No Thanks to the Colleen Hoover Coloring Book
Two truths and a lie specific to this account:
* Salka Valka is my favorite Halldór Laxness book. (IYKYK)
* Favorite author = Carol Shields.
* I have read a Colleen Hoover book.
The first one is a trick question lie because I am not Annie Proulx and have not read multiple Laxness books. (Is @thescienceofreading the only one who might find this amusing?) But — surprise! — I read It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover this summer, and if you know me (or have followed here for a bit), you can probably surmise that Hoover’s style is not really my cup of tea. HOWEVER, despite the fact that the characters’ names really, really grated on me (florist named “Lily Bloom,” anyone?!), I have to credit Hoover with writing about domestic violence. If you pop over to Goodreads (or scan #ItEndsWithUs) you’ll see that many readers appreciate Hoover’s willingness to tackle this topic via fiction — even if they didn’t agree with the ending.
The other day, Atria Books (Hoover’s publisher) shared that it was releasing an It Ends With Us coloring book. I sent the post to my daughter, who replied, “What could there possibly be to color” — which, good point. The post has since been taken down — and the coloring book plans will not proceed — because of outcry from fans. You can scroll down to see a screenshot of Atria’s mea culpa post plus some of the accompanying comments.
This whole episode is a great example of two things:
1) The inability of the “powers that be” to just let a book be…a book. I understand how tantalizing it is to explore other revenue streams, but a lot of times the outcome errs on the side of ridiculous.
2) The power of a reader fan base. I probably won’t ever read another Colleen Hoover book, but my respect for Hoover fans for calling out something so tasteless is 💯.
originally published on instagram