After You

This is the second book in a three-part series by Jojo Moyes, intended to follow ME BEFORE YOU. This one picks up shortly after the death of Will Traynor, with Louisa Clark struggling to overcome her grief. For fuller enjoyment, I DO recommend you read the series in order.

Despite the fact that a significant part of the book has to do with the ways people deal with the loss of a loved one, it’s actually quite an enjoyable read. And I attribute that to the humor that Moyes has sprinkled in. Yes, she tackles the crippling side of loss - but she also includes the more irreverent side. And you will likely find yourself chuckling at points.

Louisa is accompanied on her recovery by very fun characters. Her parents, for example, are in the show more middle of their own relationship issues — with her Mom’s newfound interest in feminism and her Dad’s desire to hold onto traditional gender roles. There’s Lily, a troubled teenager that Louisa comes to feel responsible for. Richard, Louisa’s boss at the pub, who is so annoyingly hyper-critical and wedded to corporate rules that you are certain to recognize him as a type you probably have come across in your own workplace. Plus, there are all the quirky folks that make up Louisa’s grief support group.

I don’t want to spoil any of surprising plot twists, including the ones that set up the third book in this series. But I found this book had a deeply engrossing plot that sensitively explores many of the most basic aspects that make us human — like the longing for love, the fear of loss, and the desire to belong. show less

Here's a sequel worth its salt, but keep the Kleenex handy. This book picks up with Louisa Clark about 6 mos. after Will's death. She has traveled Europe, lived in Paris and now has a flat in London, all in an effort to honor Will's wishes for her. But she is still deep in mourning and has not really taken any joy in this Life that is so new to her. Louisa falls off the roof of her flat and I thought she was going to become a quadriplegic too, but no just a wake-up injury and a plot construct to meet Amubulance Sam who ultimately, Lou must decide if she wants to be the next love of her life. Another plot twist is the appearance of Lily, Will's 16-year-old extremely difficult daughter whom he didn't even know existed. Louisa takes her show more in as her own social-climbing mother can't really be bothered to parent. This puts Louisa back in touch with the Traynors who have moved on in their own ways since Will's death. Mr. Traynor is remarried to his mistress who is expecting a baby and Mrs. Traynor has moved out to the country, resigned her position and has become somewhat of a recluse in response to all the hate mail and public opinion around Will's death. Louisa's parents (Josie and Bernard) come back into her life after her accident and are as funny and entertaining as ever, especially as Josie discovers feminism and challenges years of her role as homemaker. Granddad, Treena and Thom all add to the comic relief. This book is really about growing pains, and the grieving process and trying to rebuild a life blown apart by loss. Louisa is still a Lucille Ball-type heroine, bumbling through impossible situations with a big heart and classic one-liners as she tries to right her life, save the "strays" and let go of Will. There is so much sweetness here with a good deal of wisdom and meaning, elevating it beyond fluff, but keeping it squarely in the "fun read" category. show less

Note: No spoilers for this book.

I really don’t think this author is capable of producing a book that is not good, but this one no doubt presented a particular challenge because she had apparently been inundated by reader requests to continue the story she began in the book Me Before You. Big fans tend to have even bigger expectations. Indeed, a number of directors of movies from popular series characterize fan pressure as “intense” and “terrifying” (see, for example, discussions of making "The Hunger Games" and the "Star Wars" franchises).

I don’t know how much Moyes worried about such expectations, but she acquitted herself with her usual knack for treating difficult subjects with grace, compassion, and humor.

In this sequel, show more we meet up again with Louisa (“Lou”) Clark, eighteen months after the love of her life, Will Traynor, a quadriplegic, opted to end his life. Lou stood by his side to the end, but she still hasn’t recovered. As the story begins, Lou has a pretty horrible job as a bartender and factotum at a faux Irish pub at the airport. Then she herself almost becomes a quadriplegic when she falls off of her rooftop after a melancholy night of loneliness and drinking. Her parents take her back with them to their home in Stortfold to recover, with her dad only agreeing to let her go back to her flat in London if she attends some sort of help group.

Lou returns to London, goes back to the bar because she can’t find any other job, and joins the Moving On Circle, a weekly meeting with others who have sustained a loss. Lou doesn’t have much in common with members of the group, besides the need to feel alive again:

“It was what we all wanted, ultimately, to be freed from our grief. To be released from this underworld of the dead, half our hearts lost underground, or trapped in little porcelain urns.”

Each of them, as one character notes, continues to be “in love with a ghost.”

