This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Amanda Keats
Pitched on the front cover as a cross between The Handmaid’s Tale and Mean Girls, Only Ever Yours is so much more than a story; it’s a revolution. In Louise O’Neill’s powerful world, females are manufactured to satisfy the needs of the males, to either provide them with children or satisfy their sexual desires. And if they don’t fall into one of those two categories, there’s always option three. But the girls don’t usually choose option three.
This is very clearly not present day. The world O’Neill has written here is futuristic and clinical and desperate. Yet, this story is also alarmingly current. The girls are all ranked according to their beauty. They are in constant competition with each other, desperate to be top of the class. They are always thinking about their food intake, their weight, their clothes, their make-up, their skin. They are taught how they should behave in order to the perfect choice when the males finally show up to make their decisions: they must be respectful and demure, alluring but not forward, dutiful, proper. In short, they must be perfect.
Amidst all this, there is one girl who doesn’t think she’s particularly pretty and can’t get rid of the bags under her eyes or the unsettling feeling that she doesn’t belong. Craving the approval of others, she is lonely and wants nothing more than for someone to love her. But she is here to serve and must learn to accept that if she has any hope of making the wife category.
To reveal much more of the actual story would take away the constant anxiety and nervousness that comes from not having any idea what is going to happen next. This is bold, unapologetic story-telling that gets under the skin and forces you to think and to question. There are no easy answers here but there is certainly plenty to discuss.9/10
It was announced recently that film rights have been bought for the adaptation so stay tuned.
Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill is out now.