Jojo Moyes - After You.

Jojo Moyes – After You.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Hi everyone! The more I write and post, the more I am enjoying doing this. The plan was to kill some time and write about some books, but I really can’t see myself giving this up any time soon. The last week I have been reading After You by Jojo Moyes and I just finished it so I’m going to give you my thoughts on it while they’re still fresh in my mind. This book followed Louisa Clark in the aftermath of Will Traynor’s suicide in Me Before You. This story is one filled with hope, and redemption and moving forward and I loved reading it. As usual, this article will be filled with spoilers so if you haven’t yet read the book and don’t want it ruining, here is some spoilerless information about it before you sign off.

“Lou Clark has a lot of questions.

Like how it is she’s ended up working in an airport bar, watching other people jet off to new places.

Or why the flat she’s owned for a year still doesn’t feel like home.

Whether her family can ever forgive her for what she did eighteen months ago.

And will she ever get over the love of her life.

What Lou does know for certain is that something has to change.

Then, one night it does.

But does the stranger on her doorstep hold the answers Lou is searching for – or just more questions?

Close the door and life continues: simple, ordered, safe.

Open it and she risks everything.

But Lou once made a promise to live. And if she’s going to keep it, she has to invite them in. . .”

At the beginning of the book we see the consequences of Will’s suicide. His family and Lou were all investigated surrounding the manner of his death and it was in all of the news. Louisa’s mother was still barely talking to her because of her involvement in Will’s death. She is living in a flat that doesn’t even feel at home and working in an airport bar. Lou feels that she isn’t keeping her promise to Will, the promise to live her life, not to settle. After he died she lived, she went travelling, she lived abroad, but she still ended up back in England. She was stuck.

One night she is on the roof of her block of flats, she was using it as a sort of garden, she was drunk and talking to herself, or Will. She fell off of the roof after hearing a girl’s voice behind her (she wasn’t hallucinating, I thought that too). It takes Lou a while to recover from the damage of the fall but it is nothing permanent. She will be okay. This to me seems to be the point that Lou’s life makes a change for the better.

Afterwards she learns that the girl who snuck up behind her was Lily. Will Traynor’s daughter. Will had no idea that he had a daughter, they had never met. Lily tracked down Lou after reading about Will’s death. Lily is troubled, and her mother seems to have given up on her. Louisa takes on the responsibility of being a stable adult in Lily’s life, while introducing her to her father’s side of the family. Louisa was at her best when she was taking care of Will in the first book. So it made sense that she gave herself the job of being there for Lily.

Caring for Lily pushed Louisa out of her comfort zone. Lily challenged her as much as Will did. She questioned why Louisa wasn’t putting herself out there, why she was sad all the time, why she hadn’t gotten herself comfortable in her own flat, and the flat was still bare. Lily (whilst difficult) was so good for Louisa in terms of helping her grow. After loosing Will, Lou seemingly lost herself, Lily was the much needed distraction from Will, while at the same time being a reminder of all of the things Will encouraged in her. Moyes wrote Lily as such a complex character. I loved getting to know her. Her walls were built up so high out of sadness and the expectation that people don’t want her. She covered her emotions with rudeness, jokes and anything she could grasp at. But inside she just wanted a family. She wanted someone to believe in her. Deep down it felt like she wanted to find Will and have him welcome her with open arms and give her the loving home she was desperate for. When in actual fact she found out he had taken his own life and stumbled into Lou’s arms who was barely holding herself together. Reading about Lily was my favourite part of this book. The beautiful complexity of her and the similarities to Will that were so obviously there.

Another part of the story that was crucial was the support group that Louisa joined. After her accident she joined a support group to help her with her grieving of Will. At first she barely opens up, she even gives Will a fake name when talking about it. It could be suggested that this was because she was either in denial or was protecting herself from the pain of explaining what happened to him. However, towards the end of the book Louisa completely opens up to these people and considers the entire support group her friends. She makes the decision that she no longer needs the session but would like to stay for the last few sessions to spend time with her friends. I feel that watching Lou grow in this way made me so proud. In the first book she didn’t have much of a support group in terms of friends. She had Will and Nathan but not much else. At the start of this book she was also alienated from nearly everyone, unless you count her work colleagues. To see her develop this group of friends and thriving was amazing character development.

A further development throughout the book is Louisa’s new boyfriend Sam. Sam was the ambulance driver that picked Lou up after her accident. And then it also appeared that his nephew was at the same support group as Louisa. Their paths were crossed so many times before they finally spent some time together and I can honestly say I loved them together the minute they met. Sam was just a genuinely nice guy and Lou needed that. Despite their problems throughout the book they ended it on such a high note, they were together, Lou felt so much love towards him.

The last key element of the book was Lou’s career. At the beginning we see her working in an airport bar and dealing with a very difficult boss. This is until she speaks to Nathan who is currently working for a family in New York. They are looking for a carer for someone in their household and Nathan recommended Lou for the job. She is offered the job but says no as she has to take care of Lily. But when Lily moves in with Camilla Traynor Lou is freed up and takes the job. Louisa’s growth as a character to even think about this job was wonderful. She was such a small town girl who enjoyed living in the same place, and now she is jetting off to live in America. Will and Lily and even Sam gave her the tools and support she needed to grow and become a confident individual, a person who can move across the world in the hopes of success.

Moyes developed her so well and I am so excited to read about how she does in Still Me, the next book on my reading list. I adore following Louisa’s story. This is one that I won’t ever forget. A story of strength and growth. We could all learn a little from this about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. In the words of Will Traynor ‘Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle’.

Stay Curious!

J x