Review: "Maybe Someday" by Colleen Hoover
Let’s face it, at some time or another, we have all been guilty of a “maybe someday” moment. Maybe someday I’ll buy that car; maybe someday I’ll travel the world; maybe someday I’ll change careers. Maybe someday I’ll follow my heart.
At the heart of Colleen Hoover’s novel are the rhythms, beats, and patterns of music. Sydney and Ridge are two people to whom music comes naturally—even if Ridge is deaf—and it is through music that the two form a bond. In a relationship where sound could be a very obvious barrier it becomes a bridge.
After Sydney discovers that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with her best friend and roommate, she finds herself moving into Ridge’s apartment. And so begins the complicated dance to the beat of the heart.
Hoover’s clever use of music is reflected in her writing style, as the novel is made up of patterns and repetitions. The two protagonists seem doomed to repeat the same mistakes and sacrifices of their pasts, while we are frequently reminded of the “beat, beat, pause” of their heart beats, a beat to which Sydney and Ridge’s relationship follows as they try to fight against the rhythm of love. In the structure of music, Sydney and Ridge find control, but as the novel progresses they learn that sometimes music is just as unpredictable and uncontrollable as life; it is something that reveals your inner desires and subconscious thoughts; it is something that flows free of boundaries.
Sydney and Ridge face many obstacles, yet hearing is not one of them. In fact, Hoover uses sound (or lack thereof) as a symbol of the complicated layers of a relationship. Ridge feels sound through vibrations, and Hoover uses this to bring sound to life in Maybe Someday as something that is sensual and intimate, something that connects her characters far more deeply than music on its own ever could. It would appear that, ironically, the most powerful way to hear something is by not hearing it at all: you have to feel it.
I am not usually a fan of a changing point of view, but in this case Hoover uses it perfectly to show that even if the lives and thoughts of two people are running parallel with each other, it isn’t until those paths deviate that those lives can intersect.
The use of present tense immerses the reader in the immediacy of the moment, in the same way that music does. It sweeps you along for the ride with no opportunity to know what is coming next.
One issue I had with this novel is that Hoover had a habit of overstating situations—if something was explained in action it was often emphasised unnecessarily in narration. I also found the ending predictable, but then again it is a romance so it does what it says on the tin. In saying that though, Hoover throws in twists along the way that I didn’t see coming—the guitar player from the opposite balcony is deaf: who would have predicted that?
Maybe Someday is a novel about finding the courage to be who you want to be; to do what you want to do; and to take the opportunities that are presented to you. It is a realisation that the only real obstacles we face are the ones we create ourselves.
Maybe someday is an excuse to avoid doing the things that scare us. Maybe someday is avoiding the hard decisions. Maybe someday is an excuse to maintain some control. But if we let “maybe someday” control our lives, do we really have any more control than if we lost ourselves in the rhythm of life?
