YMMV / November 9

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Does Ben truly love Fallon, or is he more obsessed with her because he believes winning her love will absolve of him of his past misdeeds, especially when it comes to Fallon herself? By extension, is he insistent on Fallon embracing her scars and not being ashamed of them because he thinks it will improve her self-worth, or is it to relieve his own guilt for causing them?
  • In the end, does Fallon forgive Ben and choose to be with him because she's in love with him and willing to overlook his past misdeeds so as not to ruin a good thing? Or is it because her self-worth and confidence is so frazzled by this point that she believes Ben is the only person who could ever love and accept her?
  • Fallon and the other characters generally take Ben's manuscript as gospel, but considering Ben's actions demonstrate he isn't the most honest and trustworthy person, it makes you question how much of it is actually true and accurate, particularly when it comes to his feelings and motives.
• Audience-Alienating Ending: Many of the book's negative and mixed reviews cite the handling of the plot twist and ending as the biggest issue, with these readers finding it rushed, contrived and saccharine considering what came before, not to mention having some unpleasant implications. The novel is a fairly ordinary romantic drama until the moment Fallon learns Ben set the fire that nearly killed her and has been keeping this from her for years. Fallon doesn't see or speak to Ben for a whole year, but is persuaded to forgive him and start a relationship with him when he sends her his manuscript explaining why he did it (which doesn't come remotely close to excusing him) and being guilt-tripped into it by her mother. Fallon even apologises to Ben for rejecting him and it's treated as a romantic happily ever after. Lots of readers were baffled or outright disgusted that this is all it took for Fallon to forgive Ben's numerous transgressions against her and that the story ultimately rewards Ben's terrible actions.
• Continuity Lock-Out: For Colleen Hoover's previous novel, Ugly Love. Ben's eldest brother Ian was a supporting character in that novel, though it's not really necessary to have this information because Ian's not too important to the plot of November 9. However, there's a scene where the characters meet up with Ian's friends Tate and Miles, who are the main protagonists of Ugly Love; unless you've read that book you'll probably be a bit confused as why these two random people get so much focus in this scene. The scene also doubles as a Late-Arrival Spoiler for Ugly Love, as it reveals Tate and Miles became a couple and had a baby.
• Designated Hero: Ben, especially after The Reveal. After his mother killed herself (which is admittedly horribly traumatic), he tracked down her lover Donovan as he irrationally assumed (wrongly) he was somehow responsible for her death. In a rage he set fire to Donovan's car as it was parked next to his house, causing the fire that nearly killed Donovan and his daughter Fallon, with the latter being scarred for life (mentally and physically). Ben not only never actively takes any responsibility for this, he stalks Donovan and manipulates his way into Fallon's life, preaching to her about how should she feel regarding her scars, writing a book he intends to publish about her near-death experience and developing a romantic relationship with her without ever letting on what he did. When Fallon finds out and understandably wants nothing to do with him, he ends up stalking her and violating a restraining order to try and win her back. This isn't even going into his tendency to dictate how Fallon should dress and act, and him repeatedly pushing intimacy on her. We're supposed to view Ben as a tragic figure who made a mistake in a moment of grief and truly loves Fallon, but to many he instead comes off as an obsessive, manipulative and self-absorbed creep who never truly understands the gravity of his actions, nor faces repercussions for them.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Some readers have pointed out that Ben displays sociopathic traits. While he's shown to be capable of empathy to some extent, he tends to put his own feelings and desires above other people's, or focus on how others' suffering affects him first and foremost. He repeatedly uses charm, emotional manipulation and deception to get what he wants from others or to avoid taking responsibility for his actions. He displays recklessly impulsive behaviour, especially when he's distressed and angry, with little thought given to the consequences. He also engages in anti-social and occasionally criminally dangerous behaviour (for which he doesn't show much remorse or willingness to make amends save for feeling sorry for himself), ranging from pressuring Fallon to undress herself and grabbing her car keys out of her hand to stop her leaving, up to violating a restraining order and committing arson.
