Jojo Moyes writes of a different love story in her novel Me Before You. It isn’t the typical boy-meets-this-gorgeous-girl-or-girl-meets-this-dashing-man-they-live-happily-ever-after-kind of love story. Of course we love happily ever after love stories but these are stories just like the rest of the others. But even if it does not have a happy ending, Me Before You was so well-written and served its purpose of breaking my heart and also (a bonus) had me raising questions about love and life. It made me think that love, in all its complexities is a wave. You carry on through life going through the motions trying to calm the tide every so often then at some point in time; you meet someone who takes you for a ride. Being with the one dear to you throughout this life makes navigating through it a little easier; maybe yes, maybe not… but it will make it a little different and happier that’s for sure. You go along hoping it would last forever with the one who became so dear to you but then crashes you to the shore and you find yourself gasping for air because you realize you could not live without him anymore. Life will never be the same after. You will no longer be the one you used to before him.
At least that’s what happened to Louisa Clark. An ordinary girl who was used to living a simple life in a small place she calls home. She was comfortable and felt safe leading a life in their town. She had a steady boyfriend, a normal family and a common struggle of finding a stable job. The only thing in her mind was just to find a job that rewards her and that she could love. A job that would not suffocate her, ironically. That was the plan. She was never the type to explore and think of possibilities beyond the things she has been dealt with. There was even a point she did not know what to make of the future since she hadn’t thought about it…yet. She hadn’t had much faith in herself having a sister who seems to be smarter than her. Mundane. Unsurprising. No complications. That was her life before Will Traynor.
Will Traynor who is a quadriplegic bound to his wheelchair for the rest of his life used to be an adventurer, a clever negotiator, a traveller, a daredevil, and a financial whiz. He was living his life the way he wanted it until he suffered an accident that took away almost everything. Two years before the accident he loved his life. But no longer being able to do the things he used to love, he was determined to end his life after six months even before he met Louisa Clark.
Then Louisa became his caregiver. They did not instantly like each other and had to endure each other’s existence for very different reasons of their own. Louisa did not like Will because he was “vile” to him and seemed to give her every reason to give up her job. Will did not like Louisa per se; not for her character but who she was to him. In fact, at the end, when Louisa and Will revealed each other what they felt in their last night at Mauritius, I like to believe, Will unknowingly told Louisa he liked her the first time he laid eyes on him despite her crazy dress and shoes. She was hired to look after him which reminded him more of who he no longer is. And he could not accept that and could not live with the fact. I liked that on their first encounter, Moyes did not focus on first impressions and did not take time to describe how Will looked like. How handsome he is despite his conditions. I loved how Moyes at different points of the story let Louisa gave away clues on how handsome he is. Not that how Will looked like mattered but what mattered was that Will grew on Louisa and the intimacy grew between them gradually which made Louisa’s feelings for Will deeper than any first impressions.
The storytelling was great in making the characters so believable and real especially that of Louisa’s. I found that Moyes not including Will’s point of view in any part of the story makes Will a weak character in the story. And that not including Will’s point of view solidifies his determination to end his life. I found that very effective and clever.
I liked how it seemed that Will went along with every Louisa’s plans for outings because he wanted her to be happy and to make her see that there is so much more she can do. I liked that without them fully realizing, they were looking after each other after all. It melts my heart every time I remember it.
I understood Louisa’s resentment towards Will. I even thought Will did not loved Louisa enough to be his reason to stay. And that’s the thing most heartbreaking about Me Before You. What if you fall in love with someone you can never be with for the rest of your life even if you want to so badly? What if you fall for someone who had lost his will to live? But surprisingly, I wanted to fall in love the way Louisa Clark fell in love with Will Traynor. Me Before You is funny and a light read, initially but just like what happened to Louisa falling in love with Will, the story would grow on you until it has the ability to break your heart fully in the end. I was not ready for the ending. The last chapters were heartbreaking but to me they were the most beautiful part of the story. I found myself crying as I am finishing it and then sobbing uncontrollably after I finished it.
