Me Before you
Novel by Jojo Moyes
I can remember closing the book and laying it on my
chest. Then sitting up wishing I had
someone to talk to about it.
It is one
of those books that gives you an emotional hangover.
I asked everyone…have you read Me before You? No one had, at the time. Until last night.
Amanda texted Vanessa and I and said, Melib,
I was looking on Off the Cuff…where is your review on the book?
She had just finished it. I never wrote one.
I told her I would.
My copy is stained with tears. It’s no secret I’m emotional. I had used tissue peppered all over the
floor.
Oh my god, this book is
good.
A total page-turner that kept me
up way past my bedtime.
A year later…I
still think about this book.
It is about the issues of euthanasia, which, in my opinion, is brilliantly
written like a romance novel….but it’s not a romance novel and it’s not full of
politics surrounding the choice. I liked
her approach. I loved how it was
thoroughly engaging and thought provoking.
How could you read this and not ask yourself what you might do in a
similar circumstance?
If you haven’t read it, in a nutshell, this guy had it all…and
one day it was all taken away. He was
now a quadriplegic. Lou is an ordinary girl, leading an ordinary life and it
seemed to suit her just fine.
Then they
meet.
I will say Lou’s lack of dreams…of wonder and possibility bothered
me, so I was happy she met him. She
couldn’t have predicted to find her place in the world and for someone else to
see and recognize her potential…
we would all be so lucky.
It was kind of like two lost souls with nothing to fight for
had crossed paths. Two blind people
found their light…for a while…and for a while…it seemed like enough.
“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 the window…is that it forces you to rethink your
idea of who you are. Or how you might
seem to other people.”
I think we all innately want to fix things…and it’s easy to
hold on to imaginary hope when you’re not the person who is trapped.
It did seem ironic to me that a man who couldn’t move was
the one that woke her up from a life she had settled for.
But, you can read the book to fill in the story line. It leads you to the end and HIS choice.
HIS.
Don’t
forget that when you close the book that it was HIS choice.
Not yours.
That’s what I loved about this book. It makes you think. It made me think about my choices in life, my
fears, people who have affected my daily life…and if love is really enough…if
you have nothing left.
In my opinion,
NO. It honestly wouldn’t be for me. I
would have done what Will did.
Sometimes, you just have to accept things won’t get
better. That sometimes, even if they are
family, you have to let some people go. Even if it’s hard. Life can be hard. And cruel.
It can also be amazing.
Fulfilling and full of blessings.
I honestly don’t think the book was so much about convincing
Will to live, but for Lou to understand that he wouldn’t.
He reminded us to stand on your own two feet. Explore your potential. Broaden your horizons. I loved how he challenged himself, read,
traveled, studied languages…every day, he lived. In whatever way that meant to
him.
Get out there Lou.
Take the world by storm.
Just
like we all should.
