Review: Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

I decided to read this because everyone was so in love with it. And I must say I really did enjoy it. I read another of Jojo Moyes’ books first, because it happened to be available at the library, and I liked it well enough, but I didn’t think it was anything special. Just the typical chick-lit fluffy story with a bit of a serious note thrown in for drama. So I started “Me Before You” feeling wary about it. 

The story is about a young woman, Louisa, who loses her job and after a few depressing visits to the job centre she finds another job as a helper to a disabled man. She is wholly unqualified, but manages to score the job anyway. Her boss turns out to be Will, a tetraplegic, who is a taciturn sarcastic asshole at first. However, they soon connect, and Will turns out to be a wonderful guy, who’s had a bad hand dealt by fate. Louisa sets out to save him from himself, and in the process both of them gain new insights. 

I think most people by this time have a vague idea of the plot twist, if you can call it that, but I won’t talk about it, as I think you should go into this as blind as possible. 

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were engaging and I really liked Louisa and Will, both as individuals and when they were interacting with each other. The side characters were all believable and all had their distinct personalities. The writing was fluent and the plot advanced fairly well. There were a few slow patches, but nothing too bad. The story was touching and makes you think about ethical questions, like what is a good life and who should get to decide when it’s not worth it anymore? 

The story is mainly told from Louisa’s perspective and I really liked her voice. But then there are just a few chapters told from the perspective of the side characters. Louisa’s sister has a chapter and Will’s male nurse does too, among others. I found these parts kind of disjointed and unnecessary. I didn’t really see the need for them. During Louisa’s sister’s chapter I kept thinking it was Louisa talking and I got confused. They gave us a quick insight into what the other characters were feeling, but I didn’t really feel like it added anything crucial to the story. 

Overall, I really liked this book. I gave it 4 stars out of 5 on Goodreads.