Book Review: Me Before You

George Carlin said:

“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. Life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death! What’s that, a bonus?”

That being said, when you read “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes, you won’t agree less to the quote. Me Before You is the story of Louisa Clark and Will Traynor, two different persons with completely different personalities. While they know quite a lot of things about their lives, neither of them knows that they’re going to change the other for all time.

Lou Clark is forced to take the job of looking after a quadriplegic, Will Traynor, for six months when she loses her job at The Buttered Bun. As if being shoved up against Will’s tantrums and keeping up with his basic routines and being catapulted into a whole new life wasn’t already difficult enough for Lou, a bomb drops on her when she overhears Will’s mother and sister talking about Will’s wish for euthanasia and realizes that it was Will’s last months of life and she was just helping him pave a comfortable way to his death. When Lou is about to give up the job, her sister, Katrina strikes up the idea of changing Will’s mind by showing him how happy he can be even with his condition. Lou then sets up in a venture of accelerating Will’s willpower to live the life by showing him he can do whatever he wants to do. From checking the lists of quadriplegic basketball to horse racing to crashing his ex’s wedding, together with making sure that Will wasn’t uncomfortable in any way, Lou doesn’t leave any stone unturned to change his mind. With the love and romance kindling between the two and they being the happiest of their entire life, the end of six months’ keeps us readers intrigued on whether Will will still choose to go to Switzerland for euthanasia or live the rest of his life with Louisa.

It’s brilliant how Moyes has handled a delicate subject like Euthanasia so well and how the author has been able to merge two different strong characters in such a beautiful way. While reading the story, you cannot choose sides between Lou and Will and can’t decide who is right because you love both of them indelibly. And the happiest part about this book is that it is not an instant love romance, the love at first sight kind of old-fashioned feeling, unlike any other novels of romance genre. While the book has its own degree of love and romance, I think the book is about life and death, about living the life to the fullest and about meeting that one person who completely changes your life. With every page you turn, you’re wishing Will chooses to live in this side of the life.

This book’s made me laugh, smile sometimes and cry and cry some more. A complete afternoon and a handful of tissues is a must.

The best thing about good books is that you want to finish it but you never want it to end. Some books are meant to be read and kept in the shelf while some books are kept in the memories. “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes is definitely the latter.

P.S. Though the movie is good and the actors have done justice to the characters of Lou and Will, I wasn't really impressed with the movie. So much is missing!! Happens always!

Oh, Lou! How True!! 

Me too!!