• Informed Wrongness: Near the end, Fallon is treated as being bitter, self-pitying and overly-hasty by refusing to let Ben explain himself, getting a restraining order against him, largely cutting herself off from society for a year and refusing to read the rest of Ben's manuscript. Her mother berates her for not showing Ben the same courtesy he showed her by accepting her as she is and insists that he has been just as wounded by the past, in particular the fire. However, Fallon comes off as completely in the right for her reaction, given Ben burned her house down, grievously wounded her and lied about it (by omission) for years. The fact she was able to get a restraining order against Ben indicates the court found grounds that he was a serious threat to Fallon (that she sought one at all is testament to how frightened she is of him), while her mostly staying indoors and refusing to interact with people also appears to be the result of Ben re-traumatising her after she had already gone through a harrowing ordeal. Fallon owes Ben nothing and has every right to ignore him; she'd also be well within her rights to report him for violating the restraining order.
• It Was His Sled: Ben being the person who started the fire that scarred Fallon is one of the main plot twists of the story and is pretty well-known amongst readers, with even people who haven't read the book often being aware of it; it's unsurprising given that it completely changes many readers' perspective of the story and is quite a divisive twist.
• No Yay: Lots of readers expressed distaste over the story briefly pairing Ben with Jordyn; it's unclear how far their relationship went, but them sleeping in the same bed implies they were having sex. In-universe, even Fallon finds it off-putting (though more from hurt and jealousy because she's got feelings for Ben). Readers find it iffy because of the quasi-incestuous undertones (Jordyn is Ben's sister-in-law and saw him as a younger brother, with Ben also referring to her as "my sister", yet they go on to have a romantic relationship) and the troubling circumstances (Jordyn was widowed while pregnant, with Ben - who at 19/20 is barely an adult - stepping in to help raise her baby and support her in Kyle's absence). You can't help but wonder if a grieving and traumatised Jordyn latched onto her dead husband's brother as a Replacement Goldfish and/or if Ben was arguably taking advantage of Jordyn (intentionally or not) to ease his own grief, especially seeing as Fallon - the girl he actually wants - wasn't available. It's also never fully explored how Jordyn copes when Ben breaks things off with her just over a year after she was widowed. Overall, their relationship raises many uncomfortable questions.
• Older Than They Think: While in the book itself, November 9 is compared to One Day and Sleepless in Seattle because of the plot similarities (the Official Couple barely know each other and arrange to meet at a specific location on a specific date, and the story focusing on one particular day in their relationship over several years), readers have pointed out it's also got similarities to the novel Endless Love, in that it's about a passionate romance between two young people that turns to obsession when the boy is barred from seeing the girl, including the boy burning the girl's house down and keeping a horrible secret from her so they can be together. The main difference is that Endless Love presents it as creepy and unhealthy (not that the movie adaptations got that memo), while November 9 plays it as a straight romance.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A few reviews have opined that if you tweaked some plot points and changed how the final act plays out (namely by not having Ben be Easily Forgiven and presenting his actions as being just as horrifying in-universe as they are to some readers), November 9 could make for a decent slow-burn Psychological Thriller. The novel already seems to be heading that way, with there being hints at something ominous in both Ben's past and his behaviour towards Fallon that she brushes off or is unaware of until The Reveal; the scene where Fallon is sitting home alone at midnight on November 8th when she hears the door and discovers only a package left by Ben is genuinely spine-chilling, considering both Fallon and the reader now know Ben nearly killed Fallon and can be dangerous and unpredictable. Ben's letter to Fallon telling her he intends to wait for her at their restaurant every November 9 for years if necessary can easily be seen as creepily obsessive given she's already emphatically rejected him, making you wonder what he'll do next. However, the book instead ignores the disturbing implications and thriller potential and goes for a typical romantic happy ending.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Fallon is often treated as being stubborn and insecure due to her repeated rejections of Ben, but readers found her actions to be pretty understandable and sympathetic in some circumstances, especially in the final act. After finding out Ben has hooked up with his recently-widowed sister-in-law and is raising her child, most readers found it reasonable that Fallon would want to remove herself from the situation, only for Ben to refuse to accept Fallon's wishes, stalking her and trying to force himself on her to 'persuade' her to accept her feelings for him (nevermind that just because you have feelings for someone, it doesn't mean it's a good idea to be in a relationship with them). Many readers also thought she was completely justified for trying to cut Ben out of her life permanently (including getting a restraining order) after she learned he lied by omission that he started the fire that nearly killed her and ruined her life.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Ben has several instances of this.