Meanwhile, because of the group, Lou re-encounters “Ambulance Sam,” the paramedic who was so helpful to her when she fell, and who comes to pick up teenaged Jake after the meetings. Sam and Jake have also experienced the death of a loved one, and Sam explains how he can live with the memory:

"You learn to live with it, with them. Because they do stay with you, even if they're not living, breathing people anymore. . . . It's just something you learn to accommodate. Like adapting around a hole. I don't know. It's like you become . . . a doughnut instead of a bun."

Lou also gets an unexpected new roommate in her flat - a 16-year-old totally bratty teenager, for whom Lou feels responsible simply because Lou is a decent person.

Thus, Lou again becomes more involved in taking care of others than in taking care of herself, with her sister Treena trying to talk some sense into her:

“Far easier for you to just stick with that depressing little job and complain about it. Far easier for you to sit tight and not take a risk and make out that everything that happens to you is something you couldn’t help.”

Eventually, and with a lot of help from her friends, Lou comes to agree. But can she actually overcome her fear of loss and sense of loyalty to Will and move on?

Evaluation: This is another lovely book from Jojo Moyes that won’t disappoint fans of Me Before You. Although one might think her books would be glum given the subject matter, on the contrary, you will find yourself laughing throughout, and once again admiring the amazing perseverance and pluck of the heroine.

You won’t want to miss reading these two books, especially since the film adaptation of Me Before You is scheduled came out in June, 2016. show less

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes broke me with its tragic, unconventional romance. It was beautiful and magical and utterly heartbreaking. I – a person who finds little to no enjoyment in contemporary romances – sat there bawling my eyes out for fictional characters after finishing the first book. Then, I went out and bought After You, the sequel … Bad move on my part. Let me tell you why:

You know how your mother used to tell you to stop picking at a scab? Well, After You is kind of like that. When you’ve finished the first book, your heart will be broken and it will take you a few days (maybe weeks or months) to get over it. Your broken heart will scab over eventually, and you’re going to want to know what happened to Louisa in show more the aftermath, I understand this because I, too, wanted to know. DO NOT LET THE TEMPTATION GET THE BETTER OF YOU. There are times when you should listen to your mother’s advice and not pick at scabs, because you will just start bleeding again and the wound will take longer to heal.

After You made me bleed again, and not in a good way this time around. It left me hollow, thanks to the drivel that was all Louisa’s bad decisions. That magic from the first book became dust. Why? Well, because the author picked at scabs thanks to peer pressure (yes, I blame the fans of the first book for the author writing a sequel that shouldn’t exist). You see, what most people don’t want to understand is that sometimes an ending doesn’t have to wrap everything up with a neat bow. Sometimes the mystery is good. Sometimes not knowing more about something is the best thing you can get. But nooooooo. Now I’ve read the sequel and it kind of just made the first book feel … mediocre. (This will hopefully change once I forget the second book even exists).

Most of After You is spent focusing on Louisa, after Will Traynor. She makes bad decisions, she doesn’t better herself, she’s going back to square one, yada-yada-yada. Now I get that the poor woman is still mourning, but he wanted her to live her life to the fullest. Does she? Nope. In fact, what used to be endearing (that cute, childish ways of her) just became annoying in After You. Grow up, damn it! And then there was the story after the story, about Will Traynor’s … well, I can’t really give it away because then that would be a spoiler, but if you’ve read the book and met this “figure of Will’s past”, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Total magic spoiler, in my opinion.

Yes, I know the guy had a life before Louisa, before the accident, before Me Before You, but really? That was just cruel.

I’ll stop ranting now, because I’m still a bit empty because of this book, but the point is I wouldn’t recommend you read After You if you want to keep that magical, tragic love story alive in your heart forever. Believe me, it’s just not worth ruining Me Before You. show less

I actually enjoyed After You (AY), unlike many GR readers who seem to consider it a weak sequel to (or in some cases, even a betrayal of) the beloved Me Before You (MBY). Granted, AY doesn't grab your heart and rip it out of your chest like MBY, but would you really want it to? Could you survive that level of emotional pain again? I feel like Moyes was in an impossible situation - readers clamoring to know what happened to Louisa after Will's death and probably knowing in her heart of hearts that literary lightning like MBY only strikes once. But I think she does have some worthwhile things to say about moving on after loss, and I think it's more realistic to portray Louisa when AY opens as stuck in a rut, than to think that some money show more from Will and a trip to Paris at the end of MBY solved all of her problems permanently.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot except to say that Moyes does bring out a few cliched plot points that would be wall-bangers in a less talented author's hands. I did groan when Louisa literally pleaded with Sam to stay with her when he got shot, and he told her later that her voice helped him fight to live. And I could have done without the slapstick subplot about her middle-aged traditional mom finding feminism, and the predictable response from her bemused dad.

