Alright so I'm like really late for the party here but I just read Me Before You because I just watched the movie (late to the party for that too but hey it was on Hulu) and I had both feelings and questions--so I read it and here are my issues.
***These are all just my opinions and remember opinions are like assholes: Everyone has one and they're all shitty ;) ***
Number One: Random POV jumps
Why? Just--why? I mean right off the bat the accident from Will's perspective I get. We get to see a brief glimpse into his life before it's changed. Great. Awesome. I love it. But 7 chapters in throwing us into the first person point of view of Camilla and then several chapters later Mr. Traynor and then again with Nathan and Treena? No. It's too jolting and helps us to miss things I'd rather have liked to see. Lou moving in? I wanted to see that. The jumps seem strategically placed for us to miss things between Lou and Will and I would rather the book were longer and get to see those bits.
Each perspective would be interesting in their own right. I would read this book retold from each person's perspective because I think that would be interesting too--they're good characters--but the focus is on Lou. She is our main character and we spend too much time solely with her first person POV to comfortably jump to someone else for a chapter.
Number Two: You are a man who has been to a concert with a woman in a red dress
This one bugged me throughout the book (as well as the movie). Like I understand he feels deficient. I get that. He was action man and now he's wheelchair man. But it doesn't seem that at any point anyone mentions the fact that he's still a person. Did he really only identify with the physical part of himself? Did he really define himself by the things he was able to physically do and not the things he thought, or felt or accomplished in those aspects of his life? I just felt that needed to be a conversation there at some point and I thought the concert was the perfect time to swiftly mention "Well yeah Will. You are a man who has just been to a concert with a woman in a red dress. It happened. You were there. That doesn't go away when you wheel out of the car. You're still a man. Still a person.".
Not that he needed to listen or agree or anything but I just felt it needed saying.
Number Three: The Beach
So, after watching the movie I definitely felt that there was more to the thing on the beach. It felt clipped and I was like I need to read that because that can't have been it. So I read it and I was right--that wasn't it--but it still wasn't enough for me. She did say what I needed her to say in the movie.
"I tell you I love you and want to build a future with you, and you ask me to come and watch you kill yourself?" - "Me Before You" - Jojo Moyes
I was so happy to read that line because it is almost exactly how I worded it in my mind and when I read it I actually punched the air with glee (ask my dog he looked at me like "Mom, it's midnight. Stop.") and the fuck you's were also nice, but for me-- Lou realizes that she not only failed but was just plain not good enough (which is basically the story of her life) and that, for me anyway, was devastating for her and I needed him to feel a little bit of that. She grew and felt competent and capable because of him--because of his influence--and not that I wanted that to go away but I wanted there to be a brief loss and I wanted him to know how that affected her. I wanted her to tell him just how shattering that was to hear--because if he thought even for a second she wasn't going to go and live the life he wanted for her. If she had said thank you for reminding me that I'm still just dumb Lou who isn't good enough for anything and now you get to go die and I get to go be a stripper--he would have waited. Not that I think he wouldn't have ever gone and I don't disagree with his decision. He's a grown person allowed to make whatever decision he wants--but he loved her and was invested in her future. If he thought his death was going to compromise that he would have held off long enough to get her on board--which I believe she deserved. I don't think that was fair. If he loved her the way he claimed he would have wanted her to be okay with it and he would have let her be a part of the appointment making process.
Alright. Rant over.
Those are my three major issues with Me Before You. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to read the next two--I probably will because I am invested and am morbidly curious about what happens to Lou and everyone so when I get around to that I will rant my feels about them too.
I do want to say it is a really good book (and the movie is a nice synopsis so if you want the cliff notes version just watch the movie). It's an easy read and an enjoyable one so I still definitely recommend it--I just had feelings and I get stuck on the things that bug me, but overall I did like it and as always the book is better than the movie and whoever tells you otherwise is a dirty liar ;)
Anyway, have you read it? Do you feel the same? Do you disagree? Feel free to comment below and vent your frustrations or point out what you loved.
Sincerely,
Cori
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