Me Before You – Book vs Movie

There is always the age old question when you find out a book has a movie deal that is

“Is it actually going to do it justice?”

We all know that there are plenty of movie adaptations that have not done the book justice at all (*cough* I Am Number Four) but there are plenty that excel all expectations and make a reader beyond happy when they see their favourite story come to life on the screen. Me Before You was definitely one of those for me.

I didn’t think i’d actually get the time to see it, but i took myself off to the cinema (with a lot of tissues in my bag) to watch what i thought was going to be the most heartbreaking movie i’d ever seen.

If you didn’t know, this is the summary for Me Before You by JoJo Moyes:

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

When i read the book i found it to be completely compelling and heartbreaking all in one. I cried my eyes out in the last 50 pages – something that i haven’t done since i read A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. The story was told so beautifully i couldn’t imagine it being done justice on the big screen.

However once it started i knew that i was going to love the movie just as much as the book. Already i was skeptical about the casting choices, i didn’t see Emilia Clarke as the perfect Louisa and that already threw me off before i sat down in my seat. But it turned out that she did quite a good job. The whole cast did a fantastic job in the roles (even though none of them really were how i imagined the characters).

It turns out that the movie was truly as heartbreaking as the novel. I happened to not cry as much as i thought i would, just a lot of heavy breathing as i waited for the tears to go back down. It didn’t mean that the actors made the movie any less emotional. I found myself thinking that these characters worked better on screen then they did in the novel, when i read them to be somewhat emotionless and dry.

If a movie isn’t the greatest adaptation, i will always chose to reread the book instead, taking my time to reconnect with those characters. However, Me Before You is definitely one that i will revisit the movie again and again to hope the ending changes. If you’re thinking about seeing the movie adaptation but have been put off by the likes of I Am Number Four, give it a chance and just see it!