Disclaimers: If you plan on reading the book ‘Verity’ by Colleen Hoover in the future or are in the middle of hungrily devouring its pages but have not finished yet, please flee because this post is full of spoilers. Moreover, this is not a book review post, so flee again if you have come to read a review. But if you’ve finished the book, read on to know my afterthoughts or spill yours (even better). P.S. I’ve given a link to the bonus chapter at the end of this post, check that out if you haven’t read it yet.
It is indeed relieving to know (or safely assume) Verity didn’t kill her child or treat them the way she described in the manuscript. What kind of mother would that make anyone? Mothers are not like that. Mothers are anything but that.
Jeremy was a great father but probably not a great husband after all. Case in point: If Jeremy had already read the manuscript and believed it all along that his wife killed Harper, why hadn’t he attempted to kill her again much earlier? It isn’t difficult to kill someone bedridden (fakely so) like Verity. But he didn’t. Probably because he was somehow disturbed by her condition and was trying to forgive her. But the moment he starts developing feelings towards Lowen, this changes. When Lowen reveals the manuscript to him, he becomes an opportunist. He knows he has to get rid of Verity not only because he was angry at her potentially having killed their daughter but also because he hopes to start a new life with Lowen. What does that make him? Selfish. Opportunist. The reason he probably let Verity live till then could also have been money, the money he could make through her books. At this point, I don’t want to question his integrity because I don’t know which part was lied about by Verity – the manuscript or the letter. However, part of me hates Jeremy for not living up to the honest, perfect man he was described as throughout the book.
Lowen got what she wanted, but at what cost? She’ll spend her entire life in trauma, and for someone of her mental state, this whole experience can be haunting, if not suicidal. I would have appreciated it if she had not destroyed the letter, instead handed it to Jeremy, but what good would that have done for any of them? Maybe what she did was right. Right or not, she’s the one who will be affected the most by this memory, and the bits of paper she shoved into her mouth will continue to make her writhe in agony for the rest of her life.
Edit: I’ve read the Bonus Chapter of Verity by Colleen Hoover, and although much of what I think above didn’t change, the ending just got even more depressing, at least for Lowen.
