Review: "After You" Provides a Much-Needed Follow-Up into the Lives of Unique Characters Created by Jojo Moyes
- Booknerdian
- Nov 26, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 4
After You is the second book in the Me Before You trilogy, and it does not disappoint.
Moyes’ first novel in the series, Me Before You, introduces us to Louisa Clark, a young woman living an ordinary life with her family, never rising to her full potential. Trying to escape her dead-end job, she accepts a position as a caretaker for Will Traynor—a wealthy, successful, and powerful man who is used to living a big life—until his accident. Now, a quadriplegic, Will is bossy, gruff, and off-putting, but Lou finds the mettle to handle his moody nature better than anyone. Soon, the two of them share an unlikely love, a joining of the heart and mind. Unable to bear life as a quadriplegic, however, Will ends his life at an assisted suicide facility and losing him has a profoundly devastating impact on his family and Louisa.
Will leaves Lou a hefty inheritance and encourages her to see the world, so she spends time abroad visiting all the places Will had been on his travels, trying to feel closer to him and to “live” as he wanted her to.
After You Shares What Happens to Jojo Moyes’ Characters Following the Tragedy
Will’s death hangs over Louisa like a dark cloud. She doesn’t know how to move on without him, and then a near-death accident sends Lou back home temporarily to live with her parents. She’s back to square one.
After her recovery, Lou returns to her London flat, paid for with the inheritance from Will, but she never makes it homey. She feels too guilty to live well at the expense of his life. Even her wardrobe changes. No longer does she wear vibrant combinations of vintage clothing, preferring, instead, plain T-shirts and jeans. She finds herself in another dead-end job at a pub in an airport. She’s existing. It’s as if she must give up her own life for not being able to save Will’s.
Lou agrees to join a support group—the Moving on Circle—and it eventually connects her with Sam Fielding, a local paramedic. Will’s memory holds her back. How can she love someone new when she still feels connected to Will? The fear of losing someone she loves again nearly ruins her second chance at romance. Then, an unexpected surprise from Will’s past turns her life upside down and sends her on a much different trajectory than she plans.
Louisa isn’t the only character the reader revisits. Her mother, tired of being taken for granted, rebels against tradition and grabs hold of the feminist movement, much to her husband’s bewilderment, and it leads the couple down a very rocky road.
Treena, Louisa’s sister, is finishing college but in a tough place. She’s a single mom still living with her parents. The job market is tight, and she can’t leave her hometown because childcare would consume too much of her salary. She feels stuck and a little resentful of Louisa’s life choices.
Will’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Traynor, are leading very different lives in the aftermath of their son’s death.
Louisa’s life is brimming with drama, but through it all, she follows her heart and finds herself again.
Jojo Moyes Shares Her Thoughts on After You
Jojo Moyes says this about After You: As a reader, I love to be made to feel something—it’s more important to me than a beautifully honed paragraph—and I hope this one makes readers feel something too.
Moyes achieves her goal. If you’ve read Me Before You already, you’ll recall the rollercoaster ride on which the story takes you. You feel gutted by the end. It takes time to process and recover from the emotional toll, even though you know it’s only fiction. It’s to Moyes’ credit that she is such a masterful storyteller.
After You is moving, too, but unlike the first novel in the trilogy, you won’t feel despondent at the end. The viewer heals from the tragedy along with the characters we’ve come to care about. We laugh when they laugh, are sad when they are, we are agitated by the things that agitate them—it’s a magnificent continuation of the saga.
Moyes originally had no intention of writing this second book. After receiving an “astonishing amount of e-mail from readers” who wanted to know what happened next with Louisa, she relented as a storyline clicked in her head.
Moyes gives story arcs, not just to the heroine, but to all the supporting characters—a daunting endeavor—and she pulls it off skillfully and cleverly. Moyes explains, I didn’t think either the Traynors or the Clarks would be untouched by what had happened—and the book is really about how everyone has been affected by one man’s decision.
The difficulty in writing a story with a new love interest, Moyes admits, is to create someone who is not a trope—not that tall, dark, handsome prince who is going to sweep you off your feet and make everything okay. Moyes hits the target. Sam lets Louisa be free. He loves her as she is and doesn’t try to hold her back from what she needs to do, and it’s one of the things that makes him so attractive.
What is Moyes’ litmus test for writing a love interest? Being in love with him herself by the time she’s finished writing!
Review of After You by Jojo Moyes--The Book Nerd Weighs In
Me Before You was such a heart-wrenching read for me. The story stuck with me, probably more so than any other book I’ve ever read. A self-proclaimed romcom junkie, I'm accustomed to Hallmark-esque romance, so when the novel ripped me apart emotionally, it took me weeks to shake it off. I waited nearly one-and-a-half years to pick up After You—I wasn’t ready to grieve with Louisa and move on until then.
Although After You is filled with emotional charges, it isn’t burdensome. It’s delicious to become engrossed in a novel and actually feel something, just as Moyes intends.
After You is brilliant. While some sequels are a disappointment, this one is every bit as satisfying as the first. The characters are extraordinary, and the arcs for each one please the reader. While I am not thrilled with Louisa’s decision that comes at the end of After You, I understand it is necessary to build the bridge to the third and final novel in the trilogy.
After You takes a deep dive into the grieving process. Moyes has written a novel that is unpredictable, funny, moving, and trope-free. The characters are multi-faceted and unique, and their lives seem real because they are messy, not perfect.
Moyes is pure genius. If you haven’t read the Me Before You trilogy, you can visit the link below to snag them for your TBR pile.
Complete List of Books by Jojo Moyes
Once you've read a Jojo Moyes novel, you will be hungry for more!
Review: After You by Jojo Moyes
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