Me Before You: JoJo Moyes | Review | Faith

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.

- Goodreads Synopsis

This review WILL be SPOILER-FREE

Today, I will be review Me Before You by: JoJo Moyes. I'm sure you've heard of it considering the movie just came out on June 3rd, 2016! A lot of people have fell in love with this book and it's story, including me but there are definitely some people out there who think this book is horrible and is very stereotypical to people in wheelchairs. 

Let's start this review off by saying that I listened to part of this book via audiobook. Honestly, I'm very happy that I made this decision because all of the characters have very distinct personalities.  Having the story told to you was much more personal and meaningful because you could kind of hear the emotions from the narrator. I'm usually not a big fan of audiobooks, but in this case it was so fun to listen to one. I was always looking forward to listening to it. Another great thing about audiobooks is that the information kind of just sunk into my brain more even if I wasn't really paying attention.

There were so many things about Me Before You that I really, really loved such as the characters. Louisa Clarke is a very relatable character, and she's very quirky and I found that we had very similar personalities. I found myself laughing because of the things she said or the things she encountered. In my opinion, she is one of the more realistic characters out there but that is just my view. Louisa is far from being this perfect character and that is what I love about her, she's so unique.

Me Before You is definitely marketed as a love story. In my opinion, it isn't really a romance while it still is a love story it's a different kind of love. There is so much to love about the relationships in this book because there is so much meaning to them. You get to follow the characters on this really bittersweet journey and it's so touching. 

As I neared the end of this book, I constantly found myself crying. Now I will say that the ending is very predictable but that's not the point. This book really stabs you in the heart, especially if you've made that connection with the characters and the story. It's so heartbreaking and I still can't get over the events that happened.

A huge controversy surrounding Me Before You is how it seems offensive and stereotypical to  people who are living with a disability. I thought about it for a very long time and I watched a video with a man who is living with quadriplegia and I had to lower my rating for this novel because even though I loved this book, the points that he pointed out in the video were eye opening and very true. If you would like to watch this video, I will link it HERE.

Despite the flaws of this book, I still think that it a great read. Separating the negativity with the book itself, I would still stand by it. As a whole, Me Before You is a good book in my opinion. There are so many other factors about this book that make this book readable such as, the writing and the characters, the meaning at the end of the novel. I am aware of it's flaws but that is not how I review books. I do not review books based on how happy or sad it is, how it ends or if there's something that I didn't personally like (ex. if a character died). I will never review books solely based on one of those things.

Overall, I loved this novel. I can see the good and the bad as I do with any book I read. If you haven't picked up this book, I highly suggest that you do so you can form your own opinion on the book. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I will write a movie review, once I get a chance to go and see the film!

I hope you enjoyed reading this review!

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