Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I first heard about Me Before You from my father-in-law who recommended it to me almost two years ago. It sounded interesting and I started seeing it in stores but I just never felt the urge to grab it and read it. Then I heard there was a movie coming out with Emilia Clarke, who I love on Game of Thrones. So I decided I should actually read the book before June. I ended up downloading the audiobook on Audible so that I could listen while doing other things and it took me a month to finish. Granted, in that month I only listened to it maybe 4 times in large chunks, but my point is that I was not captivated enough to keep listening.

Image taken from Wikipedia

The main character, Louisa, is flat. Everyone around her tells her this and she knows it, but is content. That alone is not why I disliked her, although I was sick of it being repeated so much throughout the novel. I cannot even say that I truly disliked her, I just didn't like her. And then Will, the other main character, has his own issues but is at least interesting. However, his whole purpose in the novel seems to be to liven up Louisa, even to the end. I just could not get why I needed to be reading a book about someone who did not care about "finding herself" and yet was being forced by so many people in various ways to change. I know there is a sequel, so maybe in there she actually does something conducive with all this change, but within this book alone she is just kind of....there.

The love story, which I don't even think can truly be called that, is confusing throughout the novel and then when things finally come to a point Will exhibits the ultimate act of selfishness. Although depending on one's point of view, he finally got to make a choice in how his life went, and it just did not include Louisa. I don't know. I was pretty frustrated by the scene in which one expects undying love to be proclaimed. I will leave it at that so as not to spoil the entire scene, but just be aware it is pretty disappointing.

I also really did not understand or care for the random chapters from the point of view of Will's mother, Louisa's sister, and Nathan. They did not really seem to move along the story and I hated being inside Camilla and Katrina's heads. In fact, none of the family members are close to likable throughout the whole novel and so it made no sense to throw random point of view changes into the novel.

Overall, I was less than impressed by this book. I think it might make a better movie than a novel, so I will be seeing the film to compare. However, I do not really recommend it
. It is glorified fluff. Nicholas Sparks' novels are better if you want to read a random book about romance that won't have a fulfilling ending.