Reviews

I decided to read Me Before You as soon as I watched the first trailer of the film pop up on my news feed. I was excited. Boy, never had I been so eager to finish this book. It was simply marvelous. However, I can't say that the film made me feel the same way. Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin did a great job, don't get me wrong! They fit the characters perfectly and shared wonderful chemistry. Unfortunately, I thought they sugar coated some scenes way too much with light jokes and puns and in my opinion they took away so much of the tense drama build-up the book provided. It was more like a sweet romantic comedy with a twist of drama in the end rather than a straight-up romance, like the book. Please excuse the overload of metaphors that are to follow but they're important as I make my point. They invested so much in keeping it light-hearted and sweet, while keeping the worst part to the end. But the book doesn't work that way. The story is hauntingly real. It's a masterpiece but the film is far from a replica. It made me wonder how Harry Potter fans felt watching the movie distort the books and now I know how it's quite gut wrenching. I shed tears of course during the movie but the book broke my heart. It's devastating. It's an emotion that drowns you and makes you believe there's no way to safety. It takes you momentarily to sweet cotton candy like clouds. Just to break out in lightning and thunder and rain on your heart all over again. It's bittersweet. Yet life changing. The book gave me a certain purpose if you will... It made me FEEL. It brought out a type of sadness I had never even known to exist. To feel completely lost and miserable and confused and flabbergasted and simply torn apart. It ruined me in a good way I suppose. And I can't believe someone (author Jojo Moyes) could have that much power over thousands of women who read the book. The book is and forever will be the winner, any time of the day. Do yourself a favor, read the book beforehand. You won't regret it.