Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Me Before You

"Me Before You" is not the book it is marketed as.
I had very little expectation for "Me" when I picked up the audiobook from the library. It sounded like a fairly typical chick-lit romance with a disabled love interest. It is not that. Yes, Lou does fall for Will, but the story really circles around the issue of

euthanasia

. This is a pretty devisive issue, and it is treated as such in the book. Characters have many different opinions on it. Will wants it. Lou's mom thinks it is murder. Some of the chatters on the quad page are for it, others against. I could see how this would be an equally devisive for readers, but, to me, Moyes doesn't treat it as a one-size fits all issue, and that adds complexity to the book that I did not expect.
Overall, "Me Before You" could be a love it or hate it book, but it's not the trite romance the blurb suggests.

Content Warnings

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

First things first: I did enjoy the writing style of the author and I look forward to reading a different book of hers.
However I will not be continuing the "me before you"-series. Although JoJo Moyes has made some points about how badly we as a society and as individuals often treat people with a disability, by excluding and forgetting about them, her writing and storyline in and of itself felt abelist. It also seems as though she has not done sufficient research on the topic.
I also found the topic of assisted suicide to be very important and interesting. However I found it mixing the topics (physical disability and assisted suicide) more than difficult. I could imagine this book being quite harmful to the disabled community, even though it is "only meant to represent Will's story". I also think readers should question themselves while reading this book. Will seems to be suffering from some form of depression (I am by no means an expert, so I am very sorry should I have gotten something wrong). Let's imagine he wasn't disabled and he was """"""just"""""" depressed. Would we be okay with him taking his own life ? Or are we okay with him committing assisted suicide, because he has a disability.

Content Warnings

laravo21's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

kellypower_17's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book so much that I couldn’t stop reading. The characters are beautifully written.

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