Me Before You, Jojo Moyes, 2012

Me Before You Review

About

Published in 2012, Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You is an emotional, contemporary romance that asks what it means to live fully—and what it means to let go. Mixing humor and heartbreak, Moyes tells the story of two people from different worlds brought together by circumstance. It’s both a love story and a moral dilemma, tenderly written and deliberately uncomfortable. The novel became a cultural touchpoint for its raw depiction of disability, autonomy, and connection.

Overview

Louisa “Lou” Clark is an ordinary young woman from a small English town, living a simple life and content with routine. When she loses her café job, she reluctantly accepts a position caring for Will Traynor, a once-vibrant man now paralyzed after an accident. Will is bitter, sarcastic, and determined to end his life on his own terms. Lou, all sunshine and chatter, refuses to give up on him. What follows isn’t a fairy-tale transformation but a slow, genuine human bond—funny, painful, and alive with contradictions. As Lou tries to show Will reasons to live, he teaches her how to live with purpose.

Summary

(light spoilers) Lou’s first days with Will are awkward; he resents her cheerful persistence. But as they begin to trust each other, moments of warmth and humor emerge. Lou organizes small adventures—a concert, a race, a trip to the seaside—hoping to restore his sense of joy. When she learns that Will plans to undergo assisted dying in Switzerland, she makes it her mission to change his mind. Their relationship deepens into love that is equal parts fierce and impossible. The trip to Switzerland becomes the novel’s emotional hinge: a confrontation between love and autonomy, hope and acceptance. The ending, both tragic and liberating, leaves Lou heartbroken but transformed—ready to live the kind of life Will insisted she deserved.

Key Themes / Main Ideas

• Choice and autonomy — love can’t override another’s right to decide.
• Growth through grief — loss as a catalyst for courage.
• Class and privilege — two worlds colliding and learning to see each other.
• Dignity — what makes life meaningful when independence is gone.
• Love beyond rescue — caring without controlling.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Strengths — Honest emotion, sharp humor, and unpretentious writing that sneaks up on you; characters feel flawed and real.
• Strengths — Moyes handles difficult themes with empathy rather than sentimentality.
• Weaknesses — The moral questions about disability and assisted dying are simplified at times; some readers see Will’s choice as divisive.
• Weaknesses — Predictable beats in the romance, though the sincerity makes them land anyway.

Reviewed with focus on themes, audience, and takeaways — Jojo Moyes