Me Before You — My POV

For those of you who don’t know, Me Before You is a romantic novel by Jojo Moyes (another masterpiece by her, I know). This book revolves around Louisa “Lou” Clark and Will Traynor. They live in the same town but hadn’t crossed paths for years. Louisa is a town-girl, attached to her life and family there. She is a chirpy, sunshine-personified girl. Louisa loses her stable job of 6 years in the town cafeteria after it shuts down. She is devastated, since she joined this to help her family and share the weight of a middle-class family’s financial burdens. She is in dire need of a job and that is evident in the multiple rounds she makes at the job center agency. Like a glimmer of hope, a job agent offers her a job initiated by Camilla Traynor, the town’s senator. Lou goes there and finds that her new job expects her to be a caregiver to her quadriplegic client Will Traynor. She quickly finds out that he was a broken shell of a man, life having left no stone unturned to shatter not only his heart but his entire soul. He was a sporty man since his adolescent days, always the daredevil guy, going on life-threathening adventurous just for the thrill. But after a motorcycle knocks him over during a walk in the rain, he is paralyzed from the neck down. Another blow to his fragile mental state was when his then-girlfriend got together with his (supposed, because why would you date your bestfriend’s girl) bestfriend. He completely shatters into a depressing, suicidal version of himself. The constrasting natures of these two collide through the pages. Will is often cross with her, and Lou being a people pleaser used to take in his bitterness, eager to make him happy. Later, Lou discovers a heart-wrenching secret. Will had given his parents 6 months to change his mind or else he would continue with his plan of passive euthanasia in Dignitas, Switzerland. Lou was knocked-sideways, especially after his mother pleaded her to save her son’s life. One day, they recieve an invite to his ex-girlfriend’s and bestfriend’s wedding. This is where Lou starts to have feelings (subconscious ones) for Will. She doesn’t cheat on him, not even emotionally, but her mind lingers on her client. They dance with Lou on Will’s lap during the party with Will getting slightly tipsy with his caretaker, not bothering with the scandalized whispers and stares. The next moment is a pivotal moment for them. As they sit in the car ready to drive back home, Will asks her to stay here with him, wanting to feel like a normal guy taking a girl in a red dress to a concert. This scene really struck a chord in my heart. These few words contain the emotions of a lifetime and God knows of how many people who suffer similarly or dissimilarly. This scene is a manifestation of the budding chemistry between them, the pure love Will has for Lou and Lou being oblivious to it. On her birthday too, when Will gave her the perfect birthday gift of childish, bright yellow bee stockings (she mentioned it one time how they’d stop making these), the depth of Will’s feelings for Lou were clear as distilled water to even her family. She tried her best to keep him anchored to the world of happiness she introduced him to, resorting to defenses such as horse riding (Will hated horses, so that backfired) and a beautiful vacation in Mauritius. Little did she know nothing could change Will’s headstrong-self. She was overwhelmed with emotions when Will revealed he wasn’t giving up on his decision, he’d promised his parents 6 months and he gave them and Lou exactly that. Lou was torn. She knew where Will was coming from but she also felt cheated, she really thought she was changing him, helping him. She storms out of the shore, refusing to talk. Later, she comes around and stays with him in the last moments of his life. In the epilogue, Lou was reading a letter in which Will encourages her to live life freely, boldly and unapologetically, almost as if he were giving advice to his younger self.