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Original poster

Me Before You - am I the only person in the world not to love it?

95 replies

EleanorofProvence · 11/03/2016 10:04

Just over half way through this book and finding it a bit of a chore to read. It seems like everyone else loves it & pretty much all the reviews I've read have raved about it. Why? What am I missing?

OP posts:
FiveGoMadInDorset · 12/03/2016 15:20

I read the blurb and put the book back down

ImperialBlether · 12/03/2016 15:16

Oh I loved that, too, ThenLater! It's here if anyone's interested.

ThenLaterWhenItGotDark · 12/03/2016 14:37

I can't remember, but I bet her hair smelt of lemons like all of Freya North's ridiculous heroines do.

Tell you which chick lit I did recently like- not a tearjerker though- You Had me at Hello. That was nice enough for something lobbed into my trolley in Asda.

woody2976 · 12/03/2016 14:14

well if you think the books shit you should see the film trailer!!!

ootsideinbacktaefront · 12/03/2016 13:48

It was a bit rubbish but the books she had out after were a million times worse, I can't remember name I think I tried to blank it out Grin

AlmaMartyr · 12/03/2016 13:48

I cried, but I once cried at Chuggington so that's no indicator. Yy to this thread. I quite enjoyed it as a very light read one evening, but very surprised to hear some of the raving over it. No depth to it and very one dimensional characters (Lou really irritated me). The stereotypes were deeply irritating. I hate-read the sequel as well, and thought it was even worse. Very glad I'm not the only one.

Original poster
EleanorofProvence · 12/03/2016 13:46

I don't really do tearjerkers but two of the most emotionally wrenching novels I've read are The Siege by Helen Dunmore & The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell.

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TheEagle · 12/03/2016 13:40

The main character in The Kite Runner was a self centred, weak, loathsome fellow! Hated it too.

The Snow Child is beautiful and sad but not a traditional romance.

gincamelbak · 12/03/2016 13:38

I cried. But then I always do.

I had actually separated, in my mind, the Dignitas section from the rest of the book. That was all nonsense amd badly written as though it had been created from the offcuts of other badly written chick lit books. Bad boyfriend, money problems, quirky dress sense, dark secret that changed the heroine, then redemptive love conquers all, bit of sex amd wahey! Book sorted. Then a surprisingly sensitive bit about assisted dying. Then awful bit about heroine learning what life is really about or what have you. Tosh.

I don't think I'll watch the film. Not sure I can take danaerys targaryen on top of the rubbish plot...

cissyfuss · 12/03/2016 13:32

Hours of my life I'll never get back...

Original poster
EleanorofProvence · 12/03/2016 13:28

The Kite Runner? Didn't like that either...

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Original poster
EleanorofProvence · 12/03/2016 13:27

I'm feeling genuinely uplifted by this thread Grin

Maybe she was challenging herself to see how many tiresome WC stereotypes she could chuck in Grin

(I come from a genuinely WC background - coal mining - and that part of the book really pissed me off.)

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HamaTime · 12/03/2016 13:26

Yes to also hating One Day

HamaTime · 12/03/2016 13:25

I hated it for all the reasons you summed up in your second post. The jolliness of her family with their cups of tea and a bedroom with no window and the granddad and roast chicken. He was like Henry Higgins, but more twatty and his parents were ridiculous stereotypes too. And she was a shit carer.

ThenLaterWhenItGotDark · 12/03/2016 13:22

His parents reminded me of Dexter's dreadful snotty mother in One Day. (another one which didn't make me cry, or run to the cinema. I hated Dexter.)

ThenLaterWhenItGotDark · 12/03/2016 13:21

I quite enjoyed it as a less-shoes-and-shagging chick lit fest, but I shan't be reading the sequel or watching the film.

I suppose it proves yet again the point that a heavy subject matter does not great literature make (Splendid Suns and Kites thingy I'm looking at ya)

I do love a good tearjerker though if anyone wants to recommend any? we could all sob in unison?

ImperialBlether · 12/03/2016 13:18

I didn't mind the relationship between the couple (can't remember their names) but the depiction of her family was terrible, as was his.

AmysTiara · 12/03/2016 13:18

No I didn't like it either. Put me off reading any of the authors other books.

loobylou10 · 12/03/2016 13:13

Nope not the only one. Did nothing for me at all - found it tiresome and predictable.

TheEagle · 12/03/2016 13:11

Little Black Grin

Ah, I read this when heavily pregnant with twins and it still failed to stir up any emotions in me.

Stupid characters, cardboard cutouts of real people. The rape subplot just seemingly thrown in and badly managed.

Quogwinkle · 12/03/2016 13:09

:o I don't want to read something that will just make me cross. Life's too short and there are many more books on my tbr list, so perhaps not then!

CoteDAzur · 12/03/2016 13:06

LittleBlack Grin

Original poster
EleanorofProvence · 12/03/2016 10:25

DON'T DO IT Grin

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Quogwinkle · 12/03/2016 09:00

Crow that's really sad. Did they blame you?

I'm still wondering whether to read the sequel, just to find out how bad it is. I was so torn over MBY. I have quite an eclectic taste in books, mixing heavyweight serious with thrillers and lighter "palate cleansers" and felt this definitely dropped into the palate cleanser category despite the subject matter. It was still head and shoulders above the one and only Sophie Kinsella novel I have read. That really was bad - badly written and utterly implausible. I shall never want to read another SK novel ever again.

TheCrowFromBelow · 12/03/2016 07:56

I chose it for our book group Sad Blush
It was awful. Shallow treatment of serious subjects.
It killed our book group we never met again.