(...) live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle. Wear those stripy legs with pride. (William Traynor)
When I started reading Me Before You, I wasn't blown away on the first page and I didn't understand why this book was being hyped so much. I thought that the great reviews and the amazing movie trailer heightened my expectations to a level that this book wouldn't reach. I was so damn wrong! Me Before You crept into my mind. I couldn't put this book down and when I did, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Towards the middle of this book, I was suddenly punched in the gut with the most unexpected feels. I don't know when last I felt as emotionally attached to a book!
Louisa is an endearing character. She's bubbly, quirky, wears bright and shiny clothes and ends up in realistically awkward situations that make her extremely relatable. Louisa is satisfied with her comfortable and predictable life until she loses her job. Thereafter she finds a new job as a carer for William Traynor. Will was a rich business man who was full of life and took part in stunt-activities such as diving off cliffs and bungee-jumping, until a motorcycle accident makes him lose the use of his limbs and he is trapped in a wheelchair, a life so different from his old one, and has no desire to live.
This book is about two people: Louisa and Will. One who is stuck in a world that she thinks she loves and the other who is stuck in a world that he doesn't. They both have first impressions about each other that are way off, but as they spend more time together, they warm up to each other and form an extremely beautiful friendship, that is characterized with sarcastic jabs, deep moments and unexpected humour. It's a relationship that allows two people to grow and experience the world in a way that they've never experienced before.
This book also has amazing secondary characters whose personalities were fleshed out. I especially loved Lou's family. They are hilarious and remind me of my own family. Lou's love-hate relationship with her sister was also extremely amazing.
This book isn't a conventional romance, nor is it a chick-lit book that the cover and the blurb make it seem to be. The main focus of this book is not it's love story. This book is about life and it's about choice. It's a book with extremely realistic characters who deal with situations in the most believable manner and I might not have agreed with many of the characters choices, but I understood their motives behind their choices and felt empathetic towards with them.
This book also deals with living with a disability in an extremely realistic manner. This book doesn't sugar-coat what people with disabilities experience. It's shows the good and the ugly parts of what they go through and how other people interact with them. It gave me an insight into their lives and their mind. While there is controversy about the message that this book gives to able-bodied people and people with disabilities, I'm glad that this book promotes discussion and debates.
Who was I before Me Before You? I was a cold hearted piece of steel. Who was after Me Before You? An absolutely emotional mess. Me Before You is a book of firsts. It was the first book that made me cry, the first book where I cried and laughed at the same time because the seriousness and the humour balanced each other perfectly and it's one my favourite book of 2016.
You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible. (William Traynor)