Get caught up with Me Before You
The first book we’ll be reading is After You by Jojo Moyes, which is the sequel to Me Before You. If you haven’t read it, we encourage that you watch the movie or read it before starting After You. We’ll include below a summary for Me Before You as a refresher before starting After You. If you haven’t read it or seen the movie and don’t want any spoilers- stop here.
Summary from shmoop.com
Lou Clark is an Average Jane from a small town in England. She worked at café until its owner abruptly announced that he was shutting the place down, leaving her jobless. Bummed, Lou goes job hunting until she lands a gig as a caretaker for a paralyzed man named Will Traynor.
Will is a young business executive and extreme sports enthusiast whose life was forever changed two years earlier when he was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street, leaving him almost completely paralyzed. His mother, Camilla, tells Lou that her job will be to monitor him at all hours of the day, even though he already has a professional taking care of his medical needs.
Unfortunately, Will is a total jerk at first. He seems bitter. With time, however, he slowly warms up to Lou, and their relationship grows closer and closer. That is, until Lou learns the truth about why she was hired: after a previous suicide attempt, Will made his mother promise to take him to an assisted suicide facility in six months to end his life. Lou's job has actually been to make sure he doesn't hurt himself before then.
Although Lou is shaken by this revelation, she has a plan: she'll take Will on a series of excursions to show him that life is still worth living. Some of these trips don't go well, like one ill-advised jaunt to the horse races, but some are truly eye-opening, like a romantic night at the symphony. The big trip comes near the end of the six months: an all-expenses paid vacation to Mauritius, a small island off the coast of Africa.
It's a magical experience. Lou is amazed by the beauty of this exotic place—not to mention her growing feelings toward Will. On the final night of the vacation, Lou kisses Will and declares her love for him, saying that she knows about his plan but wants him to be with her. Although he loves her, too, Will says that he's going through with it. Furious, Lou ignores Will when they return home.
Eventually, Lou relents and decides to share Will's final moments with him at Dignitas, the assisted suicide facility. Lou's mom is furious about this and tells her to not return home if she decides to go. But that's not going to stop her. She makes it to Dignitas in time and shares a tender moment with Will before he goes through with the procedure.
Before his death, Will writes Lou a letter that specifically requests that it only be opened while Lou is a Paris café. So she goes. The letter says that Will has left Lou a small amount of money so she can go back to school and follow her dreams. It also expresses Will's sadness at causing her pain, though he hopes that she will emerge from the other end of her grief as a better person. Thus begins a bold new chapter in Lou's life.
…While everyone else is reaching for the tissue box
Our Review:
I got to read Me Before You prior to seeing the movie. There were portions of the movie I didn’t enjoy compared to the book, but that’s a whole different issue. (*Cough* They left out the whole scene where Lou talks about her sexual assault and Will helps her through it *cough*). But I’m not bitter. Ok, maybe a little bit. Overall, this book easily became one of my favorites. If you don’t know me, I don’t cry, like ever. Especially not from a book or movie, and let me tell you: I was bawling. Multiple times. I cried in the middle, and I cried at the end. I read this book in about two days, staying up until 2 a.m. to finish, crying myself asleep and feeling dead inside until I came to grips with the ending. More so than filling me with all ‘the feels’ this book had a pretty big change on my views of euthanasia and assisted suicide, and I don’t think that was intended by the author. I used to be someone who believed if someone wanted to, under any circumstances, they could commit assisted suicide. After reading this I realized the effect the it had on their loved ones. It was really hard for me to come to grips with the fact that Will truly doesn’t want to live anymore, because in his state was he really living? It hurt for me to read how hard Lou tries to sway him, to no avail. It made me think deeper on the issue, I would hate for there to be some cure or scientific discovery a few years down the road that would have helped Will, and he had already gone through with the plan to end his life. Suicide, whether physician assisted or not, doesn’t just affect one person. It affects everyone around you. You’re not taking your own life, you’re taking it away from everyone who loves you. When you’re gone, it’s not you who will miss it. I wish there could have been another way for Will, another option. I’m more hesitant about it now, but at the end of the day I suppose it is their choice, and for someone who has no control over anything in his life, Will was able to take control of this and make the decision for himself. On a less somber note, I loved how Louisa Clark represents a modern and real girl. She’s not a perfect size 2, wearing designer threads, swimming in money. She is quirky, clumsy, a little chunky, and has her own style that brings a smile to those around her. She reminds me a bit of Bridget Jones, optimistic and naive. I look forward to reading After You and hope that things get better and work out for Lou. I’m rooting for you girl!
Better Read than Dead,
Addie
