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Me Before You
Jojo Moyes
2012, 369 pages
Fiction
Me Before You is about Will Traynor, a wealthy man paralyzed in an accident, and Louisa Clark, a woman whose life experience has been limited in part because she’s never believed it could be anything else. Lou finds herself working as Will’s carer even though her last job was in a tea shop. Will’s mother hopes Lou can get through to her son, who can’t see any hope as a quadriplegic. Lou has to figure out how to get along with Will, who is at turns sarcastic and withdrawn.
Will has experienced more than Lou can even dream of. And now he can’t go anywhere without people staring, pitying, and patronizing him. Lou learns that even the well-intentioned make assumptions about what Will wants. It’s eye-opening for her: “The thing about being catapulted into a whole new life – or at least, shoved up so hard against someone else’s life that you might as well have your face pressed against their window – is that it forces you to rethink your idea of who you are.”
Moyes makes it clear that both the Traynors and the Clarks, at opposite ends of the social hierarchy, have their ups and downs and difficult family dynamics. And, I was actually weeping by the end, not just tearing up a bit, but Me Before You isn’t a sob story. It’s a beautiful book about people who are wholly human, who have to figure out how to do the best they can.
