Publisher: Michael Joseph (Penguin)
Release date: January 5, 2012
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0718157834
Pages: 480
Goodreads || Book Depository
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 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.
MY THOUGHTS
There is a trigger warning for suicide in this book. Also if your life is affected in any way by quadriplegia, you may or may not want to read this book. I’d suggest looking at some other reviews first before jumping into this book.
I was so deeply affected by this book. I laughed and I cried so hard… this book really caught me by surprise. It was completely different to what I had expected when I first picked it up. Based on the cover and a quick skim through the summary on the back, I thought it would be some fluffy contemporary romance, but it couldn’t have been more different. I don’t think I realised how much I loved this book and how moved I was by it until I’d reached the end and had tears pouring down my face.
There were definitely some parts of the novel that felt slow but each event that happened had a purpose. The writing was easy to read and without a lot of medical jargon, but still allowing us to feel the full impact of the story. I loved the use of first person perspective because it really allowed me to get into the head of Lou. There were some strange changes in perspective in the book. There were some characters who had a chapter written from their point of view. These chapters really threw me off and I didn’t like them at all. But aside from that, I have absolutely no complaints about the writing or the plot.
The characters in this book were really relatable (and mostly likeable). I loved Will and Lou as the main characters and I loved their relationship together. I liked how their relationship developed and grew into such a comfortable one. I also loved the character development in this novel. I thought that was one of the key successes of the book. But in addition to Will and Lou, we also get to see the struggles that the other characters go through, which made them and their lives so realistic to me.
I haven’t read very many books about physical disabilities, but Me Before You is definitely one that I will remember for a very long time. I’ve recently heard that a sequel to this book, After You, will be released in September 2015. I’m not completely sure that I’ll be picking that up (at least not straight away), just because Me Before You ended in such a hopeful and strangely liberating way.
Reading with Jenna || book blog 
“Me Before You” made me cry. This novels has a great story. There are some people who happened just to pass by and we might thought that we can changed his mind. That made me feel sad. Sometimes it is better to just let other decide for what they want and respect their decisions if you really care for them. That one thing that I have learned in your most magnificent work.
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