Hoover had been receiving to continue to grow as more started voicing their opinions on the issue. Even many domestic violence survivors spoke out because they felt the movie did not have the same impact as the book, failing to connect with the character due to the story. Others didn’t even know the movie was about domestic abuse, and many didn’t have a great experience throughout the movie because of their own experiences with the situation.
People hold the authors of their books in high regard, and if they fail to accurately portray their own stories, how can others understand them? Writers should be able to stick to what they have written and make sure that the line between accuracy and misrepresentation doesn’t blur, especially with books that cover such mature and heavy topics.
