By Zulay Regalado, 26, reporting from Miami, on the moving novel—and future movie—Me Before You
I’ll admit that I’m not the most emotional person when it comes to books and movies. While my friends watched The Notebook through streams of uncontrollable sobs, I was busy giggling at Ryan Gosling’s overly romantic professions of love (disclaimer: Team Gosling forever).
Thanks to my recent discovery of the 2012 tear-jerker novel Me Before You, by British author Jojo Moyes, that’s all changed. I mean, it was hard not to feel for Louisa Clark, the story’s main character. She’s a young working-class woman who knows nothing about life beyond the tiny village in England where she grew up. Suddenly jobless and desperate for work, she accepts a job as caretaker to wheelchair-bound millionaire Will Traynor, whose life took a tragic turn (and him a sour outlook) after a road accident.
While Louisa’s ordinary lifestyle is worlds away from Will’s, which is loaded with glamour and travel, she refuses to walk on eggshells around him. She also makes it her mission to put an end to his sadness. But she soon learns that Will has a different solution in mind, and the race is on to make him see that life is still worth fighting for.
It’s a touching story of two people who couldn’t have less in common but who somehow come together and learn from each other—and in ways not expected or cliché. Of course, the book is not made entirely of tears. There are plenty of happy moments and laughs, and my only real lingering sadness is seeing it go. But it lives on! I then discovered there’s a sequel and a film adaptation in the works. Needless to say, my tear ducts will be quite active for the foreseeable future. Perhaps they will even overtake my The Notebook-style grins in the movie theater.