RATING GUIDE:
6 – Life-Affirming and Life-Changing!
5 – A keeper!
4 – Very good
3 – Passable
2 – I’d rather read
a telephone book
1 – An absolute bomb.
Read at your own risk!
0 – Nothing will compensate for what I lost reading this
book
It’s a shame that Jojo Moyes “Me
Before You” is marketed as a romance, for that makes it appear as if it’s just
one of those Boy Meets Girl stories that we’ve grown so used to reading
about. The truth is, “Me Before You” is
so much more than your garden variety (read:
boring) romance. It’s an
extraordinary tale of love and friendship that also explores the complex and
controversial issues of human dignity and the right to die.
“Me Before You” is the story of
Lou, a young woman with a lot of potential … the problem is, she’s stuck. She suddenly loses her job at the beloved
café she works for, just when everyone in her family needs her to be the
breadwinner. Lou hasn’t graduated from
college yet, and her prospects of finding a decent job appear dim. She’s definitely on the road to
nowhere. Out of desperation, Lou takes
on a job as a caregiver of sorts for a thirty-something man named Will
Traynor. Unlike Lou, Will has led a
very rich, BIG life. He had the kind of
life every man would envy --- he had the looks, the wealth, the power, the
prestige, the hotshot career, the gorgeous girlfriend … until an accident
turned him into a bitter, depressed quadriplegic.
Lou’s new role as caregiver is
off to a rocky start, for Will proves to be a sarcastic bully; but as time
passes, Lou and Will develop a friendship.
Then comes the startling truth about the nature of Lou’s job. She wasn’t really hired to be Will’s
caregiver. She was hired to try to convince Will not to take his own life at
the end of six months.
Like I said, “Me Before You” is
wrongfully marketed as a romance. It
really isn’t a book about “kilig” moments (even though there are a few sweet
moments here and there). It’s not
something to cry about, however, for Moyes gifts her readers with characters
who are so well-thought of, they seem to be real, like people you might
actually know. None of them are
stereotypically good or bad. All of
them are people you might not necessarily like, but definitely people you can
relate to and maybe sympathize with.
“Me Before You” is a highly
moving and thought-provoking book that stays with you long after you’ve turned
the last page. In my experience, it
raised a lot of questions about many things --- about love and sacrifice (What
are you willing to give up for love?
Can you compromise your own principles for love?), about what defines a
well-lived life (Is it living large but living mainly for yourself, or living
an ordinary life in service of others?), about the dignity of human life (What
do you consider to be a dignified existence?
Can you be dignified even if your health is failing?), and of man’s
rights (Is it really one’s right to take one’s own life?).
