Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You | Jojo Moyes
Publication Date: December 31st 2012
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books / Viking
Genre: Romance, Adult, Contemporary, Chick Lit
Owned, Hardcover, 369 pages

Synopsis:
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 f them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

My Review: ★★★★★

"All I can say is that you make me... you make me into someone I couldn't even imagine. You make me happy, even when you're awful. I would rather be with you - even the you that you seem to think is diminished - than with anyone else in the world."

Some books were meant for leisure reading; some books made you think, this beauty was undeniably one of those. I couldn't help myself but to feel the unspeakable emptiness clutching my heart tightly after closing the book, to ponder about life, family, love and existence. It was the kind of book that would haunt you, even few days, maybe weeks, or months after you've finished it. There was something shattered in me, crumbled into tiny pieces and flown away along with the ending.

I was a little bit worried because the story started out slow in the beginning, but boy, I was utterly wrong. It turned out to be so much more than a romance as the plot were crafted whimsically and their back stories were gradually revealed, which deepened the characters, especially Lou. Everything was built for something bigger, I was in awe when the truth hit me so hard.

Lou was an ordinary girl who barely lived a life. She was contented with everything being normal, until she met Will. Will had a broken soul after the motorcycle accident and resented to live, but he was once a man who worked hard to be above average. Perhaps you would start to predict the cliche from here, but their relationship was actually beyond romance - it was platonic, pure and selfless; and both of them had blossomed to become a better person with the companion of each other.

"You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible."

I especially adored the moment when Lou's past was unfolded. In fact, it was one of the most beautiful parts I reckoned in this masterpiece, and it changed my view on Lou entirely in a positive way. She became someone who lived off the page, I felt more connected to her than ever.

"Some mistakes... Just have greater consequences than others. But you don't have to let the result of one mistake be the thing that defines you. You, Clark, have the choice not to let that happen."

The final chapter and epilogue of this book had both completely caught me off guard as well. I anticipated the ending, and dreaded it, while I read along, but apparently I had never expected it to be written like this, and now I couldn't think of any better way to wrap it up. It was truthfully one of the best, tearfully heartbreaking closures I had ever encountered.

If you have watched the movie adaptation and enjoyed it, I hope you would read this book too because you would absolutely love it, and if you'd unfortunately couldn't fall in love with the movie as much as you'd expected to, I hope you would at least think about reading the book, maybe you would be pleasantly surprised. This art creation was lyrically sad and full of life, it was one of those that would charm and richen your reading journey because it was more than a chick lit - it was about living - to actually living your life.

"You are scored on my heart, Clark. You were from the first day you walked in, with your ridiculous clothes and your complete inability to ever hide a single thing you felt."

Now I'm more than happy to have this book imprinted a scar and scored on my heart.


Perfect for this book:

We finally fall apart and we break each other's hearts

If we wanna live young, love, we better start today

It's gotta get easier, oh easier somehow

Cause I'm falling, I'm falling

Oh easier and easier somehow

Oh I'm calling, I'm calling

And it isn't over unless it is over

I don't wanna wait for that

It's gotta get easier and easier somehow

But not today

Not today

With love,