Book review: Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

 

Lou Clark 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 knows they're going to change the other for all time.

My opinion.

Where to even begin. I read this book three years ago and it left me utterly heartbroken. When I saw the movie trailer for Me Before You, however, I knew I had to revisit this gorgeous couple again.

For some reason the story felt even more intense than it did the first time reading it. When a lot of my focus went to Will's injury when I first met him as a character, I now payed a lot more attention to Lou and their unique relationship. The subtle ways in which they were able to communicate, motivate and support each other is beautiful. I feel so much love for these characters.

It's hard to say much more about Me Before You, other than that it's an epic story. I'm not sure how else to put into words the experience I had reading this book (again). Jojo Moyes created a story that this generation will carry with them as one of those life altering books they will tell their kids/grankids and all their friends about for years to come. It left me heartbroken, but full of love.

 

The fact that this story will now be translated onto the big screen is simply amazing. Find out later, as part of my Reading Challenge: Movie Books how I liked the movie in relation to the book. I must say, it's a tough act to follow. I just hope they did Jojo Moyes' magic justice. If they were able to translate that to the screen, it would be even better!