Me Before You by Jojo Moyes // Review

I am not quite sure how to categories Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - contemporary maybe? I do not want to spoil anything for you my summary of the plot is very vague. The story is set in a small town in England in 2009 and follows the main character Lou who - after losing her job at a cafe - starts a new job as a carer for Will Traynor who is a quadriplegic person.

This is my first book by Jojo Moyes and I loved it. I flew through it - I only had to take a little break to sleep for a few hours. Those are my favorite kinds of books, the ones you cannot put down and basically read in one sitting. I loved all the characters, the setting and I cried multiple times. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and I would definitely recommend anyone to pick it up who is in the mood for a good, emotional, not too sugar-coated read.

I have worked as a carer myself and even though there were a few parts that were a little unrealistic to me the author still created a story that felt very authentic to me. I have heard negative opinions from people that are disabled and felt very misrepresented in the novel. I am not disabled and do not want to speak for these people but my personal opinion on this is that while I think I can understand what upsets them I still think this story is very specific to the characters involved. Every person has a different way of dealing with their circumstances and how they effect not only themselves but the people surrounding them. To me this novel was about people having very different but at the same time valid opinions about certain subjects and while you can try to change somebody's mind they are still entitled to their on opinion and have the right to follow through with their decisions on how to live their life. (I am sorry. I am not a native speaker and I find it quite hard to put these things into words without giving anything away about the plot).

The movie Me Before You is hitting theaters right now - but if you have not read the book, be warned: there are spoilers in the trailer! Even though I have not seen the film yet the trailer makes the story look a little more cheesy than the book actually was. I actually bought the book after picking up a brochure advertising the movie at the cinema when I went to saw the new X-Men movie that included a little extract form the book.

What did you think about Me Before You?

Please do not leave any spoiler in the comments!