Me Before You has become our favorite contemporary novel. The words, the characters, the plot, the mood-- it was all so beautiful. 95% of the book makes you warm and fuzzy inside (I admit, some odd squeals escaped me). The other 5%, well we won't talk about that yet.....
The trailer is now out, since the movie will be in theaters in only a few months' time. We do not recommend watching the trailer before reading the book, but if you have to (and you don't want to be too spoiled) stop the trailer when the Ed Sheeran song starts playing.
The trailer is now out, since the movie will be in theaters in only a few months' time. We do not recommend watching the trailer before reading the book, but if you have to (and you don't want to be too spoiled) stop the trailer when the Ed Sheeran song starts playing.
****SPOILERS****
I didn't quite enjoy the preface too much, but at the first word of chapter one I fell in love. The writing in this novel was wonderful. I loved the various points of view. In some books, several perspectives are unnecessary, but Jojo made it work so well!!
I loved the presence of Lou's family throughout the novel. We don't usual see a lot of family relationships in contemporary romance, but the addition of this to the novel made it so much better. I loved seeing Lou grow in her family relationships as her character evolved.
Now, Lou and Will's relationship is completely different. I loved how the author made their relationship so natural! Most book couples fall in love too quickly and in very unrealistic ways. I had two favorite scenes with these two:
1) Lou's birthday dinner. I think I speak for all of us when I say this chapter was hilarious! I absolutely hated Patrick and enjoyed seeing Will roast him. And let's not forget the tights... I think I need to get a pair of those myself.
2) The maze scene. During this scene, Will and Lou grew very close together. Both of them were so vulnerable and weak, but also brave enough to tell the other about horrific things from their past and their present. This part melted my heart <3
I feel like at some point during this book talk, I have to mention the part of the book we all hates, assisted suicide. I had briefly heard about this in the past, but had never given much thought to it. I'm still not sure about my beliefs on the subject, but I do understand both Mrs. Traynor's and Will's point of view. I think it was great that the author gave us the opportunity to see and understand the situation from two different points of view. But why, Will? WHY?
And now the ending.... I subconsciously knew it would end this way, but I denied that as long as I could. Jojo built up our hopes until they scraped the sky, and then with a flick of a finger she knocked us all down. I normally don't cry in books or movies, so the fact that I bawled my eyes out from the scene in the beach to the end definitely says something. I cannot believe that Lou poured out her heart to Will and he was just like "uhh well that's not enough" WHAT IN THE WORLD?? The tears I cried and the sounds I made while reading that were inhuman. Things just raced downhill from that....and then Mrs. Traynor called. Lou jumped off her butt and hopped on a plane to Switzerland, meanwhile I'm still sitting in my room with an ever-growing pile of tissues next to me. The scene with them together in the bed...ahhh it broke my heart and stepped on the pieces. BUT NO WE COULDN'T JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT! Jojo gives us another punch in the epilogue. Oh that letter!!
Now I kind of made it sound like I hate the book and the author, but I feel the complete opposite. This book has quickly become my favorite contemporary novel and I rate it SIX out of five stars!!
Book Review Author(s) : Maria & Esther
Book Talk Author(s) : Maria