Wednesday 17 June 2015

Jojo Moyes

Is an author review a thing? Like a book review but for their writers? I have been on a Jojo Moyes binge lately. I started with Me before You and have since read The Girl You Left Behind and just finished One plus One.

I'm obsessed.

When my former book club chose Me before You, I read the synopsis and thought it was a joke. A girl falls in love with a quadriplegic. I honestly expected it to be discriminating and a sick attempt at humor. My bristles were up but I started it, with every assumption that I was going to write a letter to Jojo by the end telling her she was a terrible person and that she should never make fun of anyone's physical condition. Clearly I was pleasantly surprised. It was such a good story. I couldn't praise it enough. Every person who asked me to recommended a book heard the spiel. I was offended when they gave me the same look I'd given my friend who'd suggested it to me. The one that said you're an asshole for reading this. Can you imagine my excitement when I learned that not only was it being made into a movie but it was starring Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones) and Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair in the The Hunger Games). Swoon.


After that I was hooked and started the next. I can say with almost complete and utter conviction that The girl you left behind is my favorite book to date. I cried so hard! I wasn't even embarrassed when my husband walked in to me sitting cross-legged on the couch with tears streaming down my face. He thought I was having some sort of early mid-life crisis I'm sure. If you're a fan of war-time stories I recommend it. If you're a fan of Romance, I recommend it. If you're a fan of Paris, life, art, glass houses and head-strong women, I recommend it. Unlike Me before You, this one has a surprise happy ending. Just when you think it's all gone down hill, that your tears were for naught and you'll never recover, Miss Moyes turns it around and saves the day (and my heart, thankfully).




The most recent book I've read was One plus One. For some reason, I felt strangely connected to the main character. She is a struggling, single mother who cleans homes and works in a bar for a living. Her ex-husband is a dick, her son is not biologically hers and her daughter is a math whiz. The only thing I have in common with this woman is the daughter (and maybe the money struggle...) however Jojo wrote it so well  that I feel like anyone could relate to her.

I don't want her books to ever end and I'm scared that soon I will have read all of them and will have to wait until she writes new ones. I'm not a patient person. Waiting kills me!

Have you read any Jojo Moyes books? What did you think?


 

1 comment:

  1. Now you must read "Me After You." It was so nice chatting with you on the flight from Tornoto. I'm reading your book next!

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