Since the news of Colleen Hoover’s book being turned into a movie hit the news, I have been stressed about the outcome. For the uninitiated, deals with abusive relationships and how different survivors react to the situation. However, the book was heavily popularized as a “romance novel” and has been criticised.
While the author of - Colleen Hoover - has been heavily criticised for a lot of her work, was treated with more sensitivity by fans and critics alike - as the book revolved around Colleen Hoover’s mother’s story with an abusive partner and how she evolved from it. I walked into with all the knowledge of its plot, and its triggers and with a determination to once again give this story the grace I can. However, in the end, the movie, much like the book, had a lot of issues that made me question if this movie needed to be made.
One of the biggest things that people across the world struggle with - is understanding abuse. Unless it is explicitly shown to us, most people fail to understand abuse, its reactions. actually gives us some examples of identifying abuse and giving grace to reactionary abuse - something the world needed a reminder of.
When the first instance of physical abuse is shown, it is sudden, casual and brushed over. However, an important thing to remember - after Ryle hits Lily, and tries to approach her again, Lilly pushes him away. This push leads to Ryle cutting his hand.
It is the simplest form of reactionary abuse and it is not on Lily. The .