But overall I was glad to spend time with Louisa Clark again, watch her make her peace with Will's decision to die, and rejoice in her decisions to fully embrace life and love. show less

How does Jojo Moyes do it?? How does she make me cry and laugh within pages of another? How does she make me care so much about each of her characters?

I thought this was such a stupendous sequel to "Me Before You"- I was so excited to see what Louise would be doing next, and how she carried forwards in her new life. Louise's character development continues to be one of my favorite character arcs; I think it might have been stronger in this novel than even "Me Before You".

Also, I'm SO HAPPY that Moyes continued to include such strong family elements and themes in this series. They remain one of the most endearing and entertaining aspects.

Ugh, Moyes is just too good! Loved this.

After You, Jo Jo Moyes, author, Anna Acton, narrator
I want Louisa Clark to be my new best friend forever! I seriously cannot wait for this author to write the next book in this series, for surely there will be another. I simply enjoyed watching Louisa grow into a full-fledged adult, watching her character morph from a young woman with no ambition, no dreams, into a woman who will take risks, fall in love, reunite with her family, show compassion and courage, and manage to keep all things in perspective, much to her own surprise. I liked the way the author used flashbacks in the narrative to help those who read the first book “Me Before You”, to recall the basic story, and to also introduce it to those who had not. I want to have show more another window into Louisa’s next stage of life. Many months after the suicide of Will Traynor, the man for whom Louisa was a caregiver, she still mourns the loss. She loved him and her grief has overwhelmed her. She moved to London with the help of the money he left her, but has not, as he had wished, begun to “live life”. She tried to travel, but she gave up quickly. She did not return to school. She works in an airport bar, pretty much a dead end path forward. After she falls from the roof of her building in a freak accident, she requires weeks of healing. Many suspect that she was so despondent that she jumped. She returns home to her family and begins to enjoy the safety of their company and concern. Her sister, Treena, kept encouraging Lou to return to school, to get a better job, to stop living at home if she didn’t have to, because Treena felt that her own life was truly a dead end and she wanted more for her sister. What hope did she have as an unmarried mother with a good university degree but no job prospects? When Louisa returns to her own apartment, flat as it is called in the book, to try and return to her life and job, she discovers the 16-year daughter of Will Traynor. Her first shock is that he never told her about Lily, and her second is that this young girl had been on her fire escape once before, the fire escape leading to her roof and her accident. The two of them develop a relationship which is sometimes fiery as well as loving, sometimes combative and dysfunctional as Lily experiences teenage angst and feelings of insecurity and isolation. When she begins grief counseling, she meets Jake, a 16 year old teenager. Walking with him, she meets the man who came to pick him up from the session. She recognizes him. He is Sam, the ambulance driver who held her hand after she was seriously wounded in her traumatic fall from the roof. He kept encouraging her to stay alive. Soon, a relationship begins to flower between them. The character, Louisa, is defined by her compassion, her sense of responsibility for others, her genuine feeling for their welfare and her quirkiness. Lily’s character is at first defined by lying, stealing, inappropriate comments and angry outbursts. Her need to feel wanted and loved has made her a manipulator who acts out inappropriately when she feels threatened. With Louisa’s help, she grows into a more responsible teenager who can function quite well in the new world in which she begins to live. I loved this fairytale. It introduced so many interesting threads, feminism, juvenile delinquency, pedophilia, alcoholism and recovery from grief. It does veer off in many extraneous directions, but all of the twists and turns come together and are resolved in a satisfying conclusion. Josie, Lou’s mom, discovers women’s rights, her sister Treena loses her spoiled attitude and acknowledges her own failures, Georgiana, Will’s sister becomes less self-centered and more interested in her extended family, the Traynors embrace their newfound grandchild, and Louisa begins life anew at the same time that Lily begins to follow a more positive path. Yes, this novel is like an adult fairytale, but it is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Jojo Moyes writes in a clear style with a touch of humor that is so well balanced that even the most traumatic scenes are tolerable. The narrator was excellent. She invited me into the story and held me there, thoroughly engaged as she brought each character to life. show less