In this blog post, we will take a deep look at the meaning of true love and the choice between life and death through Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.
There is a book that has kept me inside a book for a whole day for the first time in a long time. It is Jojo Moyes’ novel Me Before You. When I first saw this book in a bookstore, I thought the cover was pretty, but I never thought of buying it because of its enormous thickness. However, the book became a bestseller, and I naturally became interested in it and started reading it.
At first, I didn’t expect to finish a novel as long as Me Before You. But to my surprise, the book was very easy to read, and at some point I found myself reading it with full concentration without even realizing the time. This novel deals with the right to choose one’s own death through the tense confrontation between a person who wants to die and a person who wants to save him. The suspense keeps the reader glued to the book. Me Before You, which was also released as a movie, has been widely shared and resonated with many people.
Me Before You is divided into three parts, focusing on the psychological transformation of the main character, Louisa Clark. While searching for a new job, Louisa Clark is hired as a temporary caregiver for six months for William Traynor, who has been paralyzed from the waist down in an accident. William has completely lost his will to live after the accident, but Louisa approaches him wearing tacky clothes and making humorous jokes. At first, William keeps his distance, but as time goes by, he begins to open up.
One day, Louisa learns of a secret promise made between William and his parents. The promise was that if William did not change his mind about his life within six months, they would respect his decision. Shocked, Luisa tries to save him and does everything she can to change his life. As the time of the promise approaches and a smile begins to appear on William’s face, Luisa confesses her love to him and hopes that his resolve will waver.
But contrary to expectations, William still stands by his decision. Desperate, Luisa decides to leave him and tells him that she cannot support his choice. But in the end, she respects William’s decision and watches him die with dignity. Louisa realizes that true love is not about holding on to someone, but about letting them go. Before dying, William leaves Louisa a will, helping her move on to a new world.
Before writing this novel, Jojo Moyes said she wanted to address a topic that everyone should think about at least once. She wanted to ask the question “How should we live our lives?” and ask whose choice it is. She also wanted readers to think about the question “What does it mean to live life to the fullest?”
There are three main reasons why this book became a bestseller. First, it is a genre change. Me Before You starts out as a light romantic comedy, but when William’s promise to his parents is mentioned, the story shifts to a heavier romance. Readers are left to ask themselves, “Why should we live when there is despair waiting in the form of death?” Moyes presents the beauty and value of life and challenges to readers who read the book with a light heart, and draws out their emotions.
Second, it has an unusual ending. Readers expected a happy ending for William and Luisa, but William’s decision was firm. It makes readers question whether his death is really a happy ending for Luisa, but William’s words changed my mind. “It might be okay to live like this. But this is not my life. I loved my life.” This line refers to his vibrant and glamorous life before the accident. Although he was happy to have his loved one by his side, the reality of not being able to do anything made him feel even more pain. William chose death to escape that pain.
Third, there is a new protagonist. In stories that often deal with life with a limited time, the lover plays the role of comforting the terminally ill. However, in Me Before You, William conveys the value of life to Louisa. He encourages her to leave her hometown and experience the wider world, and even death as a new challenge in life.
Another factor that makes this book special is that William’s terminal condition is set as a controversial topic of euthanasia rather than a simple incurable disease. In the past, there was a lot of opposition to euthanasia, but as social awareness has changed, euthanasia is also becoming a modern social phenomenon. Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu also said, “People have the right to choose when and how they will leave this world.” Moyes reflected this change by asking the public questions about the topic of dignified death.
Me Before You did not simply become a bestseller by chance. The change in genre, the fresh ending, and the unique protagonist brought a breath of fresh air to the book. This freshness attracted readers to the book, and while drawing out the deepest emotions, the book became a global bestseller.
The movie Me Before You also captured the emotion of the original novel. Movies based on novels are often criticized for not living up to the original, but many readers went to the theater to share the same emotions. The emotions and themes of the movie left a deep impression on the readers.
Ultimately, humans live to find the meaning of life. There is no answer to the question, “Who has the right to decide what kind of life to live? Who has the right to choose death?” So we long for new answers, even if they are subjective. Me Before You contains Jojo Moyes’ answer to these questions. And we read Me Before You again today to find that answer.
