Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

“All I can say is that you make me… you make me into someone I couldn’t even imagine. You make me happy, even when you’re awful. I would rather be with you – even the you that you seem to think is diminished – than with anyone else in the world.”

― Jojo Moyes, Me Before You

 Jojo Moyes is the author of the romance book Me Before You. The book was initially released in the UK on January 5, 2012. On September 24, 2015, After You, a sequel, was made available by Pamela Dorman Books. Still Me, the second installment, was released in January 2018.

Me Before You is a heartbreakingly romantic book that asks: What do you do when making the person you love happy also means shattering your own heart? It is a love story for people today and is ideal for readers of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

My reaction to this novel...

This novel’s plot is the most touching I’ve read at any time in my life. This book provides insight into what life may be like for individuals who have actual handicaps as well as those who have everyone around them. This is not the type of book I usually read. Indeed, I typically avoid “sickness”-related novels, and I also sought to avoid tales of physical incapacities, because I have a direct family with me who can’t walk, and as a result, I am quite sensitive about the subject. However, I lament holding this book unread on my iBook for up to a year.

Given that there isn’t any actual physical touch in the plot, I might claim that this novel is entirely different in sentiment from anything else I’ve read. Everything revolves around Lou and Will’s ardent friendship. The main characters, rather than the odd ones you typically see in love novels, seem to be growing closer to one another. This is the sensation you have when you no longer dare to hope for a relationship like this. A few times while reading this book, I really burst into tears, and I had to put the book down for a moment so that I could let all of my emotions out, especially in the final chapter.

Me Before You is a superbly emotional tale which will make us read till the early hours of the morning with a stack of folded tissues on our bedside. Effectively, people will perceive people with disabilities in a clearer light than they previously did. I can’t recommend this book enough. It is really astounding and certainly a must-read for anyone. Please give it a chance; I didn’t feel that this sort of book was for me, but it will always be on my list of favorite novels. To all book readers out there, I wholeheartedly suggest this book. 

My Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨(4.5/5)

“I hadn’t realized that music could unlock things in you, could transport you to somewhere even the composer hadn’t predicted. It left an imprint in the air around you, as if you carried its remnants with you when you went.”

True magic exists in music. Just hearing the words and the music you are listening to might trigger memories, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. It can take us back in time. It may also be a vital component of worshiping God and convincing the person we love. Music has the power to transport us back to a moment when we experienced both joy and sorrow firsthand. 

“It's just that the thing you never understand about being a mother, until you are one, is that it is not the grown man - the galumphing, unshaven, stinking, opinionated off-spring - you see before you, with his parking tickets and unpolished shoes and complicated love life. You see all the people he has ever been all rolled up into one. I look at him and see the baby I held in my arms, dewing besotted, unable to believe that I'd created another human being. I see the toddler, reaching for my hand, the schoolboy weeping tears of fury after being bullied  by some other child. I saw the vulnerabilities, the love, the history.”

This phrase definitely speaks to me even though I am not a mommy yet but I do hope to be one day. A mother finds it extremely difficult to watch their kid suffer. The mother still has memories of the young boy even though he has grown into the man his parents anticipate him to be. Even though the mother is aware that her grownup child would eventually be able to overcome his difficulties, she finds it impossible to imagine not doing anything she can to support him and prevent him from feeling alone. 

Where to buy this book...