Review: Me Before You // Ready to Get Your Heart Broken?

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.

What a beautiful, beautiful story.

Me Before You successfully exceeds my expectations. I did not expect to like this book. The blurb was quite cliche and not-so-intriguing. I only read it because couldn’t sleep at night and got nothing better to do. I thought this was another realistic fiction with a lot of philosophical non sense and crappy life lessons in it. Boy I was wrong.

This is the story of friendship, family, love, self-development, choices, acceptance, sacrifice, and happiness. You see why I put love on the third of my list? That’s because the love story isn’t even the best part of the book. It is about finding happiness even in the worst time, it’s about making choices and making the best out of life. It is just so beautiful and… satisfying.

I fell in love just immediately after reading the first chapter. Jojo Moyes‘ writing was so lovely and beautiful and surprisingly light. I didn’t expect this to be so light yet very emotional at the same time. I cried so much during this book and I was completely immersed in it that I was up all night reading. It was 3.30 in the morning when I finally put it down. My eyes were practically screaming.

I was completely won over by the characters. Lou is a bit quirky and just simply live her life. She’s cheerful, she’s bright. She says funny things every now and then. Will used to be bright, carefree, and ambitious. All of them before the accident happened and took away the life he knew and loved. Their banters are definitely the things I love from the book.

“You get a good view of my backside, and I get a bed bath from someone who falls over at the sight of naked flesh.”

“I do not fall over at the sight of naked flesh.”

“Clark, I’ve never seen anyone more uncomfortable with a human body than you. You act like it’s something radioactive.”

“Let your mum do it, then.”

Will was completely frustrated with his life. He used to climb the mountain, bungee jump, sky dive, and all those stuffs adrenaline junkie people like to do. Now he’s in need of a 24 hour care. He was bitter and resigned. That’s when Lou whirled into his life and sparked some fire. While other people have been on their tip toes around Will, Lou wasn’t afraid to challenge him. Lou is definitely something different. Since Lou came, Will started to feel like himself again.

“Sometimes , Clark, you are pretty much the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning.”

Watching the relationship developed between them is a heartwarming experience for me. Lou brought so much joy to Will and Will bullied her to get out of her comfort zone. It wasn’t even remotely near an insta-love, madam. It started as a relationship between employee and employer and developed into friendship. As they set out to travel and make the most of their time their feelings for each other change and turn into something way beyond friendship.

“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.”

I was also surprisingly delighted with the other side characters. I like Nathan, Katrina, Lou’s parents, even Will’s parents. Each has their own way to cope with the situation. They bring so much dynamic into the story without overdoing it. I am happy with Lou and Treena’s sisterhood relationship. It all feels real and natural. I also admire the way Moyes ended things between Patrick and Lou. It’s slow and building and inevitable.

As I got closer to last few chapters, I became more and more nervous about how the ending was gonna turn out. I thought for sure I was gonna be disappointed… but just like every other assumptions I made regarding this book, I was wrong. I was expecting it from miles away, but it didn’t lessen the emotional impact at all. The ending is somewhat… perfect. It is, though a little too unfortunate, a perfect closure of such an amazing story filled with selfless love. Even if it made me cry so much, I do not resent the ending. Will finally got the one thing he’s ever wanted and Lou found a better version of herself. I love the fact that Moyes left some loose ends untied. It gives us endless possibilities about what would happen next.

So this is it. You are scored on my heart, Clark. You were from the first day you walked in, with your ridiculous clothes and bad jokes and your complete inability to ever hide a single thing you felt. You changed my life so much more than this money will ever change yours.

Not only did this book put me in a deeply unstable emotional state, it also made me feel content. It’s just so insanely beautiful and emotional I can’t handle 😦 It conveys a particularly good message, loud and clear. You only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.

Anyway, the movie will be out on June 3rd. I’m not sure if I wanna watch it, but I watched the trailer and the lines are pretty similar to the ones in the book. I guess it’s good? What do you think? Take a look at the trailer here!