Thursday 2 June 2016

Me Before You Review

Hello book lovers, it's been a REALLY long time since I last updated this blog. I didn't really have any books I would like to review, so thus the semi-hiatus on this blog.

However, there is a book that I recently read in April, and I LOVED it, the movie is also coming out in June 2nd, so I thought why not just do a review on this book, to get you guys pumped up for the release of the movie?

NOTE: This review is non-spoiler in the first part, and the remaining will be spoiler, BUT I will let you guys know beforehand that the spoiler is coming in red, so just stay clear from it, if you haven't read the book and would not like to be spoiled (which I recommend you to do so).

So the title suggests everything, so let's get started with the review!

Synopsis (from Goodreads) :
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.
 


There are a lot of things that I love about this book, and things that makes this book unforgettable for me, even after I finished reading it, I will still be thinking about it. Although there are some slight issues that I didn't like, I still love the book so much!

Thus the rating: 5/5 stars

What I love about this book:
I really enjoy reading about the characters, they were really the main event of the book, where you try to get to know them more as you dive deeper into the book, flipping the pages filled with curiosity trying to find out more about them. My favourite character definitely has to be Lou and Will, we will get to why soon.

I also love the whole plot of the book, where everything is planned out in a way you will not be able to predict anything, and the story is really unique and interesting, something that I have not read about before.
Just the introduction itself blew my mind away, with all the actions and coming at you all of a sudden.

I like how the author actually did her research before writing this novel, giving as much details as she could about the issue at hand with our main character, trying to stick true to things, and trying not to gloss over anything.

Characters:
As mentioned previously, I really love our main characters, Lou and Will.

Lou:  As a main character, she really shines and makes you really feel like you are her. Although she is very different from people in real life, just looking at her being so genuine with everything, you can feel like she is really someone you know, and not just some fictional character. Always being cheerful and optimistic, handling things clumsily, but always never give up and trying her best to do her things makes you feel like looking up to her as a role model.

Will: Our next main character you will be reading about frequently is Will Traynor. He is those typical guys who think they look good and have the money, thus they can do anything they want, (which is kind of true in a way). He is very hyper and loves the thrill to life by doing the most dangerous yet exciting things in life before something happened to him. Even after what happened, he still really tried his hardest to deal with life even though there are many obstacles he has to deal with. He is a character that you will definitely grow attached to by the end of the book, and is someone whom you will never forget about.

Nathan: This character is our caretaker in the book, and he appears not as often but still holds a really important role in the book. I didn't really like him at the start of the book, and my opinion of him only really changed when it is nearing the end of the story. He has this arrogance aura around him, which makes him less appealing to me, which started to change after I get to know more about him in the book. (Which I have to say is a huge change).

Katrina: Now this character here is Louisa's sister, and I have to be honest and tell you guys that I despise her a lot, not just a little, but even nearing the end of the book, there is still this rage in me whenever I see her name in the book. Don't get me wrong though, she is a really cool and smart character, but then, her personality is just really bad.

Camillia: This character is Will's mother, and I have to admit, I hated her in the first half of the book. I really hated her presence, the way she treats Lou, and how the world just revolves around her and everybody has to bow down to her. However, as the story goes, and you understand what she really thinks and feels, it really changes your opinion of her!

This are just some of the characters that are more unforgettable than the others, but there are still some characters that I don't really like but they mostly appear for a few scenes, so I feel like you should get to know more about them yourself!

What I dislike about this book:
There is actually nothing about this book that I hate, besides the characters, and some parts of the book (which I will not talk about).
So for the characters, some of them are just really a pain to read, and they are just so annoying. Sometimes, when I read and they come into the scene, I feel like just dragging them out of the room and throw them down to hell. Some of them I am just so glad that they got out of Will's life, because my baby doesn't need this kind of people, they can just rot in hell.

Let's move on to something happier about this book.

My thoughts on this book:
Although the synopsis of this book is very simple and doesn't let you know too much, to be very honest with you, when I read that synopsis, I wasn't a huge fan of it, and it doesn't strike me as a book that will be so unique and interesting. I was almost put off by that synopsis, thinking that this book isn't as good as it will be, and that it might even be boring. But nonetheless, the reason I picked this book up is because of the movie trailer.  (FUN FACT: If you haven't read the book yet, please don't watch the trailer, it's full of spoilers here and there. The editor edits the video in such a way you don't even know that it's a spoiler from the book)

Mostly the reason why I enjoyed this book was how genuine the characters are, Jojo Moyes makes the characters come alive, and you can really feel them being in this world, and that they could even be around you. The characters were all so unique and interesting, and their thoughts are most definitely different from how normal people thinks, and that might sometimes even surprise me, since I wasn't expecting it from them.

This book felt like you are hiking towards the top of the mountain, the first parts were a little slow as it builds up the introduction and the scene and dropping small little details here and there in the book, and as you slowly get to the middle of the book, that's where things starts to pick up their pace and you know, that things are finally exciting and worth to continue reading.

