Book SUMMARY 1: Me Before You: JoJo Moyes

 

Photo by Karley Saagi from Pexels

There is a very lively and enthusiastic young girl of 26, Louisa Clark who lives in a small house in a village of England. She lives with her parents Bernard Clark and Josephine Clark ,her granddad, her younger sister Katrina Clark and her sisters son Thomas Clark. 

Louisa Clark is working at Buttered Bun making tea and cookies and cakes. She is  very chatty and   friendly to the regular cafe  customers. She is so very accustomed to them she knows each and every customers favourite order. She has been working there for six years. 😲

But all of a sudden the owner of the cafe decides to close the cafe and move to Australia leaving Louisa Clark unemployed. Since she has no good qualifications it becomes difficult for her to find her proper job. She spends half a month developing her CV for work at some other restaurants or cafes. But she is unable to find any suitable fit. 

She then decides to take any kind of job. Finally her friend suggest that there is vacancy for the post of a caregiver for a quadriplegic at the Traynors. Traynors are one of the dignified and high class family in the area. Their castle is located at the top of a hill where Louisa had to pass every day to work at Buttered Bun. 

At first she feels a little skeptical about the job. She is afraid she has to do all the wipings and all.🤧🤧
But when her friend says its just to give the person with some company she is relieved. She then consults with her family about the job which is paying double the amount than at the cafe. And the job is contracted for just a period of six months. She doubt's a quadriplegic service for just six months.

Her family suggests them to take her the job since it is paying more than a normal job. She gets ready for the interview with the Traynors. 

The quadriplegic is Will Traynor, former business contractor buying and selling companies for profit. He was so adventurous and travel freak you didn't know if he played this sport or not. He has travelled almost each and every part of the world and tasted every single dish, playing every single adventure sport. Its been two years since he is wheel chaired  after his motorbike accident before he meets Louisa Clark. 

Louisa is interviewed by his mother Camilla Traynor who is very subtle and succinct. She is a magistrate by profession. Despite Louisa's  lack of experiences of a caregiver she confirms the job because she is different and lively and most importantly chatty. She appointed her to make her son change his mind of committing a suicide.

 Since the very first day of work, Louisa finds herself in a place away from her comfort zone. She finds herself with a person who doesn't talk or reply to her responses at all. She is so bored she wished she had not taken the job at all. 

But as time passes and she is accustomed to Will's behaviour and she starts relaxing at her job. Will too opens up in front of her and is so bossy sometimes that his opinion should be put on first. They listen to songs and watch movies together. Louisa helps Will feeding him, providing medicines changing the tubes.

Louisa happens to find about Will's decision of ending his own life by committing an assisted suicide at a place called Dignitas in Switzerland. When Louisa hears this she decides to write a note to Camilla Traynor and quit the job. She would not help  anyone to commit suicide.

But Camilla Traynor is determined to get her back by hook or crook observing the differences in her son's behaviour. She finds her son laughing and enjoying every day since Louisa joins in. She wants Louisa to stay with Will and help him change his mind and  let him view the world with a different perspective. 

Finally she was convinced by Camilla Traynor to join back the job in one condition. She would decide for Will's outdoor adventure tours.

So Lou now becomes determined to do anything for the remaining days of six months to make Will feel better about the way of life that he is living. She decides to take Will for adventure sports around the world obviously meant for people with spinal injury. She researches each and every detailed information prior to the outing. She first takes Will for watching horse racing . Will is very disappointed that every one even Louisa decides for him without knowing the fact that he hates horses. She then tries her best to know his choices better.

For this, she joins herself as a Busy Bee 🐝 in a quadriplegic chat room online. She asks each and every queries regarding Will to the other people with the same situation. That boosted her to help Will even more.

After lots of struggles, she finally is able to take him for foreign tour at Mauritius. They are accompanied by Will's medical care giver Nathan in any case of emergencies.
They really enjoy it and they are glad to explore their boundaries.

I actually like some of the lines from Will Traynor to Louisa Clark who has only lived her life in that small town . He says,"You only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible." It is  so Will to explain Louisa to explore herself to the world.

He also says,"I worked out what would make me happy, and I worked out what I  wanted to do, and I trained myself to do the job that would make both the things possible at the same time". This was the line told by Will when Louisa says the way they live in is impossible for her to go outing because of  financial problems. Because Traynors are rich they can travel everywhere. But Will doesn't travel anywhere now.

He further says,"There is a hunger in you,Clark. A fearlessness.You just buried it, like most people do". I really liked these lines as well which is very realistic to our own life.  

He is always pushing Louisa to widen her horizons. He is fond of her exotic dress codes. He inspires her to become a fashion designer or something.

But Will is so determined and stubborn that he has already decided to end his own life by going to the Dignitas no matter what happens in those six months of time. 

Even though both Louisa and Will know that they love each other , Will doesn't agree to spend rest of his life with Louisa given the fact that he is quadriplegic. ☹️☹️

On the other hand Louisa is so upset of Will's decision despite her love towards him she decides to quit the job there and then. She doesn't talk to Will thereafter and spends rest of the time in her own home depressed. She is not her own self for so many days. She is very much against Will's decision of suicide. 😤😤

She opened up a lot of possibilities for him.  The efforts she made really has to be appreciated. She insisted him to attach a quadriplegic software program in his computer to make it easier for him. She marked each and every day of the remaining six months in her calendar explaining what should be done and what should not be done on a particular day just to change Will's mind.🧐🧐

Despite all these efforts Will decides to end his life.😭😭

It is a kind of a tragic love story. I really had tears in my eyes when I finished reading the book. 😭😭

                                           

  But Louisa still loves him and she visits Paris peculiar cafe and orders  a cup of coffee and croissant which was the last wish of Will. It is there she reads his very last letter meant for her and is determined to live as Will had wished her to live.😌😌 "I will be walking beside you every step of the way. Live. Just Live". These  last lines from Will was indeed heart touching.💝💝

This book has been filmed as well starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Clafin as Louisa Clark and William Traynor respectively. I really connected to their acting skills that gives lives to the words in the books.

                                            By Sanjita Napit

Arthur Brognoli