1/17/2024 0 Comments Me before you novelYet there is no section from Will’s point of view. Traynor, Treena and even Will’s professional caregiver Nathan. Most of Me Before You is told from Louisa’s point of view, but there are sections from the perspective of Mr. I didn't want it to sprawl, like some of my other books-I wanted that sense of urgency. It is easy to see the severely disabled as “other”-and I wanted to emphasize that he was just like anyone else-albeit probably wealthier and better looking! But also, it's just a tight little story with a small cast, set over six months. How did you decide to structure the story this way?Įven though only a short part of the book is devoted to Will's “former” life, I thought it was important to give a hint of what he had lost-and who he was before. There are only a few pages of the book devoted to Will’s “former life” in the present tense the rest is told through memories or flashbacks. But I didn't want the reader to see Will purely as an object of pity, so it was important that he had some advantages-and money and background were two of these. There is usually quite a gap between the Big House in any village, where a family may have lived for generations, and those who live in the workmen's cottages or council houses. I found after I moved out of London that the divides do still exist in English village life in a way I hadn't expected. The village-with its class divisions-makes explicit the huge divide between Will and Lou. How important was the setting of Me Before You? What does the village add to the story? "I also wanted to show how an accident like this-and a decision like this-sends ripples way out into the lives of other people around him." The carrot-feeding scene, for example, came from something I had done. But when I was writing it I had two people close to me who required 24-hour care, so I was already familiar with a lot of the routines and efforts needed. As for the quadriplegics, I spent time on a lot of chatrooms for quads and their carers, I asked questions, and I watched a lot of YouTube videos that they put up about their daily lives. Assisted suicide has been a huge issue in the U.K. I did a lot of reading, and I read a lot of newspapers. What kind of research did you do for the book? It was a bit nerve-wracking balancing the two without making a serious subject lightweight, so it's been very gratifying that it's been received as well as it has. I knew when I started writing this book that it had the potential to be quite bleak and dark, so I knew it had to be leavened with a lot of humor. How did you balance the gravity of Will’s condition with the humor in the novel? There are a lot of humorous moments in Me Before You, but the novel deals with some very serious, heavy topics. And their growing feelings for each other felt entirely natural. It meant that the book was actually a pleasure to write. That meant that all I had to do was to put them in different situations and sit back and see what happened. Unusually for me-I've written 10 books-Lou and Will were both crystal clear in my head before I even started the book. Did you always know they would fall for each other? Louisa and Will are complicated, multilayered characters. We asked the London-born author (who now lives with her family on a farm in the countryside) a few questions about the new novel and its memorable characters. After a rocky start, the two develop a deep and life-changing relationship. Louisa Clark is a former coffeeshop clerk who becomes his caregiver. Will Traynor is a former finance whiz and daredevil who was paralyzed after being hit by a car on a rainy day. British author Jojo Moyes has written her fair share of complicated relationships-war brides, illicit affairs, a widow being stalked by her neighbor-but in her 10th novel, Me Before You, she introduces her most intriguing couple yet.
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