Personal Rating: 2 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.3 Stars Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time. (goodreads.com) The reason I read this book was because of the movie that came out recently. I hadn’t seen the movie, but I’d seen the trailers and it looked so adorable and sweet. I put the book on hold at my local library and waited. In the time that I was waiting for the book to come in, I had plans to go see the movie with my mom and sister. A few hours before we’d planned to go to the theater I decided to check out the Plugged In review to make sure it was something I actually wanted to see. Turns out, it really wasn’t. I’m not going to say here why that is, but I will post a spoiler section below just in case you are wondering why I had absolutely zero interest in this. After finding out about the movie, why would I want to read the book still? Well, it had just come into the library and I wanted to see for myself what the plot was like because I know movies don’t always portray their books very well. I read it. It was a very easy read and very entertaining for the most part. Definitely an adult book because of a few parts in it, but if those parts had been left out then this book probably would have been marketed at teens. It was a nice book; the writing was good, the characters were fun, and the plotting wasn’t overly cliche. However, since I’d read the Plugged In review, I knew what was coming and I couldn’t enjoy the story at all. When I got to the end I wanted to throw the book away from me or light it on fire. It disgusted me. It made me truly, truly sad - and not the kind of sad where you get a little teary eyed, close the book, sigh, and rave about it to your friends. This was the kind of sad that made me go hug my mom for comfort and wish I’d never seen that movie trailer. What could have possibly happened? I can’t really tell you without giving away spoilers (though I’d actually recommend looking at spoilers for this book before deciding to read it), but it was not good. It was a wretched thing to read and I can’t imagine why someone would want to write this story and have what happens happen. Of course, you know this is only my opinion and you can think whatever you like about this book. I know there are some people who love it, but I cannot say that I am one of them. The characters were pretty good. Lou was sweet and interesting (though I feel like a story about her family might have been more enjoyable), but sometimes a bit annoying. Will was kind of irritating. He was alright, I guess, but for the most part I just wanted to slap him. So, on the whole, I did not like this book nor do I recommend it. I’ve heard there is a sequel, but I won’t be reading it. I’m going to include a spoiler section now (click Read More to view), which I suggest you read before reading the book (which is kind of a weird thing to suggest), but you don’t have to. National Suicide Prevention Hotline (USA): 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Text Line (USA): 741741 Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15507958-me-before-you?ac=1&from_search=true Spoiler Section:
Okay, here’s the main thing you need to know about this book. It’s all about suicide. Do you kind of see why I’m not really a fan? If this is a topic you find uncomfortable or potentially triggering then I urge you to put as much distance between yourself and Me Before You as possible. Will, the quadriplegic man and love interest, is depressed with his life and wants to die. According to his mother he’s already tried and nearly succeeded to end his life once. The main plot of this story is Louisa trying to get him to see that life is worth living, but here’s the thing: she fails. At the end of the story she and he fall in love but he says that she’s not enough for him and commits assisted suicide at a clinic with her and his family watching all the while. The book tussles with the question of if this is okay or not, but it seems like they ultimately decided that if it’s what the person wants then it’s fine. I’m not okay with that. I am so not okay with that. This made me sick to my stomach. I really didn’t want to write this review because I hated this book and didn’t want to revisit it. However, I do want people to know what they are getting into when they pick up this novel and if I can prevent someone who really shouldn’t read this from reading it, then I consider this post a success. People, you may not see it now, but life is worth living. God has a plan for you. That’s all I have to say about it. Thanks for reading.
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