For those who haven't heard a lick about the book or movie, the story is of Louisa Clark, a girl who is perfectly content with her small-town life in an English town known primarily for tourist visits to the town's old castle during the summer months. But once she loses her job at the café she had worked at for years, she ends up taking a 6-month temporary job as a companion for a young man, Will Traynor, who had recently become quadriplegic. She is initially excited for the opportunity and wants to do everything she can to be a positive person to Will, however, he despises her. And pretty much despises life itself now, as prior to the accident, he lived his life to the fullest with a big time job and extreme sports in all corners of the globe. So he is very resentful of the life he feels was taken away.
Through a series of events, Will softens to Louisa but she soon discovers that the 6-month period of her employment is tied to the terminus date for when Will plans to complete a doctor assisted suicide in Switzerland. So she wants to do everything she can to make the last 6 months of his life as joyful and wonderful as possible, under the circumstances. And in the process discovers that she has a lot more drive than she ever gave herself credit for.
The writing in the book was certainly quality enough to make it good, quick read. And the characters were so well defined. There were many facets to Louisa that I enjoyed - she was such an effervescent character in spite of some situations in her past and the complexities of her family dynamics. And the author certainly did a good job of making you really not care for Will but slowly bring him back in as a likeable, and certainly, sympathetic character. However, whether the reader ultimately felt sympathy for Will is certainly the crux of the novel.
When I finished reading the book, in spite of my hysterical crying surprisingly not waking my boyfriend up at midnight in our London hotel, the first thing I wanted to do was to talk to someone else who had read the book. Because I needed to vent and get someone else's perspective on the ending. But limited by my lack of an international phone plan on my phone, and the fact that...oh...I WAS ON VACATION IN EUROPE, I had to settle for a little internet searching in some of the fleeting moments when we actually had wifi. And I think I came to a place where I was accepting of how it ended and still happy with where their relationship ended up.
I even scooted to the movie theatre last week to see Me Before You before it goes away from the theatre. And there were surprisingly more people there than I expected on a Thursday evening, much to my chagrin, as I knew this would require me to keep my sobbing in check. But no worry, when washing my hands in the restroom and looking up at my hot mess, disheveled face, red-rimmed eyes, and snotted nose, I'm sure I sufficiently got my cry on to get some turned heads in the theatre.... The movie was mostly faithful to the book, but there was 1 big plot omission that certainly did change the narrative of Louisa's character. But I can see why the author chose to leave it out for the movie (JoJo Moyes also wrote the screenplay for the movie). It would have been harder to reconcile the way Emilia Clarke plays the character versus some of the darker situations of the character in the book. But I was happy with the faithful portrayal. And yeah, the tears.
So long and short of the book and movie - keep the tissues handy. And try not to wake others up or disturb other movie-goers with your hard-to-keep-stifled sobs. It's no easy feat.
I'm most of the way through Nightwood by Djuna Barnes and hope to finish it while relaxing over the holiday weekend.
Have a happy 4th!
Oh, and certainly one of infinite joyful moments from our time in Paris, was being above to see 27 Rue de Fleurus. And even to think of the greatest writers and artists of the 20th century congregating here, was just too delightful for words!!
