Sometimes I love a nice out-there fantasy where anything is possible, and other times I like a nice pragmatic contemporary, where we face life’s gritty rough realities that are so hard to break through. That is definitely what this book is about.
He Must Like You is about a girl named Libby who’s applying to colleges and not sure what to major in. She definitely has a bit of weight on her shoulders from her parents; not only would it be their money they saved up for her college fund, but she has an older brother named Jack who ran away from their home and moved to Greece a couple years ago. So all expectations are on Libby. And one day their parents give her some very frightening news. If I heard this from my own parents, I’d have vomited, no questions asked. Her father is the one to deliver this news; he and her mother picked themselves up by the bootstraps to survive way back when, and they learned so much about how the world really works. So they’ve decided it’s Libby’s turn. Instead of them paying for her college, she has to go find employment to pay for it herself, as well as rent, and they will be renting out her bedroom and turning it into an Air BnB.
Libby is somehow able to get a serving job. But things go south when there’s a specific customer who is very used to getting what he wants, and when what he wants ends up a big problem…Libby’s job and potential future in her town are in jeopardy.
He Must Like You is not always an easy book to read. But that’s primarily because it’s so uncomfortably real. There are so many of us, even as teenagers, who have to work like dogs just to survive without the ability to save up or even not go hungry. Sometimes that work involves sucking up to bad people. And sometimes those bad people are in positions of power where calling out their disgusting behaviour could result in unemployment for not just you but your family, and your life could be uprooted. So many of us feel, in one way or another, trapped.
What it’s also honest about is sometimes it’s not the kids of the house who are screwed up, but the parents. Libby’s mom is a good parent, but her father who first floats and then enforces the idea of kicking her out? Boy, is he broken. So much so that, ironically, it’s because of his reputation that Libby struggles to find employment.
He Must Like You is a nice surprise, a book about a girl who goes through problems a lot of us face – finding employment, managing expenses, troubled family, troubled boys – except having to face them all at once. I also have, below my grade, a little thing. I wanted to include it in the review but found it too long. Something the book brings up. *
My grade: 4 stars out of 5
* There is a conversation that takes place about rape, between Libby and a co-worker, involving an incident where they were both a little intoxicated, they got close, fooled around for a bit, and he was up for…making out, and Libby went along with it and enjoyed it, but she didn’t exactly consent. It bothers Libby for a long time and then when she meets up with him weeks later, they talk and she is critical of what happened, saying it was rape. Her co-worker says he never meant to hurt her and at the time she seemed like she really wanted it and not doing it would be something she wouldn’t like and he’s not a rapist. In the end he does apologize with complete honesty. And I wanted to mention this scene not because I’m taking any sides, but it definitely can create conversations and people will have different opinions over it. Have you ever been or felt violated like Libby or know someone who has? What did it do to your or their mental health? Does the guy (name was Kyle) deserve the title of rapist, in an age where people do so much worse, with much worse intentions? How can we make sure we have a world where this predicament between two people is avoidable?
William J. McGinn 
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