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A review by katiescho741
Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill
4.0
I read this book in a day because it was so intense! For a book with a Barbie doll on the cover, it's not fun or happy-go-lucky as you'd think.
Only Ever Yours is set in some future UK where girl babies can no longer be conceived naturally. So, the females (eves) are made in labs and designed to be perfect for the men. A girl in this world has three options (not that she's the one who gets to pick): become a companion to a man who choses her and bear him sons, become a concubine for the pleasure of whichever men wants them, or become a chastity, which is like a nun/teacher in the centre where the girls are brought up.
The females in the novel don't even warrant a capital letter at the start of their names.
The book takes place entirely in the centre where the girls are raised and it's a heightened version of school that any girl will recognise. All the subtle bullying, passive aggressive friendships, and social anxiety is exacerbated because the girls are competing with each other for beauty rankings. The whole place is covered with mirrors and the girls are asked to compare each other on a regular basis.
This book covers some dark topics like anxiety, eating disorders, body image issues and mental breakdowns and it's surprisingly bleak for a YA novel.
My copy has the tagline "A girl to own forever", but I think that's quite misleading because the book is about this horrific and harsh "girl world" in the eve centre and the men who will own the girls only show up later in the book. And so, it's not all about the relationship between men and women in this warped future, it's about the relationships women have with each other - always comparing bodies and looks, and always trying to decide whose better.
This is a creepy and haunting read that I would definitely recommend!
Only Ever Yours is set in some future UK where girl babies can no longer be conceived naturally. So, the females (eves) are made in labs and designed to be perfect for the men. A girl in this world has three options (not that she's the one who gets to pick): become a companion to a man who choses her and bear him sons, become a concubine for the pleasure of whichever men wants them, or become a chastity, which is like a nun/teacher in the centre where the girls are brought up.
The females in the novel don't even warrant a capital letter at the start of their names.
The book takes place entirely in the centre where the girls are raised and it's a heightened version of school that any girl will recognise. All the subtle bullying, passive aggressive friendships, and social anxiety is exacerbated because the girls are competing with each other for beauty rankings. The whole place is covered with mirrors and the girls are asked to compare each other on a regular basis.
This book covers some dark topics like anxiety, eating disorders, body image issues and mental breakdowns and it's surprisingly bleak for a YA novel.
My copy has the tagline "A girl to own forever", but I think that's quite misleading because the book is about this horrific and harsh "girl world" in the eve centre and the men who will own the girls only show up later in the book. And so, it's not all about the relationship between men and women in this warped future, it's about the relationships women have with each other - always comparing bodies and looks, and always trying to decide whose better.
This is a creepy and haunting read that I would definitely recommend!