This review contains spoilers.
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes is a book about a tragic, heart-wrenching love story that will end with you sobbing on the floor. Readers will feel many different emotions from fleeting hope to heartbreaking sadness.
The main characters are Louisa Clark, who loves to wear fun and unique outfits, and Will Traynor, who got into an accident 3 years ago and has been paralyzed from the shoulders down. However, because much of Louisa’s personality comes from her weird outfits, her character should be more deeply developed. Will’s perspective was hard to understand as we never heard his side of the story. Much of his background was left unexplored by the author, which felt like a missed opportunity to deep dive into his story.
Me Before You begins with Lousia Clark losing her job at the coffeehouse she works at. Struggling to find another job that she likes, she agrees to be a caretaker of Will Traynor who makes her job more difficult than it should be, because all he wants is to be left alone. Before his accident Will had been very adventurous and free spirited. Afterwards, he felt like he had nothing left to live for.
Will gives his parents 6 months before he travels to Switzerland and goes through with an assisted suicide. So, Louisa decides to make it a mission for Will to see how great life can be, and that it is worth living for. Throughout these months, they both realize that they do care for each other. The fun events Louisa plans for Will brings up hope for the readers.
In a last attempt to convince Will to stay alive, she plans a vacation to go to a tropical island. They start to enjoy their time together, because they are having fun on vacation. Louisa finally thinks he will not have an assisted suicide, but Will confesses that nothing would ever change his mind and he wants to end his life. This plotline creates more suspense leading up to the book’s ending.
However, when they come home, Will still decides to go to Switzerland. Will is so in love with Louisa that he will not do anything until she gets there. Louisa goes to see him, and Will tells her how much he loves her but that he has to do this. He hasn’t had control in his life for a long time, and he feels like this is needed.
The ending of this book will leave you devastated and saddened. Will’s death shows how he wanted control in his life, and sometimes you can’t prevent some things from happening no matter how hard you try. At some point you think that the story will end happily and everything will be okay, but his death shows that there isn’t always a happily ever after.
In a society where people always expect happy endings, this book’s tragic conclusion feels more realistic. Unfortunately, life does not always have happy endings. Although this book should have had more plot development, the unexpected ending of Me Before You captures how saddening it can be to lose someone you love.
If you’re looking for a book with good character development and a strong plot, then this book might not be for you. This story had the opportunity to be great, but it fell flat in certain areas. If you want to experience the tragedy of human grief and do not mind shedding some tears on the way, then consider reading this book.
