Me Before You – By Jojo Moyes Book Club Discussion Questions

Courtesy of Jojomoyes.com

Two of my top reads these past couple of years are written by the same author. The first was Me before You by Jojo Moyes.  A story of a young working class woman, Louisa Clark, who falls into a job of being a personal companion to a well-to-do paraplegic business man, Will Trayner. Will’s extreme obstinance to all things positive makes her days miserable, but she knows her parents and family depend on her financial support so leaving the job is out of the question.  Within time Lousia is able to break through Will’s tough shell and a mutual friendship abounds.  Its a story of  the companionship, wish fulfilling, and unabashed love.  Like any good book, it exudes fantastic character development and unexpected twists and turns.  When I finished this book I wanted more, and as luck would have it Jojo Moyes fulfilled my wish with her continuation in After You.

After reading this engaging and provocative book I was inclined to get other peoples’ thoughts and opinions.   Fortunately my book club was happy to oblige and we made it one of  our discussions.  There is some much I wanted to talk about with my group, here are my Me Before You – By Jojo Moyes Book Club Discussion Questions.  Warning:  Spoiler Alert

1.  As a reader, one of the first things you do is learn about the Clark family. How real do you feel it is?  Do you believe or even connect with any of the family members?
2. Louisa lacks any care taking job experience.  Were you at all shocked that the Trayner’s were willing to hire Louisa?  Why do you feel they did?
3. It is revealed in limited detail that when Louisa was younger she had been sexually assaulted by a group of visiting boys at the Castle.  How did this experience effect her physically and emotionally.  When Louisa revealed this to Will how did he react?
4. Jojo provides much detail of Will’s day to day life as a parapalegic, in some cases painfully honest views of the suffering he goes through.  What is the intent of these raw scenes? What does these views of Will do to Louisa overtime.
5. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Will joins the Clark family at their home for dinner. What were some of the interesting interactions during that dinner?
6. Throughout the book there are different interaction of family members, both in Louisa and Will’s family homes. What is the significance’s of learning so much about these two main characters families’ lives?
7. On the subject of families, did you see any similarities with the two families or would you consider them polar opposites?
8. The later half of the book we find out that Will plans to take his life after the six month period is up.  Did you anticipate his plan before it was revealed in the book? If so, what were the clues that this was the path he intended to take? If not, how did you react to this news?
9. What does the title Me Before You mean? Could there be more than one meaning for this title?
10. If you haven’t read the sequel After You,  what do you think happens to Louisa after the book ends?  What about the Clarks and the Traynors?