You by Charles Benoit

You by Charles Benoit
"This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

You're just a typical fifteen-year-old sophomore, an average guy named Kyle Chase. This can't be happening to you. But then, how do you explain all the blood? How do you explain how you got here in the first place?

There had to have been signs, had to have been some clues it was coming. Did you miss them, or ignore them? Maybe if you can figure out where it all went wrong, you can still make it right. Or is it already too late? Think fast, Kyle. Time's running out. How did this happen?

You is the riveting story of fifteen-year-old Kyle and the small choices he does and doesn't make that lead to his own destruction."- summary from Amazon

I don't know really what to say about You. It's a book that leaves you with such impact, so many conflicting emotions, so many questions that it's hard to know where to begin or how to convey your feelings.

I enjoyed the second person aspect and it wasn't as jarring as 3rd person was when I'd been reading so much 1st person. It just felt right and flowed really well. It's a book that's hard to put down and begs to be devoured in one sitting.

Zach was an interesting character and one I wanted to punch repeatedly. It was odd because in the beginning, I was a bit taken by him. I laughed at the majority of what he said. But as the book progressed, I grew more irritated by him until the climax where that whole punching repeatedly thought came in. Kyle was an intriguing protagonist and one I'm sure many teens can relate to. I couldn't really relate to him though because while I am a slacker, he takes it to new depths and I'm such a people pleaser that I could never do what he does. Also, I had better teachers, it seems, lol.

My thoughts on the ending are two-fold, though I feel one side more than the other. The way it ends has such impact and is emotional and I can totally see why it ends the way it does (flashback to my thoughts on the WGx2 ending, anyone?), BUT I'm a man who likes his bows. The book ends way too vaguely for me to be really satisfied and I'm mainly left with a bunch of questions because I'm not entirely sure what happened.

For me, while this is a very good and realistic (especially being male protagonist-driven) book, I don't think it really had as profound an effect on me as it did the others who read this book (I mean, it has 15 blurbs in the ARC alone saying how amazing and ground-breaking this book is). In my opinion, this is more of a library book for now (it's a fairly short hardcover) and a paperback read once that's released.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.