Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

     I recently read the book Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I had heard about the upcoming movie adaptation of this book & I have to admit I love Sam Claflin. I have seen I saw him in the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie (even though that movie was ridiculous, he was great.) Anywho I was looking up the movie & found out that it was based on a book, so I decided hey I'm going to check out this book. It must be pretty good if they decided to turn it into a movie. So I did just that.
     Let's start off by talking about the summary of this book. Will Traynor is an adrenaline junkie. The bigger the adventure the better. But that all changes one day when he's crossing the street & gets hit by a motorcycle. From that day on his life might as well be over in his eyes. He is paralyzed from the neck down. He ends up quitting his big time job & moving back home with his parents who want to help take care of him. He shuts himself off from the world & falls in to a nonstop depression.
     Two years later enter Louisa Clark. She has just lost her job at a local cafe & is one of three supporters in a household of six. Needing to find a job to help continue to support her family, she finds a listing for a caregiver needed for a quadriplegic. Pay is good & the only real tasks are to keep the employer company & basic household tasks (cooking, cleaning, etc.). So Louisa goes to be interviewed. To her amazement the wealthy, slightly snobbish woman (Will's mom) hires her. But the job is harder than she thought. Will is about as antisocial as they come & besides dealing with his paralysis, Will is riddled with side-effect health issues that keep her & his nurse busy. 
     Try as she might Louisa can't get through to Will. But when she learns that Will doesn't plan on living past the next 6 months, she kicks it in to overdrive to try & change his mind that his life is over. Over months Louisa & Will bond. He starts to leave his house, starts talking to people again & even starts to show signs of happiness that his family hasn't seen since before his accident. But is it enough?

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     This book was really good! I see 100% why they turned it into a movie! Will is a very relateable character. Here he has been living this high pace, independent life & suddenly he can't even feed himself & his body is literally fighting against him. He feels totally helpless. I think just about anybody in his position would think their life is over. (Now for those of you that didn't catch on to my previous clue & have decided to read my spoiler filled thoughts on this book, when I said that Will doesn't plan on living past the next 6 months, he has scheduled an appointment with a clinic to help him end his life.) I have had discussions about this topic (Dr. aided suicide) in previous classes I've taken & I feel like this is an extreme "solution" to a hard situation. As someone who has to have help, simply can't do a lot of things & am in constant pain because of a disability I think I have a fairly well earned right to view this idea with some disdain. Sure I might not have as well a quality of life which makes what I can fit into it rather limited, it doesn't mean that for me I can't still do something meaningful with my life. Anywho... 
     If you didn't also guess, Louisa & Will end up falling in love. I think that is actually what makes this story so tragic. Louisa struggles with her feelings, meaning that she doesn't love him right away, then when people start pointing it out she is in denial going "no I just care about him we are friends." yadda yadda. But then she finally has her lightbulb moment & goes... I do love him! Will on the other hand is a little more transparent. See Louisa has a boyfriend through most of the book. Things are going great between her & Will then she decides to move in with her boyfriend & quite literally Will shuts the world out again. His mother makes a comment to Louisa about how she's "rubbing her life into Will's face" & that's why he's shutting everybody out again. I think while that might be some of it, I think it also had to do that by moving in with her boyfriend, it was like closing a door on Will's hope. Hope is a powerful motivator. 
     This book was, like I already said really good. I would totally recommend it to you guys! However for the last 1/2 HAVE A BOX OF TISSUES WITH YOU!!! You'll need it!!