Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

21 reviews

geje94's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Chronic illness, Car accident, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

thekiwibibliophile's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

alyssa_tauber's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 "Me Before You" is not the book it is marketed as.
I had very little expectation for "Me" when I picked up the audiobook from the library. It sounded like a fairly typical chick-lit romance with a disabled love interest. It is not that. Yes, Lou does fall for Will, but the story really circles around the issue of

euthanasia

. This is a pretty devisive issue, and it is treated as such in the book. Characters have many different opinions on it. Will wants it. Lou's mom thinks it is murder. Some of the chatters on the quad page are for it, others against. I could see how this would be an equally devisive for readers, but, to me, Moyes doesn't treat it as a one-size fits all issue, and that adds complexity to the book that I did not expect.
Overall, "Me Before You" could be a love it or hate it book, but it's not the trite romance the blurb suggests. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Chronic illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Medical content

veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

First things first: I did enjoy the writing style of the author and I look forward to reading a different book of hers.
However I will not be continuing the "me before you"-series. Although JoJo Moyes has made some points about how badly we as a society and as individuals often treat people with a disability, by excluding and forgetting about them, her writing and storyline in and of itself felt abelist. It also seems as though she has not done sufficient research on the topic. 
I also found the topic of assisted suicide to be very important and interesting. However I found it mixing the topics (physical disability and assisted suicide) more than difficult. I could imagine this book being quite harmful to the disabled community, even though it is "only meant to represent Will's story". I also think readers should question themselves while reading this book. Will seems to be suffering from some form of depression (I am by no means an expert, so I am very sorry should I have gotten something wrong). Let's imagine he wasn't disabled and he was """"""just"""""" depressed. Would we be okay with him taking his own life ? Or are we okay with him committing assisted suicide, because he has a disability.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Suicide

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Minor: Car accident, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

laravo21's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicide

kellypower_17's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book so much that I couldn’t stop reading. The characters are beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Self harm, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

hannahelizza556's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A heart breaking story of two people brought together by a tragic, life changing accident. 

It was raw, romantic and discusses themes such as the class system, the use of drugs, assisted suicide and the effect it has on families and friends. These are raw topics that some authors choose to shy away from, not Jojo Moyes. She moves towards these themes in the book and discusses them in a broad and open way. 

Amazingly I didn't cry while reading the book although I was very, very close. It really did pull on the heartstrings. 

This book was raw and romantic, the love story was amazing. The book was funny and endearing. It was also laugh out loud funny.

would highly recommend this book - already reading the next book, After You.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

elliehutch21's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Confinement, and Terminal illness

elliemae_britton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Mental illness

markedwithanm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness