Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes not too long ago. I bought this book for my Mum for Christmas, and managed to get at it before she could! At first, I didn’t really want to read this book as it’s not really my typical read. However, after a good review from a friend who doesn’t read much, I decided to give it a go.

Sorry for any spoilers that may be ahead!

About the book…

Many of you may have seen the film to this book. It follows the life of Lou Clark, a pretty average girl/woman who has recently lost her job in a local cafe. On the hunt for a new job, she comes across a vacancy as a carer for a quadraplegic – Will Traynor. The novel follows how their two extremley different lives and lifestyles come together, and shows her mission to try and convince him to change his mind about ending his life.

So what did I think…

There were some things about this book that I both liked and disliked. One thing that I did like was that before I started reading this book, I already knew what happens at the end. Luckily I found that even so, the book was not ruined for me as I did actually enjoy reading it. Although I knew that at the end of the book, Will still chooses to take his life, I found myself hoping that he would change his mind. I think this was due to the depth that Moyes goes into the everyday lives of the characters. It is as if you are building a relationship with them yourself, making you like or dislike each character more.

However, there were also some negatives to this book. I found that the book was very slow paced at times, which also made it a bit boring. I did not find myself wanting to read chapter after chapter of this book. In fact, I often liked taking a break from it.

I also found the story line to be quite predictable. Of course Lou and Will would fall in love with one another. Of course she would leave her boyfriend for him. Of course her family would love him. This also made the book a little boring. Although most things were predictable in the book, I think many people may not have expected him to stick to his wish of travelling to Dignitas to end his life. I feel that if I did not already know how the story was going to pan out, I would have maybe enjoyed it a little more.

Overall, I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I think it is worthy of this because of the relationship that you develop with the characters yourself. However, the slowness of it all, along with a lack of excitement, meant that I would give it 3 out of 5. I don’t think I would like to read After You, the follow on to this novel.

I hope that you enjoyed this review. If you want to give this book a read, you should be able to pick it up yourself from your local book shop. You could also pick it up from amazon here, or on ebay here.

Thank you for reading,

Vicky x