The third and final book in the companion series of "Anna and the French Kiss" by Stephanie Perkins, "Isla and the Happily Ever After" focuses on the hopeless romantic Isla Martin and her all-consuming crush, the cartoonist schoolmate Josh.
Isla is high on drugs due to her recent tooth removal surgery when she bumps into Josh in her favourite cafe, Kismet, in Manhattan. She flirts with him and he drops her home. She narrates to her best friend, Kurt, about her night with Josh and tries to meet him again at Kismet the following night but he doesn’t come.
Attending the School of America in Paris, or SOAP, Isla and Josh are seniors- they form a friendship which flows quite naturally. And this friendship blossoms into an all-encompassing romance where Josh’s behaviour of slacking off school rubs off on Isla. The climax of the story begins when Isla and Josh decide to hasten from school to visit Barcelona for the weekend before his birthday- they both get caught and Josh is expelled from school and she’s given detention. Long-distance proves to be a hard task but they manage. However, when Isla comes home for Thanksgiving, she realises that she and Josh aren’t compatible since she has nothing planned for the future and Josh has his entire life planned. The catalyst of this break-up is the autobiographical graphic novel that Josh creates which depicts his first sexual experience in a detailed, picturesque manner. The falling action of the novel showcases how Isla is trying to get back with Josh, after realising that she still loves him and that she’s been a fool. And the novel concludes with them getting back together.
Stephanie Perkins highlights the part of a relationship which is glossed over- the “happily ever after”. She introduces the relationship at the onset of the novel and goes to show the parts that follow the initial “honeymoon” phase- the hardships and the heartbreaks.
Although the book is a fresh take on the concealed part of a relationship, it is laden with cliches and is definitely problematic. The characters are flat- especially the protagonist. Her character arc is more like a flatline.
Even though she’s shown to be breaking out of her shell, credits to her relationship with Josh, she goes right back into her comfort zone when he leaves. She self-absorbed and although understands that Kurt is autistic and that his actions are not entirely his fault, she still gets furious with him and hurts him. She is pretentious, portrays victim mentality even though it’s clear that she’s at fault. She stalks Josh online and knows it is wrong but does it anyway. Every aspect of her character revolves around Josh- she is not shown as an independent person. She’s highly flawed and does nothing to improve herself. She is an antithesis of a strong feminist protagonist.
Josh’s character is stereotypically that of a carefree guy but he is at least somewhat of a well-rounded character- he’s ambitious. He knows his flaws and works at bettering himself.
The romance between Josh and Isla is bland and boring. It seems forced. Whereas their friendship was portrayed in a better man.
Although the book contains diverse characters in terms of people of colour and sexuality, it feels unauthentic. Rashmi, Josh’s ex-girlfriend is only viewed as an antagonist by Isla simply because she was his ex-girlfriend. And Genevieve, Isla’s older sister, is a bisexual woman who is only mentioned when Isla states that Gen is perfect in the eyes of her parents but they are disappointed by the fact that she’s bisexual. People of colour and different sexual orientations are used by the author at her convenience.
If I am being honest, the writing was dull- the story was not at all engrossing. I, as a reader, felt that this book is just a tie-up of all YA romance novel tropes. One cliche after another, I would not recommend this novel to anyone.
I understand that I am not the target demographic, i.e teenage girls, but this book shouldn’t be recommended to them- books have the power to shape minds and this book would cause more damage than good.
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