Me Before You (Me Before You, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jan 01, 2015 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: concierge, library, social-commentary, romance, friendship, england, audio, relationships, contemporary-fiction, tear-jerker

Book on CD narrated by various artists.

Louisa Clark is a 27-year-old waitress/coffee shop counter girl living with her parents in a small English village dominated by a large castle which attracts tourists in season. Her younger sister lives with the family as well, including her toddler son, Thomas. Their father’s hours at the furniture factory have been curtailed and the family struggles to pay the bills, so when the café closes, Louisa is at a loss for finding any sort of job for which she i Book on CD narrated by various artists.

Louisa Clark is a 27-year-old waitress/coffee shop counter girl living with her parents in a small English village dominated by a large castle which attracts tourists in season. Her younger sister lives with the family as well, including her toddler son, Thomas. Their father’s hours at the furniture factory have been curtailed and the family struggles to pay the bills, so when the café closes, Louisa is at a loss for finding any sort of job for which she is qualified. With some trepidation she takes a position as a caregiver / companion to a man with a spinal cord injury which has left him a quadriplegic. Despite her lack of experience in the field, she’s hired because of her generally upbeat attitude. Will Traynor is acerbic, moody and downright rude, but Louisa refuses to molly coddle him and soon they develop a mutual respect as well as a mutual desire to bring some happiness into each other’s lives.

This is not what I was expecting. I thought it would be a fluffy, light chick-lit romance – something on the order of Bridget Jones’ Diary. What I got was a much more complex story of two people with completely different outlooks on life who somehow manage to connect and affect one another. Each of them is wounded or injured in some way, and each finds some measure of healing as they get to know one another.

I have to admit that I had figured out the ending fairly soon, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment of how Moyes got there. I was engaged and invested in these two characters. I indulged in imagining various possible scenarios but let the author reveal her story in her own way. And I really liked the ways in which both Louisa and Will grow through the novel (particularly Louisa). I did wonder if the title would be better reversed - YOU before Me.

When I met the man who is now my husband, we talked about the books we were reading and told each other the stories. We’ve kept that up over the years, not for every book, but for particularly memorable ones. This was a story I started telling him as I began the book. I’m nowhere near the storyteller Moyes is, but I felt a little like Scheherazade when each night he would ask me, “What’s happening now?”

The audiobook is narrated by a team of talented voice artists. Alex Tregear is Katrina; Anna Bentinck voices Camilla Traynor; Steven Crossley is Steven Traynor; Owen Lindsay narrates as Nathan; Andrew Wincott reads the prologue; and Susan Lyons gives voice to Louisa Clark (which is the majority of the book). This was effective in portraying the different perspectives each of the characters bring to the story.
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Sep 03, 2014 Carol rated it really liked it

Shelves: september-2014, sad-story-but-good

I have to say that I loved the writing, the characters, and their lives in London. As soon as I read the first chapter, I was hooked and completed it in 30 hours. I read it through the night, and when I reached the end, I couldn't stop crying. A book I will never forget. ...more

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