From the Bookshelf of Turn of a Page…

Me Before You (Me Before You, #1)

Jojo Moyes

Start date: February 1, 2023

Finish date: February 28, 2023

Discussion: Series of the Month 2023

Why we're reading this: Feb 2023 SOTM
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Series of the Month 2023

* December 2023 SOTM -- Bridgertons series by Julia Quinn
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What Members Thought

Dec 11, 2013 Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Damn sad-ass book. Ok so yeah, I pretty much knew what was going on (the sequel's title gives it away), but I still found myself hopeful throughout the book and wishing somehow there was a twist.

Where did that get me, you ask?

Ohhh, somewhere around here:

sobbing gif photo: ugly crying Fresh Prince tumblr_ll9lp0fB811qfabe8.gif

I can't remember the last time I ugly-cried so much because of a book. Like, the ugliest of cries.

All that being said, this book does deserve the rave reviews. It was amazing and addicting and angering and everything else. I'm scared to read ...more

25 likes · Like · see review

Nov 19, 2013 Shruti morethanmylupus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I was a little hesitant about this book. The cover makes it look flighty and fun (it isn't.) The synopsis made it sound like a book written just for a book club discussion (it kind of was.) Plus, I actually worked as a caregiver for a man who was essentially a quadriplegic due to a disease that he developed later in life. He wasn't too far off from Will's age. He was successful before this disease took the music he loved away from him. So I picked up this book hesitantly, not because I couldn't I was a little hesitant about this book. The cover makes it look flighty and fun (it isn't.) The synopsis made it sound like a book written just for a book club discussion (it kind of was.) Plus, I actually worked as a caregiver for a man who was essentially a quadriplegic due to a disease that he developed later in life. He wasn't too far off from Will's age. He was successful before this disease took the music he loved away from him. So I picked up this book hesitantly, not because I couldn't deal with the topic of assisted suicide but because I wasn't sure I could handle it if the book completely botched the realities.

In the end, I really enjoyed the book. I thought it was fairly well done other than some glaring issues with Louisa getting the job in the first place. Most of my complaints were about Louisa herself or about how the book was written rather than about how Will’s medical conditions are characterized. It wasn’t perfect, but it was well enough done for a lay person to get at least a basic understanding of the realities.

Obviously, the underlying theme in this book is about assisted suicide. However, I think what I liked most about the book was the fact that it was about the characters and their emotions and not about the politics and the religious debate.

There were some things that the book did really well:
(view spoiler)[
• The fear Louisa has of messing up his care and endangering him - and the fact that she actually does more than once.
• People deal with this sort of situation and grief differently. Camilla’s coldness. Mr. Traynor’s detachment.
• The impact that decisions about assisted suicide have not only on the immediate loved ones, but on the people whom the loved ones rely on. The varying ways that Louisa's family reacted were well done as was the fact that while Will’s quadriplegia didn't initiate the issues in the Traynor’s marriage it did drive them farther apart.
• The fact that his family supported Will in the end but clearly still didn't agree. They didn't magically say "Ok, you're right, I get it now." And the way that Louisa said what he needed to hear even as we see her actual thoughts.
• All the things that Louisa discovered could be adapted so that Will could participate in them.
• Will’s frustrations.
• The complexity of the care that Will needed (though even this was simplified in many ways.)
• The repetitive and highly timetable-oriented nature of his day to day life.
• The frustrations Louisa and Camilla express about what they should or shouldn't be doing for him.
• The reactions of the people he meets when they go out: supportive, curious, overly friendly, normal.
• The realities of trying to take a huge van somewhere where you can find parking, ramps and elevators. The fact that going to a movie requires a certain amount of space that not all theaters have. These were shown well.
• How much Will could still enjoy doing and discussing in general. People seem to hear “quadriplegic” and assume that they aren't capable of understanding or enjoyment.
• Will’s elaboration of what is or isn’t enough. That conversation in general was well done as was the one in the clinic.
• The fact that everyone is trying to show Will what's "right" for him instead of discussing with him. It was as if they were going to sneakily change his mind because they know better.. and he wasn't going to notice what they were trying to do. He wasn't an idiot. Yet people seem to do that all the time in so many situations that it felt realistic.
• Will’s letter to Louisa.

(hide spoiler)]

There were some things about the book that detracted from my love of it overall:
(view spoiler)

...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2015 Kelly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I absolutely loved this book. I stopped reading and put the book down every now and then because I knew every page I read was getting me closer to the end. I didn't want to let these characters go. The last 20 pages or so were torture! I loved the characters, felt their pain, their joy, their sadness... I was pained knowing the story was coming to an end. I know that sounds dramatic, but Jojo Moyes made them so alive for me I felt a part of their story. I am looking forward to seeing the movie; ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2017 Jade aka MrsTosh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, fiction, contemp-romance, illness

This book has broken me :( heartbreakingly beautiful

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 17, 2016 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

LOVED LOVED LOVED this book so much!!!! I cannot even begin to tell you how much this book made me feel. I haven't read a book that made me feel so much since I read A Court of Mist and Fury. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I am so happy I decided to pick this one up and read it. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 28, 2013 Amanda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, contemporary

My heart is full and broken at the same time.

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2017 Keri rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series-not-continuing

3.5 stars for me, but really closer to 4 so I rounded up. I really liked this story a lot, but think that part of it was all the hype and everyone I knew who loved it so much, along with the fact that I had seen the movie before getting to read the book--which I don't like to do. I liked the movie alot but since I knew the plot it may have affected me in reading this. I still, like almost always, liked the book more than the movie and it still really impacted me as a great story. ...more

Like · see review