It is also an inspiring read in a way that makes you evaluate how you live your life. Are you like Louisa before Will who seemed to have limited choices? Choices that appear to be limited because of your mindset? Are you like Louisa before Will who doesn’t seem to have the will to push herself further? Or are you Will before Louisa who lives life to the fullest? Will taught me that the possibilities are in front of us and that they are endless. You just have to see them and have the will to reach for them. You just have to push the boundaries that keep you in a box for so long. Paradoxically, Will Traynor chose to give up on pushing boundaries that were set by the wheelchair he was sitting upon. I think it’s where the strength of the book lies. It’s ability to bring out raw and genuine emotions. It’s heartfelt. It’s perfection.
And for the lines, here are some of my favourite lines:
“I saw the toddler, reaching out for my hand, the schoolboy weeping tears of fury after being bullied by some other child. I saw the vulnerabilities, the love, the history. That’s what he’s asking me to extinguish-the small child as well as the man-all that love, all that history.”-Camilla Traynor
“I couldn’t see his mouth but his eyes creased with faint mirth. I wanted to keep them like that. I wanted him to be happy-for his face to lose that haunted, watchful look. I gabbled. I told jokes. I started to hum. Anything to prolong the moment before he looked grim again.”-Louisa Clark
“I was afraid of what he might be feeling, the depth of his loss, the extent of his fears. Will Traynor’s life had been so far beyond the experience of mine. Who was I to tell him how he should want to live it?”-Louisa Clark
“You only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.”-Will Traynor
“I worked out what would make me happy, and I worked out what I wanted to do, and I trained myself to do the job that would make those two things happen.”-Will Traynor
“I will never, ever regret the things I’ve done. Because most days, if you’re stuck in one of these, all you have are the places in your memory that you can go to.”-Will Traynor
“Some mistakes…just have greater consequences than others. But you don’t have to let that night be the thing that defines you.”-Will Traynor
“Sometimes, Clark, you are pretty much the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning.”-Will Traynor
“But I want him to live if he wants to live. If he doesn’t, then by forcing him to carry on, you, me-no matter how much we love him-we become just another shitty bunch of people taking away his choices.”-Nathan
“I stared out of the window at the bright-blue Swiss sky and I told him a story of two people. Two people who shouldn’t have met, and who didn’t like each other much when they did, but who found they were the only two people in the world who could possibly have understood each other. And I told him of the adventures they had, the places they had gone, and the things they had seen that they had never expected to. I conjured for him electric skies and iridescent seas and evenings full of laughter and silly jokes. I drew a world for him, a world away from a Swiss industrial estate, a world in which he was still somehow the person he had wanted to be. I drew the world he had created for me, full of wonder and possibility. I let him know a hurt had been mended in a way that he couldn’t have known, and for that alone there would always be a piece of me indebted to him. And as I spoke I knew these would be the most important words I would ever say and that it was important that they were the right words, that they were not propaganda, an attempt to change his mind but respectful of what Will had said.”-Louisa Clark
“…I took his arm and wrapped it lightly around me, threading my own arms and legs around him so that we were tightly entwined. I took his hand-the good one-and wrapped my fingers in his, kissing the knuckles as I felt him squeeze mine. His body was familiar to me now. I knew it in a way I had never known Patrick’s-its strengths and vulnerabilities, its scars and scents. I placed my face so close to his that his features became indistinct, and I began to lose myself in them. I stroked his hair, his skin, his brow with my fingertips, tears sliding unchecked down my cheeks, my nose against his, and all the time he watched me silently, studying me intently as he were storing each molecule of me away…”-Louisa Clark
“I kissed him, trying to bring him back. I kissed him and let my lips rest against his so that our breath mingled and the tears from my eyes become salt on his skin, and I told myself that, somewhere tiny particles of him would become tiny particles of me, ingested, swallowed, alive, perpetual. I wanted to press every bit of me against him. I wanted to will something into him. I wanted to give him every bit of life I felt and force him to live.”-Louisa Clark
“So I held him, Will Traynor, ex-financial whiz kid, ex-stunt diver, sportsman, traveller, lover. I held him close and said nothing, all the while telling him silently that he was loved. Oh but he was loved.”-Louisa Clark
“…there is hunger in you Clark. A fearlessness. You just buried it like most people do.”-Will Traynor
“I’m not really telling you to jump off tall buildings, or swim with whales or anything (although I would secretly love to think you were), but to live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Wear those stripy legs with pride…”-Will Traynor
VenusDeMalayo(VenusAtFar) 