Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

77 reviews

alice666's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

‘It’s not enough for me.’

One of the most depressing things I’ve ever read.

At the beginning of this I was quite enjoying it. I really warmed to Jojo Moyes’ writing and characters, but her narrative choices to me frequently pushed the boundaries of good taste.

I can’t emphasise enough that I don’t think she has the right to tell this story in the way in which she told it. It frequently emphasises a very ableist narrative that the life of a quadriplegic may not be worth living to a particular kind of person.

Graphic discussion of suicide and spoilers ahead:

So, while this may be a reality for some people living with a life-changing disability, many able-bodied people will also experience the same thoughts without being disabled. Therefore, in some way perpetuating the narrative that Will’s suicide was a valid choice for him because of his disability only reinforces the idea that disabled lives are inherently more worthless, when in reality depression is the route cause behind suicidal ideation. Yet, depression was rarely discussed by any of the characters.

This topic is very complicated and I don’t think assisted suicide is an inherently reprehensible thing but I wish the topic had been handled with much more care for its potential audience.

I want to emphasise this because I think it’s important to be cautious of how we represent certain groups of people in the media. And I think Jojo Moyes failed in that responsibility, despite the fact that I respect her ability as a writer.

Overall, 3 stars.

Content Warnings

strangematch's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

asurasantosha's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don't know how I feel about this book. The prose didn't blow my mind despite seeming like it was trying to at times. But in that sense, the writing was good.

The themes of this book are really challenging though and broaching a controversial topic and showing all the nuance and grey area, I think was done really well.

I still don't know how I feel about the conclusion of everything though. I'm trying to separate my conflict about the topic at hand with the characters involved. Like, while I loved the banter between Will and Louisa, at the end of the day, I'm not sure Will is a good person. And I think he seems quite shallow and unwavering in those shallow values. But I think we the reader is supposed to feel sympathy for him and maybe even try to route for him or care about his intentions and logic. But his intense certainly is just so off-putting to me. Idk.

Anyway, I think this book is supposed to be a bit uncomfortable and it's supposed to make you think (and cry). So I'm not gonna rate it on enjoyment. I'd rather rate it on the success of what it's set out to do. And this book may be very successful in that regard. But I'm just gonna give it 3 stars for now because I'm still working out wether or not the theme is resting on an overly convenient lack of arc and too static character and wether or not that's ok.

Content Warnings

karkkililja's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

runbeck's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

estrellalli's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

cjamison0151's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

itslilialol's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

fallenfiction's review against another edition

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hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

The book was fine. It wasn't bad but I'm also glad it's over. I just didn't vibe with Louisa at all and for a lot of the book I found her a little insufferable.

Content Warnings

dramagirl2003's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

my friend was right, it does raise a bunch of moral issues

thoughts while reading

p40: this is the moment i was waiting for, the introduction scene

p71: as you should girl, order that cheesecake 🍰

p103: parents 😂

“Did you hear that? They are paying her to sleep now.”
“Praise the Lord. She’s found her dream career.”

but that’s all well and good until she needs to actually do something

p134: i knew it. i knew something was sus about it only being for six months. plus i’ve seen the spoilers that say he dies at the end so i’ve just been trying to solve it

p147: girl no obviously they are not going to just stick him in a room with razors 🙄

p198: seriously. seriously. they struggled through all that mud for nothing. i have second hand annoyance

p213: gahhh that was a total out of pocket comeback

p223: yes! the birthday dinner scene, the other moment i was waiting for

p231: 😬 sheesh i would shrivel if i witnessed that

p233: aww grandad 🥹

p235: eww we don’t stan possessiveness 😖 is bro seriously jealous of a disabled man? i know will is the named love interest but still, patrick doesn’t know that

p236: best present ever 🐝

p237: will knows exactly how to wind patrick up and i am here for it

p326: this is such a wholesome healing moment 🫂

p341: sheeesh girl, you are wasted

p349: oop, these two really love their inappropriate comments

p372: and there it is. what we’ve known all along. that Will makes her feel seen, valued, like she could conquer the world if she put her mind to it. patrick does none of this anymore, and still expects to keep her

p414: gosh those three make a wonderful trio and they really love winding nathan up

p430: yeah i can see how that looks bad 🤭

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