April Book Club: Me Before You Chapters 8-14

[kateisoptimistic]

Now that we are halfway through the book, what are you're thoughts? Are you enjoying it? Anything you dislike?

A few thoughts to consider:

What do you think about Lou coming up with all these outings for Will? Do you think it will actually make him happy? or are they maybe more actually for her own benefit?

What do you think about Patrick being threatened by Will?

Why do you think Will is trying to push Lou out of her comfort zone so much? for example by pushing her to get a tattoo with him?

What do you think about the advice Lou got online? is this changing her mindset a bit?

Anything else you want to discuss?

[kateisoptimistic]

Now that we are halfway through this book is kind of getting on my nerves. I am into the story line, but I just feel like Will’s parents and Lou are not really thinking about Will, just themselves.

1. The outings are starting to be more for Lou’s benefit than for Will, she isn’t thinking about how he feels, just how she wants him to feel.

2. Patrick should feel threatened by Will, he is thoughtful and listens to Lou instead of ignoring her and taking her for granted the way Patrick does. It really irritated me how in the beginning Patrick considered Will the perfect boss for his girlfriend since Lou couldn’t possibly be attracted to him. He wasn’t thinking about Will as a human and only saw his disability.

3. I think Will is pushing Lou out of her comfort zone because he thinks its shitty that someone does so little with their life when they have the ability to do so much. I also think he gets a thrill out of it in some way.

4. I think the advice Lou gets online is good for her, it's showing her how Will might really be feeling, I’m hoping it opens her eyes to how selfish she is being.

[joi922]

Apr 17, 2015 7:45:50 GMT -5 kateisoptimistic said:

1. The outings are starting to be more for Lou’s benefit than for Will, she isn’t thinking about how he feels, just how she wants him to feel.

I completely agree with this.  And it's making me very frustrated with the story in general.  I get Will's parents wanting Will to find something to live for, but Lou came in without a horse in the race.  Now it's a personal mission for her because... she just thinks assisted suicide is wrong?  Nope, sorry, not on board with that.  I don't think she gets a vote, and by trying to get Will to find something amazing in life that will change his mind, she's really just pushing her own agenda instead of talking (and LISTENING) to Will about why he feels the way he does. 

2. I think Patrick is right to be threatened by Will.  Lou has clearly developed feelings for him, and frankly neither Lou nor Patrick are putting much effort into their own relationship.  They don't seem happy together, so this seems as good a reason as any for them to finally break up.

3. I think Will doesn't understand why someone would choose to not have adventures and experience as much in life as possible.  It's what he was doing before the accident, so I think it's just his default way of thinking about life.  I think he's frustrated by Lou's lack of desire to see more of the world, since he lost the ability to do it but Lou still can.

4. Honestly, I think Lou is still in the "we can make Will change is mind!" mindset, no matter what the online forum participants tells her.  I think she just focuses more on the "cans" than the "cannots" in the online discussion. 

Edited to try and fix quote - fail.  Pasted quote above my own comments.