book review: me before you

I absolutely loved this book. It isn't often that you can cry and still be simultaneously sad and happy at the end of the book. Seeing as the movie is coming out next year, i knew i had to read it soon especially because the cast is just amazing. The main characters will be played by Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke, two amazing actors! Knowing this, i couldn't help but imagine those two in my head while i was reading, and they're perfect for the roles. I'm rating this book 4.8 out of 5.

Me Before You is a story about Louisa Clark, an unambitious 26-year-old woman still living with her parents whom she finances. Lou lost the one job she had had for the last six years, and goes through many attempts to find another suitable job that pays well to support her and her family. After a while of job searching, she is finally offered an interview as a carer for a quadriplegic named Will Traynor. Will has lost the desire to live after his tragic accident two years ago that left him being unable to move most of his body for the rest of his life. Lou gets hired to try to help Will see that his life is still worth living. This book is about hope, family, love, mentality and friendship.

The main reason i loved this book so, so much is not only because of the mountain-load of feels i got at the end of the book that even brought a lot of tears flooding, but mostly because of how much I could relate to Lou as a character. She was somebody who didn't have big ambitions and goals and didn't think so much about her future. She didn't have much desire to try new things and explore much of the world. Lou was comfortable with where she was, and had no problem with simple pleasures like watching television and reading books. Reading about her in this aspect affected me so much, making me feel like i'm a part of the main character. Not only that, but this book actually deals with this mentality of Lou's. Through time, other characters step in and try to encourage her to get out of her comfort zone, and she discovers that she has a lot of potential and hidden energy inside.

I absolutely loved that. It's not always that you find a book that can move you personally. In this one, I'm a lot more determined to develop like she did. I'm inspired.

The style of writing is very, very easy to follow to the point where I rarely realise that I'd read a chunk of pages in one sitting. I could have finished it in a day but i didn't want to be overloaded with feels at 3am in the morning so i continued reading the next day. I really loved how funny this book is with all the jokes, sarcasm and remarks. I think i laughed quite a lot of times(out loud).

What was quite interesting too was that the author had included a chapter for some of the side characters to tell their points of view. The prologue had started with Will's POV, which i realised later was quite smart so that we already get a general idea about what kind of person Will is. Most of the book is told from Lou's POV, and there's one chapter for the side characters Mrs Traynor, Will, Mr Traynor and Lou's sister. I was impressed with how well this suited the book. It created more depth, making us question our earlier judgment for those characters when we read their thoughts through their own POV. My favourite side-character POV was Mrs Traynor's. My perception towards her changed completely after reading what she really felt about her son.

One thing I enjoy about reading books is when you can find out more about the world from it. This book taught me a lot about quadriplegics and people with disability in general; the things they go through, their mentality, their struggles, the community that exists to help them and their carers, etc. It also talked about the issue of assisted suicide and the social consequences of it to the family of the patient. It even showed me some beautiful holiday destinations in the world for amazing adventures.

***SPOILER SECTION***
As tragic as the ending is, i think i actually liked it. But honestly though, i did not at all expect him to die. I did not expect Will to actually go through with it, especially after everything Lou had done for him and him even admitting that the last 6 months had been the best of his life. I really had thought love was going to be the thing that saved him. Although a huge part of me is shattered by the fact that it wasn't enough, I'm grateful that the author made this very realistic. I wish he and Lou had gotten more romantic moments with each other though, but that would probably have made me cry even more in the end.

Oh yes, of course i cried! The most tears was when reading Will's final letter to Lou. He sounded so himself, it was heartbreaking. And finding out that he'd left a lot of money for her to go live her life the way he believes she can, that was just wow. I felt like parts of that letter could be directed to the reader, to me.

I also cried this other time but i can't remember which part it was. But I was quite moved when reading Mrs Traynor's chapter. That was the chapter that described how a mother would be affected by a situation like this. The way she would do absolutely anything to keep her child breathing, to keep her child wanting to live. I found that so, so beautiful. Surprisingly, she's one of my favourite characters in this book.

Another favourite character(aside from Lou and Will of course) is Nathan. I'm a little disappointed that there was not much closure for Nathan at the end. The last we saw of him was at the airport and then there was nothing more. I would have liked to see a final moment with him and Will. I also enjoyed Nathan's POV and when he admitted that he would not judge Will for his decision because he knows how much pain Will was going through every day.

***END OF SPOILER SECTION***

This book is going to make it to my Top Ten Reads of his year, and possibly of all time. Prepare to laugh and cry and have a lot of feels, that's my advice :) Can't wait for the movie and the sequel!!