Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Romance
Format: Paperback
Length: 481 pages
Series: Me Before You #1
Publisher: Michael Joseph (UK)
Publication Date: 5th January 2012
My Rating: ★★★★ (4 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
Lou Clarke knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.
Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them know they’re going to change the other for all time.
My Review:
I’m not usually a fan of Romance/Chick Lit books. My decision to read this was based on the fact the movie is coming out and it attracted my attention. I don’t regret picking this book up, and I’m glad I gave it a chance; I loved this story. This is not a story about romance, it’s a story about life choices.
This is a story about a man who is struggling to live with being a quadriplegic and a girl who is content with her, for a lack of a better word, boring life. Lou is looking for a job and so ends up as Will’s carer, a man who longs to end his life. Lou sets out to give him a reason to live.
Lou is a charming awkward individual. She tries all kinds of activities to cheer him up, some are a success and some aren’t. She’s enthusiastic about it and I found it endearing. Will encourages her to take risks and to put herself first. Will used to be a successful active man, who feels trapped after his accident. He is dead inside and doesn’t see a future for himself.
I loved their relationship, I loved that at first they didn’t like each other but over the six months they spent together, they grew together.
“It has been,” I told him, “the best six months of my entire life.”
There was a long silence.
“Funnily enough, Clark, mine too.”
Try as I may I couldn’t connect to Treena’s character. I thought she was a spoilt child. Some of you may disagree with me, and she did occasionally help out Lou but overall she was used to getting what she wanted and that made her unlikeable to me.
I don’t think this story shines a negative light on being disabled. Lou’s character goes on forums to talk to other quadriplegics and their friends, family and carers, who are not wanting to end their lives. Moyes tries to show that this is one man’s story, one man’s feelings. She isn’t in any way saying that being a quadriplegic means you shouldn’t live.
This story handles a sensitive moral discussion, and I thought that she handled it with respect and fairness. We all have our opinions on euthanasia and this book challenges you to think, think about why the person is choosing to end their life.
Maybe you’re not a fan of romance, chick-lit or adult books but I don’t think that that will affect your enjoyment of this book. It will suck you in whether you want it to or not.
