Skip to main content

After You


After You

 "We all lose what we love at some point, but in his heartwarming and funny way Moyes reminds us that even if you're not always happy, it's forever."


 Miami Herald "You're going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a moment. But I hope you feel a little excited too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle down. With love, Will. “How do you feel after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living for yourself? Louisa Clark is no longer just a normal girl leading a normal life. After the transformative six months you spent with Will Traynor struggling without a hitch, when an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can't help but feel like she is back where she is she started. Her body is healing, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be brought back ends up in the basement of a church with members of the Moving On support group who share ideas, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies, and also lead her to the strong and capable Sam Fielding, the Paramedic, whose business He is life and death, and the only man who could possibly understand. Then a character from Will's past appears and hijacks all of his plans and drives them into a completely different future. For Lou Clark, living after Will Traynor means falling in love all over again, with all the risks that come with it, but here Jojo Moyes brings us two families as real as ours, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply and in whom You both expect await, changes and surprises. From the hardcover edition.

Jojo Moyes's new novel, After You, is a sequel to her 2012 best seller, Me Before You, centering on Louisa Clark, a caregiver in her twenties, whose life is changed through knowing Will Traynor, a quadriplegic. New York Times book reviewer, Liesl Schellinger wrote of Me Before You: "When I finished this novel I didn't want to review it, I wanted to reread it." High praise indeed! Louisa, who was in love with Will, feels that their brief time together should have taught her something that would enable her to live a full, creative, wonderful life as a memorial to him. Others close to Will have moved on; for instance, his father has divorced, remarried and is about to become a father again. Anyone who has suffered the loss of a soulmate knows that a year and a half is not enough time in which to "Recover." The circumstances of Will's death also contributed to Louisa's slow recovery. Louisa seems on the cusp of healing when the novel opens. Teenaged Jake, whose mother died of cancer, confides that his dad is coping with his grief by "Compulsive shagging. "At night, on the roof garden of her apartment, after a bad day at work, Louisa is seized with grief. A kindly paramedic, Sam, talks her through the trip to hospital. accident is the first in a series of events that force Louisa to confront the ghosts that haunt her. When sixteen year old Lily turns up at her door, claiming to be Will's daughter and wanting to know all about him, Louisa is forced to assess the girl's veracity and to play a parental role. After a meeting of the Moving On circle, Louisa runs into her rescuer, the paramedic, Sam, who has come to pick up Jake. Only later does she learn that he is Jake's uncle, and brother of Jake's mother. On Lily's behalf, Louisa contacts with Lily's selfish mother and Will's well-meaning but surprised parents. When Louisa opens her home to the girl, Lily's irresponsible behavior leads her to consult her younger sister, Treena, for parenting advice. Treena is one of several negative secondary characters who seems totally unqualified to advise Louisa. In her mid-twenties and the single mother of an eight year old boy, Treena is still supported by her parents while she attends school, yet she periodically lectures Louisa for her lack of purpose and direction. Eventually Louisa gets through to Lily by divulging the story of her own rape at age twenty when out partying with so-called friends. Will helped Louisa overcome that trauma, telling her: "You don't have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you. "On learning that Sam, the paramedic, is Jake's uncle, not his father, Louisa gets involved with him. To Louisa, "To commit to Sam was to commit to the likelihood of more loss". In a somewhat over-the-top incident near the end she saves his life and realizes that she has found a man who wants to stay alive for her. The final scenes are well-executed; in Dickensian fashion, Miss Moyes ties up loose ends and indicates happy futures for several lesser characters. In Louisa's case the ending is open, and for me, problematic. When I finished this novel I wanted to tell Louisa, "You're making a big mistake".

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Breath Becomes Air

 When Breath Becomes Air "When Breath Becomes Air" is a memoir written by Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 36. The book chronicles Kalanithi's journey as he struggles to come to terms with his terminal diagnosis and the prospect of leaving behind his young family and promising career. Throughout the book, Kalanithi reflects on the meaning of life and death, and the ways in which his diagnosis has changed his perspective on both. He writes about the challenges he faced as a patient, and the difficult decisions he had to make about his treatment and his future. He also writes about the role of his medical training and his experiences as a physician in helping him to understand and come to terms with his illness. Despite the difficult subject matter, "When Breath Becomes Air" is a deeply moving and thought-provoking book. It is a powerful reflection on the human experience and the ways in which we confront our own mort...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Too Had a Love Story

  I Too Had a Love Story "I Too Had a Love Story" is a novel written by Indian author Ravinder Singh. The book is a memoir of the author's own experiences and tells the story of his love for a girl named Khushi. The book begins with the author, Ravin, describing how he met Khushi and how their relationship developed. He tells the story of their first meeting, their first date and their first kiss, and how they fell in love with each other. As the story progresses, Ravin and Khushi face a number of challenges in their relationship. They struggle with the distance between them as they live in different parts of the country, and they also have to deal with the disapproval of their families. However, despite these obstacles, their love for each other remains strong. They communicate through phone calls, emails and instant messaging, and through their conversations, the reader can see the depth of their feelings for each other. The novel takes a tragic turn when Khushi is diag...
Post a Comment
Read more

This Time Next Year

This Time Next Year When Minnie meets Quinn at a New Year's Eve party, it becomes clear that they have nothing in common except for the strange fact that they were born on New Year's Eve at the same time and in the same place. Crazy coincidence, but no reason to seek friendship and definitely no excuse for Quinn to expect more. He's a privileged party animal who believes he owns the world. She's a down-to-earth worker whose lack of confidence tends to hold her back. Opposites don't really attract... it's not like this is a romantic comedy, is it?The clock strikes midnight, her moment passes and another year begins. But if Quinn and Minnie are from different worlds, why do they keep clashing? And why does every frustrating interaction somehow seem to steer their lives in the right direction? address? Could it be that  their different viewpoints are not complementary, but complement each other? Maybe now is the time for them to finally get together.          ...
Post a Comment
Read more