“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 that 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.”
Me Before You is not your typical ‘cry your eyes out’ novel with a tragic ending, but on the other hand it is not a beautifully perfect Romance where the couple rides off in to the distance and live in a castle happily ever after. Oh no, this book was something special; it proved how love can make a difference in more ways than one, and yet the ending was still truthful, not designed to please the reader but to complete the story as it was meant to be. This was a book about a voice yearning to be heard.
Told mainly from Lou’s perspective with the occasional chapter from another point of view (but never Will’s), the language was wonderfully simple and yet entrancing at the same time. Because of the nature of the plot, I find it intriguing that the only part of the book where we read from Will’s perspective is in the prologue before he is disabled. For me it increases the emphasis on Will’s loss of control over his life and makes his tale all the more heart-wrenching.
The protagonist Lou was an extremely vibrant character, full of life and with an individual way of seeing the world. Whilst the word perfection in no way describes Louise Clark’s life, at heart she is true and pure and cares more for the lives of others than she does for others’ negative opinions on her eccentricities and mistakes. I loved seeing her character flourish even under the stresses of caring for Will.
Some of the scenes in this novel were magical (the wedding scene for instance) but I really liked the fact that it wasn’t a case of ‘boom’ Lou and Will are suddenly in love. It was a very slow progression which was a more beautiful thing to read than your average idealistic Romance.
Me Before You was a fantastic read (it took me less than 24 hours to finish it), one to inspire the reader into questioning whether or not they are living life to the fullest. I myself have sensed my adventurous spirit be rekindled (pun intended – I read this on my kindle) and am looking forward to making the most of what life throws at me.
Seeing the movie trailer for this book was one of the things that prompted me to read it, and now I am really looking forward to seeing this story portrayed on screen. I’ll definitely make sure I have a box of tissues ready!
I loved this novel, it was something good…
5/5 rating.
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