In Review: The Book of You
For the second time this year, I found a book that exceeded my expectations and gave me a great reading experience. The Book of You by Claire Kendal was in my TBR for a year and was never a book I wanted to read. I don’t even remember why I bought it, but I did, so sooner or later, I had to read it. Little did I know how much I would enjoy it.
Author: Claire Kendal Pages: 361 Genre: Psychological Thriller, Crime Publication: 2014
Synopsis:
Clarissa is becoming more and more frightened of her colleague, Rafe. He won’t leave her alone, and he refuses to take no for an answer. He is always there.
Being selected for jury service is a relief. The courtroom is a safe haven, a place where Rafe can’t be. But as a violent tale of kidnap and abuse unfolds, Clarissa begins to see parallels between her own situation and that of the young woman on the witness stand.
Realizing that she bears the burden of proof, Clarissa unravels the twisted, macabre fairytale that Rafe has spun around them – and discovers that the ending he envisions is more terrifying than she could have imagined.
Content Warnings: Rape, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, mentions of drug abuse.
My review:
Expectations aside, The Book of You was a delightful surprise. I knew it was a story about obsession which usually grabs me quite easily. Although I wasn’t expecting it to be so compelling. Fifty pages in, I had the urge to start annotating, underlining passages and highlighting keywords. I enjoyed diving into the psychological aspect of the story and understanding the key moments that made Rafe think the way he thinks.
The story is divided into two different points of view: Clarissa, in first person, as she writes down in a journal everything and every encounter she has with Rafe, most of the time writing the book for him as if she is in a conversation with him instead of just explaining; and a narrator following Clarissa, in third person, relating her everyday life, the trial and other relationships she has in her life. And having Clarissa describe what is happening and how she feels adds so much detail about how an obsession affects someone, how it starts, and how it stops.
One point made time and time again is how such small details can be the base of obsession and harassment. Clarissa constantly refers to how every “proof” she has of Rafe’s obsession isn’t proof at all. Like when he sent her a ring, he saw her eye in a shop window. For an outsider, he’s just a man in love with a woman. But for her, it was another moment when he was watching her. When he gave her something she didn’t want to receive. When he was giving her attention she didn’t want from him. Another way for him to enter her life while she was trying to keep him out. Another way of fuelling his delusion she loves him and reliving again the night that started it all.
Rafe never makes any direct threats to Clarissa, at least none that get recorded. Not in letters and not on the phone. So every conversation they have that could work as proof he is harassing her or even threatening her only happens face to face. And, just like in the case Clarissa is a jury, the word of a victim isn’t enough, at least not when it’s one against the other. Also, most of what Rafe says can’t even be considered a threat. If you look at them as a couple then most of what he says can be completely normal. Although the lack of reciprocated feelings from Clarissa is what changes those words. The context.
As I’ve said before, stories about obsession are something I get easily sucked into. And one of the reasons is how it plays with the reader’s emotions. Not in a way that a thriller or a horror sets a scene high in suspense to provoke fear or uneasiness in the reader, but something that lingers for longer, throughout the novel and even after closing the book. One thing that can always be found in an obsession story is how there wasn’t anything the victim could have done to prevent it from happening. And that can easily be transported to real life. Anyone can be the target of an obsession. A simple polite smile can be interpreted differently from a sick mind, and there is no way to avoid that.
And this is why, for me, these types of stories are great psychological thrillers. They grab the reader and don’t let go, because there has to be an answer, there has to be a way out, a conclusion that will ease the mind. Although, if you have read or consumed in any other form fictional stories about obsession then you probably know how this story will end. That is one thing, I wished was done differently. The plot follows the basic structure. The first moment that sparked the obsession, the innocent first contacts, the escalation of the encounters, until it climaxes. And I was expecting something out of the box. Something that would grab the standard climax and twist it to make my jaw drop.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t an ending that enhanced the rest of the book. The journey was better than the destination. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable read, very entertaining and interesting to understand both sides of the obsession.
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