“I gazed around me, like someone suddenly handed clear glasses, and I saw that pretty much everyone bore the brutal imprint of love, whether it was lost, whipped away from the, or simply vanished into a grave.”
SPOILER ALERT:
If you plan to read Me Before You, please don’t read this review until after you’ve read that book.
Louisa Clark is struggling to find her life after Will’s death. She had been hired as Will’s caretaker (he was paralyzed after an accident) and they end up falling in love. However, he had already decided that he did not want to live in his condition past a certain date and despite her best efforts, Louisa couldn’t change his mind. She was with him when he died and he left her specific instructions of things she should do and experience after he left. He thought she would come alive seeing the world, but he didn’t realize her heart wouldn’t be in it. She keeps thinking, “You should be here.”
I read Me Before You as part of a book club. I wasn’t sure I was going to read After You since Me Before You dealt with euthanasia, but after reading the description, I wanted to see how the author would continue the story. I am glad I did. The books should be read together so a reader can see the entire point JoJo Moyes is trying to get across. It is not a story glorifying euthanasia, but a love story and how life goes on after loss.
Louisa has enough money and a place to live thanks to Will, but she can’t find herself. She ends up working at an airport bar watching people leave for adventures every day. She thinks about Will all the time and has an inner dialogue with him. She joins a grief support group, but finds her situation is so different from everyone else’s. Then, someone with ties to Will shows up at her doorstep and changes her world again. Will Louisa finally find out what it means to really live?
I would recommend this book, especially if you’ve read Me Before You. It gives the rest of the story and how Will’s death affected everyone around him. The book is for adults. I am curious to watch the movie now that I know the whole story.