Sandy M’s review of After You by Jojo Moyes
Contemporary Fiction published by Pamela Dorman Books 29 Sep 15

I read this book some months ago. I put off writing my review because I just wasn’t sure what I thought and felt about the story at that time. I’m still conflicted to a point, mostly because, I guess, this just isn’t the story I imagined for Lou after Will. I realize it was Ms. Moyes’ story to tell, but of all the ideas I could have imagined her giving readers as a followup, this concept didn’t even enter the stratosphere for me.

It is nice to see Lou again, to see how she’s faring after her loss. Of course, that’s what fans of the first book all wanted to know when we clamored for another story to be told. As to be expected, Lou isn’t doing well. Even her new status thanks to Will isn’t working for her, despite no longer living at home and not having to work a crappy job. But when she experiences a horrible accident – one which later involves gossip about her state of mind – and she moves back home to recuperate, and while life isn’t exactly the same as before, I feel Lou really hasn’t gotten very far in any aspect whatsoever. Even though she joins a Moving On group and we get to know those interesting and irritating characters.

The big thing to come along, of course, is Will’s past, a daughter he never knew about. Skepticism is followed by a need to help Lily, another who hasn’t had a great life so far. That, however, is mostly because of Lily herself. She’s a mean brat who does what she wants when she wants and then gets upset when she feels no one cares about her. Even when Lou comes to care for her, Lily doesn’t change fast enough, disappointing Lou and forcing distance between them. What Lily’s presence does do is help Lou face the loss of Will and all that’s left behind – his parents and their current situation, her parents, and a few other issues she needs to finally confront.

At least Lou at her core hasn’t changed – much. She’s still quirky and funny, though she’s lost a bit of shine that she never seems to truly get back. What I wanted in a sequel to her story is that she does something more with her life. I realize she tries, but maybe not hard enough. Will wanted her to have that something more, to live, something he knew how to do quite well, thus his longing for his final decision when he couldn’t take life by storm anymore. I didn’t necessarily want her to have anything and everything on a grandiose scale, but she now has the means to do whatever she truly wants or even what someone else wants, i.e., charity, volunteering – something. Instead, she goes back to her roots and never ascends any further. Even her new boyfriend, nice and all he may be, is forgettable and not on par with Will – which may never happen, but she’ll never discover if someone like Will could be in her future where she ends up.

All that being said, if there hadn’t been a first book, if we’d come into this one just as it is, it is a good story. I mean, we’re talking Jojo Moyes here, a wonderful writer and storyteller. As disappointed as I am with Lou and her predicament, it’s Ms. Moyes’ talent that keeps my grade from going any lower. I wasn’t expecting another Me Before You, but I was expecting something more, just like Will. More emotion, more fun, more moments. For me, that experience just didn’t happen.

Grade: B-

Summary:

How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living? Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started. Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .

For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await. After You is quintessential Jojo Moyes—a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and rejoice at being back in the world she creates. Here she does what few novelists can do—revisits beloved characters and takes them to places neither they nor we ever expected.

No excerpt available.

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