After You

I actually enjoyed After You (AY), unlike many GR readers who seem to consider it a weak sequel to (or in some cases, even a betrayal of) the beloved Me Before You (MBY). Granted, AY doesn't grab your heart and rip it out of your chest like MBY, but would you really want it to? Could you survive that level of emotional pain again? I feel like Moyes was in an impossible situation - readers clamoring to know what happened to Louisa after Will's death and probably knowing in her heart of hearts that literary lightning like MBY only strikes once. But I think she does have some worthwhile things to say about moving on after loss, and I think it's more realistic to portray Louisa when AY opens as stuck in a rut, than to think that some money from Will and a trip to Paris at the end of MBY solved all of her problems permanently.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot except to say that Moyes does bring out a few cliched plot points that would be wall-bangers in a less talented author's hands. I did groan when Louisa literally pleaded with Sam to stay with her when he got shot, and he told her later that her voice helped him fight to live. And I could have done without the slapstick subplot about her middle-aged traditional mom finding feminism, and the predictable response from her bemused dad.

But overall I was glad to spend time with Louisa Clark again, watch her make her peace with Will's decision to die, and rejoice in her decisions to fully embrace life and love.