Michael Without Apology - Catherine Ryan Hyde - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Catherine Ryan Hyde

GENRE: Contemporary Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: May 6, 2025

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about a young man who finally learns the value of self-acceptance. Excellent characters, storyline, writing, and life lessons. Drags a little in the final few chapters, but overall, a beautiful and meaningful read. Much recommended.

Plot Preview:

When Michael was seven, he had a near-fatal accident that left him with severe physical scars and eventually led to foster care. Now nineteen, Michael has learnt to keep his scars hidden.

On signing up for film class, he is taken aback on seeing that his professor Robert Dunning is also disfigured, but unlike Michael, he doesn’t hide his scars. Encouraged by Dunning, Michael plans to make a documentary about body image issues in scarred people. When he places an ad seeking potential interviewees, he learns that too many people in society are unhappy with their bodies. With their stories and also his own, Michael realises some important truths about scars, whether physical or mental.

The story comes to us in Michael’s third-person POV over two broad timelines: the present and the past.

Bookish Yays:

🎆 Michael – vulnerable and believable. Mostly written as per his age, though he is more mature thanks to his traumatic childhood experience.

🎆 Dunning, though in a relatively minor role, is my favourite character in this book. If all professors were like this, students would have a marvellous time learning.

🎆 The use of the two timelines – perfectly in sync and working slowly to create an overall picture of Michael’s life. Each timeline is labelled clearly with Michael’s age at that point in the narrative – very helpful.

🎆 The secondary characters. Don't want to go into spoilers about the people Michael meets for his documentary, but suffice it to say, their arcs encompass a wide range of human experiences and ages. All these characters are memorable.

🎆 The theme of body image issues – so beautifully handled. It resonated personally with me as I too struggle with body dysmorphia. And I am sure many others do, even if they don’t know the term for it. I also love that the book tackles both visible and invisible scars.

🎆 The various other themes, especially connected to past trauma, life-altering news, and grief. The author handles emotions really well, and except in the final quarter, the feelings don’t sound cheesy.

🎆 The abundant life lessons in the writing! So many wise words where I found myself either nodding vigorously in agreement or reflecting upon the brilliance of the thought.

🎆 Quite fast-paced and easy to read, despite the abundance of characters.

🎆 The significance of the title. Don’t want to reveal it entirely here (a part of the meaning might be guessable), but it suits the story excellently.

🎆 The discussion questions provided at the end of the book – intricate and brilliant! They went much beyond typical discussion questions found in such novels.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🔥 Though the book contains many sad events, the overall tone is a bit too positive, and most characters can be easily slotted in two clear categories: good & kind OR bad & selfish. There’s no grey area, no middle ground, no mixed personality. Then again, that’s a hallmark of this genre, so perhaps regular uplit readers would be more tolerant of this.

🔥 There's an age-gap relationship in the story. Though written mostly well, it also made me uncomfortable at times when I felt like Michael wasn’t given much choice in the decisions as he came across as too submissive. This might be more of a ME issue than a BOOK issue.

🔥 The ending took a long while coming. The final few chapters felt like extended epilogues. The finale was just as satisfying can be expected in this genre, but I do think the book would have worked better had it been stopped a few chapters before.

Bookish Nays:

💥 Insta relationships. Two times!

All in all, this is the kind of book you pick up when you are fed up with the idiots of humankind (and let's be honest, idiots are everywhere these days especially in public life) and want to restore some faith in the inherent goodness of people. Despite containing some upsetting incidents, it works excellently as a balm for the heart.

Definitely recommended to those looking for a contemporary book with thought-provoking wisdom and heartwarming emotions.

4.25 stars. (I would have happily given this 4.5 stars and rounded up had the ending been crisper.)

My thanks to Lake Union Publishing for providing the DRC of “Michael Without Apology” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.