Me Before You

I just love when someone at the library places a book right where I will find it and take it home to read and love.  Surely they have me in mind when they select books to highlight, right?

A year or so ago I read a book by Jojo Moyes and found it to be very good.  However I wasn't driven to find all of her books and read them one after another.

Hmmm, let's just say that was a mistake.  I should have looked for more of her books. 

But I didn't.  So this one found me.

Me Before You is the story of a young girl, Lou, who has just lost her job and finds herself utterly lost in the world.  The somewhat comfortable little life she had created for herself has folded in around her.  But was it comfortable?  Was she just settling because she felt she had to settle?  Her family needed her and it was her job to contribute to the household income.  It was her duty to take the smallest bedroom so that her unmarried and smarter sister (and baby nephew) could have the larger bedroom.

Lou soon discovers that her talents are limited and her picky nature about jobs that she could do really limit her.  She is given the chance to interview to be a nurse/caregiver to a quadriplegic and surprisingly, is deemed a perfect fit for the job.  Her patient is Will, once a high-powered businessman who was hit by a motorbike two years earlier.  He is not a likable young man anymore--something his mother hopes Lou can help change.  Lou agrees to work for the family for six months, providing companionship and care for Will.

What follows is an eye-opening experience for Lou--not just into the world that Will must live in but also her own world and what she really wants from her life.

I found a number of excellent quotes in this one. . .yes, I have turned into one of those people who has quotes scribbled away on random pieces of paper everywhere.  But when a story speaks to you, you have a duty to remember it and tell others, right?

See more about Jojo Moyes and her books here

And a few quotes that spoke to me:


“You can only actually help someone who wants to be helped.”

“I should have listened to my father. 'Want to know the true definition of the triumph of hope over experience?' he would say. 'Plan a fun family day out.'

“Some mistakes...just have greater consequences than others.”

“I will never, ever regret the things I've done. Because most days, all you have are places in your memory that you can go to.”