This book got me laughing (like really laugh out loud) and even giggled, and obviously I swooned over that hot guy in the book (Will) and yes, I eventually cried at the end. (From a happy cry or a sad cry? Who knows. You will just have to read the book to know what I mean)

Okay, so with this, I will end the NON-SPOILER review here. You can read on, ONLY if you have finished reading the book, because the next part that I am getting to is the spoiler details.

So thank you for reading this non-spoiler part of the review, and hopefully it makes you feel like reading the book! With that, I will end off the first part of the review!

(SPOILER AHEAD!)

(SPOILER AHEAD!)
PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!

Characters:
I'm pretty sure you guys already know that this book is focused heavily on the characters, so of course there will be some characters that I just can't stop myself from hating. Let's see if we have the same opinions!

Rupert: My hate for this character is just so strong, that it's not even funny. I hated him so much, because let's be honest here, if it wasn't for him, calling Will and rushing him, he wouldn't have jay-walk, and he wouldn't have had that accident, which was partly this guy's fault. However, you can argue to defend him about how he didn't know that he would have jay-walk. And I was okay with him at first, until he suddenly came to visit Will with his girlfriend, Alicia, which I should remind you was Will's ex. Really, Rupert? Are you seriously that desperate? And he came to visit him, making himself look good, trying to show that the whole accident wasn't him who caused it, and acted very innocent.

Alicia: This girl have my anger rising to the brim. I detest her as much as I love Will, and that says a lot. I never hated on a character this much, and this is a first. She acted so innocent, and made it sound like the whole "let's-abandon-Will" thing look like it wasn't her fault for leaving Will's side (which I am very glad that she left him, he don't deserve this person). The way she cried to Lou saying how she tried really hard to get him back to living life, but he won't look at her like how he did before the accident, and all this made her "disappointed" and had no choice but to leave? This is just excuses, and I cannot deal with it.


Katrina: So just now in the first part I mentioned that this person is Lou's sister, and let's be real here, I hated her from the beginning, and maybe my opinion of her changed slightly at the ending, but not much really. She was just so over-dependent on Lou, expecting Lou to sacrifice everything for her, as if Lou didn't have a life to live. She always act as if she needed help, and that her life is the most important, and nothing else should be mattered, which kind of got really irritating after awhile. She got to have everything that is good in life, while Lou has to suffer and yet, the sister is always the right one.


Patrick: Okay, this guy is not even a human, he is just heartless, and someone I would like to bash when I see him, if only he was a real person. He is just not understanding, expects Lou to listen to him, constraining her from doing what she loves, and keeps forcing her to become a personal trainer, or to start training, something along those lines. And it was just so irritating after reading about him. He is so petty about everything, and wants to dominate over every single little thing, which was really tiring to read about after some time. In the scene at the dinner party for Lou, he was just so annoying, and he kept being so sarcastic to Will about his problems. 


Favourite scenes:
So let's talk about some of the scenes in the book, that happen to left me with a very vivid memory.

  • When Lou first met Will, and he starting acting crazy, crying and shouting, and it turns out to be an act to scare Lou off was just hilarious. I loved that scene and it was just a really wonderful scene, which in my opinion, I feel like Will did that to see if she is the right person to take care of him.
  • At the wedding of Rupert and Alicia, where Will brought Lou along to congratulate them, and she found more things about Will, and even got to dance with him was just the best scene ever. Although after the wedding when things went downhill wasn't what I expected, but still, that scene was just glorious.
  • This scene was my favourite out of all the other scenes, when Lou was feeding Will to eat, and she actually hide the vegetable from him behind the other food, to "trick" him to eat it, and he ended up finding out about it was just the funniest and perfect scene. It was all a habit after having to feed Thomas for years and he didn't like to eat his vegetables, which suddenly came out when trying to feed Will. I will never be able to forget about this scene.
Ending:
I am very speechless about this ending, although I already expected it to happen, I still didn't want it to be this way. Everything they did together, everything they went through together just went out to the drain after he left this world. Maybe everything wasn't for nothing as it left Lou with all the wonderful memories she would never have if she never met him, but still... I didn't want it to be this way. And the way she actually left him before he even had the chance to say goodbye and left for Switzerland was even sadder. 
The last part where he was on the bed and she laid down beside her, and she knew that nothing she say will ever change his mind, and she just stayed quiet, suffering on the inside as she listened to Will talk, which makes the whole scene even sadder and I just want to cry. (writing this review seriously makes me want to cry once more)

Fun fact:
I cried after reading this book, and then went to watch the trailer of the movie and the feels was so strong that I cried again because I couldn't accept the fact about Will, and then I went back to the book and read the ending once more, and it just left me hanging and I can't even handle it, and as expected, I cried the third time.

Alright, with this, I will end this blog post here. Thank you for taking your time to read this, I know I haven't been posting much, but this book, I can't just read it without posting my thoughts on it. Now after writing this review just made me so excited for the movie, but at the same time, I don't want the sad feelings to hit me again in the cinemas. 

Until the next post is up, happy reading! =)

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