Monday, June 8, 2015

Book Review: Me Before You

Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Fiction, Romance
Rating: 4/5
Verdict: A tear-jerker with a bittersweet ending. Totally loved it.


I don't think I have mentioned before that red is my favorite color and there is something about anything red that I am immediately attracted to it. I am a sucker for all things romantic and the goodreads blurb along with the cover of the book was totally enough for me to start reading this book. But, boy was I mistaken - The cover gives an impression that it is an out-and-out romantic story, but the romance is only a very small part of the story. It is all about emotions, pain, life and deals with a fairly controversial issue.

The story revolves around a 35-year old wealthy, angry and miserable man - Will Traynor whose once adventure-seeking life has been constrained to four walls now after an accident that left him a quadriplegic and a young woman Louisa Clark, who lost her job at a cafe and has taken up the job of being Will's caretaker out of desperation to support her family. Predictably, Will and Louisa gradually get along and become friends, and I was expecting Jojo to lead us to a different storyline that would be apt for any romantic story. But, here is where the plot begins to take a twist and all that follows is a painful, emotional and heart wrenching series of events. The ending was totally unpredictable for me, up until the last page, I kept hoping the ending wasn't what it was going to be, as naive as that may sound.

Of all the characters, I totally admired and could relate with Will and his behavior towards anyone he encountered. The story opens with a glipmse of what Will's life was before the accident and there are incidents all through the story about his life before. After all that, I could totally understand his anger, misery and acid remarks to anyone trying to cheer him up or help him. Although I kept hoping for a happy ending, I did like the way the story ended and I wouldn't change a thing about it. On the other hand, Louisa's character didn't click quite well for me and seemed a bit unrealistic. But, who cares when the story is as emotional as it was and how Will pushes Lou to broaden her territory and spread her wings and fly! Some of the quotes will stay with me forever:

"You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.” 

"Push yourself. Don't Settle. Just live well. Just LIVE.” 

Will's final letter to Louisa was the last straw for me. I broke down after that and wept like a baby. 
Will and Jojo - I will always hate you for that!

A story that will keep you turning pages until the very last word. I bet you cannot put this book down. Hats off to Jojo for dealing with an extremely difficult and disturbing topic with great poise and balance. I cannot forget this book. 

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