    • Ben is intended to be someone who doesn't judge Fallon for her scars and encourages her to not base her self-worth around them or others' opinions on them. However, the way he does this makes him come across as condescending and presumptuous, completely dismissing Fallon's feelings towards the situation and essentially dictating how she should react to it; it particularly sticks out considering they barely know each other. It doesn't help that Ben's approach also tends to revolve around heavily sexualizing Fallon and pushing her to do things like wearing revealing clothes and exposing her breasts to him despite her saying no and expressing discomfort, giving the impression it's more about Ben wanting self-gratification than making Fallon feel better about herself. It gets ten times worse when it's revealed Ben himself is responsible for Fallon's scars and trauma.
    • Ben is Easily Forgiven for starting the fire that scarred Fallon and irrevocably changed her life because he was a grieving teenager who didn't intend to hurt anyone. However, this overlooks that he chose to commit arson for extremely silly reasons, with grief for his mother just not covering it; there was no logical reason for him to assume Donovan had anything to do with his mother's suicide and it's indeed confirmed he wasn't a factor in her decision. Rather than confront Donovan, Ben's response was to commit a violent and dangerous criminal act with no proof of wrongdoing. While Ben didn't mean to harm anyone, it doesn't change the fact that his actions did cause serious long-term harm to Fallon, which he never truly accepts responsibility for or does anything to make amends over. His subsequent deception of Fallon only makes it worse, with his actions coming off more as an attempt to make himself feel better.
  • Fallon is much more sympathetic than Ben, especially given the plot twist, but there are moments where she comes off as irrational, self-centered and short-sighted to the point of frustration. During the third year, her initial response to Ben telling her he can't meet her because his brother died is focused more around her disappointment that Ben will miss their date than feeling empathy for Ben's grief. She also thinks little of ditching Ben in the middle of the night, while he's still in mourning and without even a goodbye, because she decided on her own Ben should stay in California with his family (the last time they spoke, they'd planned for Ben to move to New York with her). She fails to explain her reasoning and comes off as either dense or callous towards Ben's feelings, especially when she claims it hurts her more. She later acts like Ben betrayed her by moving in with Jordyn, even though it's been a year with no contact, she failed to make her feelings clear despite having plenty of time and opportunity to do so and they were never in a committed relationship; at best they hung out a few times and slept together once, plus their arrangement permitted and even encouraged them to date other people. On an unrelated note, some readers found Fallon's comment about pad Thai and sushi being the "almost the same thing" because "they're both Asian" to be ignorant, not to mention just plain wrong; her comment about how Ben couldn't be gay because "No gay man I know would have left the house looking like you do right now" also rubbed readers the wrong way due to stereotyping gay men.
  • Fallon's mother comes off as insensitive and unempathetic towards Fallon near the ending, when she reads Ben's manuscript and urges her daughter to read it too and forgive Ben. Fallon's mother says that Fallon is disregarding how much pain Ben is in, completely overlooking and being apparently unbothered by the fact Ben traumatised and nearly killed her daughter with his selfish and reckless behaviour, kept this from her for all the time they knew each other while engaging in an intimate relationship with her and ended up re-traumatising her when she found out. She also doesn't seem to care that Ben violated a restraining order to get back in contact with Fallon. Nor does it help that she's basing a lot of her opinion upon Ben's manuscript for a fiction book; she has no way of knowing how factual it is and has never even met Ben in person. Overall, Fallon's mother cares more about coddling Ben than protecting her own daughter.
  • The mother of Ben, Ian and Kyle comes off as quite selfish and bone-headed based on what little information we're given about her. While it's understandable she would want to end her life on her own terms after being diagnosed with likely-terminal ovarian cancer, she loses a lot of sympathy because she utterly failed to explain this to her sons; they didn't even know she had cancer until they read her suicide note, so they were completely blindsided by her death and not given a chance to say goodbye to her despite this absolutely being an option, compounding their grief. To make matters worse, she chose to end her life in a way that resulted in her sixteen-year-old son finding her corpse (as she'd shot herself, it was especially gruesome), which severely traumatised him.

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