Me Before You is a romance novel written by Jojo Moyes. It was published in 2012 January in the United Kingdom. This novel is so famous and popular after it was published. And it also hit the New York bestseller list in 2016 along with its film adaptation. The novel is written about the love story between a young girl and a young successful man. The author shows us how these two lives collide and how they fall in love deeply with each other.
An Ordinary Girl
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl who got caught in a dead-end job, lives in a small town in England. She works as a waitress in a small bakery shop in her town and she did enjoy it. She is just an ordinary girl. But the only thing that doesn’t like the other girls is she is an optimistic person. She never blames her parents for being caught in financial issues. And she always treats the others warmly (most of them are the regular customer of the bakery).
The story starts with her boss fired her by giving her three months’ salary by saying he is planning to close the shop. No way left to stay, Louisa decided to accept her fate. She tries to get other jobs as quickly as possible since her family depends on her salary. She also tries to work at the factory to support her family’s needs but she didn’t fit in well. After all those unsuccessful attempts she got a job that will change her life forever.
Successful Young Man
Will Traynor is a successful young man who is so smart and bright. He surely knows what is life and how to enjoy it fully. He likes to be adventurous and everyone adores him so much. And also he is the man of his words. In the girl’s eyes, he is the most wanting dream guy. Every man in the business society wants to be like him.
But it all changes after h. Due to that severe accident, He can’t walk anymore. And he has to give up on everything because of his condition. At first, he tries to improve his condition and hopes he can be normal in one day. But it’s all gone in vain after he doesn’t care anything anymore. And he just lives his life quietly like a dead person. But one day Louisa comes into his quiet and hopeless life as his care assistant.
Meaning of Unconditional Love
At first, they didn’t get along with each other since our girl is a very optimistic and hyperactive type. So Will just go with the flow since he decided to end his life as quietly as possible. But like the saying “love always comes in an unexpected way” Will fell in love with her eventually. Louisa changed his dull days with her smiles and he start to feel comforted by her presence. After that, he starts to show interest in her life and he realized they came from a different world. So he tried to talk with her and he fell in love with her bad jokes and funny fashion senses. And then they fell for each other very deeply.
And then Will decided to spend his remaining time showing her what the real world is. After Lou found out his intention of ending his life. After Lou learned that truth, she got shocked. But she planned to take Will on a series of excursions to show him life is still worth living. Some of them go as she hopes but some are not. But these times are the best memories for both of them. During these times, they deeply fall for each other. So Lou told him that she wants him to continue to live. But Will doesn’t listen to her words since he already made up his mind. That’s why they fought on the way back home and Lou decided to quit the job. But the love that she had for Will is too big. So she goes after him and lives with him until his last breath.
After Will leave this world, Lou goes on a trip to France as Will’s last wish. And he gave her a letter to read when she reach Paris. In the letter Will say a lot of things he wants to tell when he is still alive. But she afraid he can’t since Lou can be cry by his words. He said her to live her life to the fullest by doing things that she like. He told her not to miss him too much since he doesn’t want her to be sad. And the plan that he had prepared for her future. He also hopes for her life to be more colorful and ends his letter by his name Will.
The difference between the novel and the movie
I prefer to read the novel since we can see and understand each of the character’s position and their suffering. But after I watched the movie, I can tell that they make a great job of choosing the right cast. The last letter that Will left in the novel is more emotional than in the movie. And in the novel, it’s more detailed about how they make the decision. We Know the movies is need to show all of it’s content within the time limit so I try to let go that part. Sam Clafin and Emilia Clarke tried their best to portray Will and Lou as a perfect match.
The Things that I feel after reading Me Before You
In Me before you, I noticed one thing that Will never says he loves Lou since he doesn’t want her to suffer after he leaves this world. And our pretty girl never complained about that. It’s like they understand each other very well in that short period. By reading this novel, I can see the true definition of selfless and unconditional love. He will never expect Lou to miss him instead he said her to forget about him if she can and live her life. I feel like Will is truly an amazing person even after he faced huge change and have to live his life differently. He can still cope with his new life and plan for his death without fearing at all. Even though, this novel ends with a sad ending I like this novel a lot. Since it can show us the real world.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089EHWQE?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_0&storeType=ebooks