My mum gave me this book. She said: "You might like this." So I read it.
Usually when people recommend books to me - especially my mum - I'm very careful. I know that I have a rather specific taste in books and very high expectiations. I've had a lot of books recommended or given to me that I didn't enjoy at all. Jojo Moyes's me before you was definitely different!
In the prologue, we meet Will Traynor, successful businessman, getting up early on a rainy London morning, kissing his beautiful girlfriend goodbye, running down the street to catch a bus. The last thing we know, he is hit by a motorcycle.
Two years later, Lousia Clark, living with her parents, grandfather, sister and nephew in a tiny house and being the almost sole support of all of these, loses her job in the café she has worked in for the last six years. When she starts jobhunting, at first nothing goes right. Then she is offered the job as a carer for a quadriplegic. Incredibly well paid, limited to six months. Mostly because she needs the money, she accepts.
Will Traynor suffered a severe spinal cord injury in that accident. He cannot use his legs at all and has very limited use of his arms. Before the accident he was successful in his job and an action man in his free time, skiing, bungee jumping, anything. Now he is just that poor disabled man. He's miserable. And he's incredibly rude to Louisa.
Now, we all kind of know that plot. The concept is very The Intouchables, that beautiful French film from a couple of years ago. Only different.
Louisa thinks her life is all right. She has a boyfriend, she has a job, she has a family.
Will thinks her life is boring. As soon as the two of them start properly talking, he tries to tempt her into doing new things, trying new activities. And Lou manages to get him out of his shell.
What I love about me before you is mostly the characters. There are a lot of people to meet, from the two main protagonists to Lou's sister Treena who Lou thinks is always better at everything, her parents, Will's parents, Will's Australian medical carer Nathan who pretends to be cheerful all the time and Lou's boyfriend Patrick who at some point turned into Running Man and only ever talks about body fat ratios and his running times. You kind of get to know all of them, and every single one of them is interesting. They all have good and bad sides and even when you're not reading you catch yourself thinking about them.
The storyline is also very well set out, logical and fluent and it sucks you right in. And, yes, I cried a bit.
The topic of this book is rather sensitive and I actually can't talk very much about it without majorly spoiling it but still. Will's situation makes you think - what would you do? How would you deal with this? It's rather depressing, actually, but that really doesn't stop you from enjoying the reading experience.
Also, me before you is terribly English. So that's nice, too.
Let me know what you think, and also if there's anything specific you would like me to do over the course of the next six-ish weeks while I'm on school break. Poems? Short story? More book reviews? Field trips?
Love,
Jojo
(And no, I did not write that book although I share the author's name. Whish that I had, though!)
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