I often hear people say they read books that made them feel so angry that they threw the book across the room but I never understood it until now. Fortunately, I listened to the audio version of this book so common sense stopped me from smashing my phone against the wall even when I was highly tempted to do so. This book was so heart wrenching that I cried three times in the course of reading it. It is indeed an emotional rollercoaster but I would read it again. It was that good.
SPOILER ALERT***’Me Before You’ is a romantic story about Louisa Clark and Will Trainer. Will is a quadriplegic (paralysis caused by illness or injury that results in the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso) who before his accident lived quite an active life and is broken that he has to live the rest of his life in a wheel chair while depending on others for his every need. Louisa on the other hand, finds herself suddenly out of job and being a caregiver to Will Trainer turns out to be the only sensible option to take as her family needs the money. Will and Louisa have a rough start but soon build a friendship and bond that blooms into something beautiful. However, Will has made a decision to end his life through assisted suicide in Switzerland and no one can talk him out of. Louisa is determined to change his mind and gives all of herself to achieve this goal.
Jojo Moyes is an excellent writer who draws you into her story with wit and multiple themes. I loved the skillful way this book was written and how simple the story was told. I was captivated by the unforgettable characters and it is no wonder, this book was adapted into a motion picture soon after it was published. Louisa Clark is my favorite character (of course), she was relatable, funny, embarrassing and entertaining. She displayed a strong character even in the worst circumstances. Nathan was another character I really liked a lot as his role in the story made it more colorful. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author and I hope I will be very pleased with them as I was with this one.
Now to the part I didn’t like – The issue of assisted suicide has been a thing of heavy debate and I don’t want to dwell on it too much. Due to my beliefs as a Christian, my take is that no one has the right to take his own life because life is precious. No one has the power to create life except God, therefore you shouldn’t take your own life or someone else’s’. If people are sent to prison for taking someone’s life, then why should we support assisted suicide? You are taking a life even if it is your own and it should never be encouraged. I didn’t like how this story ended because it seemed to give a wrong message to people who are struggling with one challenge or the other especially quadriplegics. It seems to tell people that that if their lives are not in a certain way, they can end it all because they can’t deal with being ill or in a wheel chair. I am not in any way undermining the physical, emotional and psychological trauma that quadriplegics face, but it doesn’t still give you the right to take your own life. Will Trainer was surrounded by loving parents and then Louisa came along, ready to love him as he was but as he said “it was not enough”.
This is a great book and It missed my giving it a 5 star rating because of how it ended so I rate it 4.5 stars. I recommend it to everyone but make sure you have a box of tissue handy.
Published: July 30th, 2013 by Penguin Books
Pages: 369
Genre: Fiction (Romance)
Purchase @ www.amazon.com/mebeforeyou
The Author: Jojo Moyes is a British novelist. Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist. Moyes’ novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004. She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.
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