NOTE spoilers to 'me before you' and 'after you' included...
This is the third book in the trilogy from the original 'me before you.' Me before you was an absolute best seller, and when I read it and I absolutely loved it and all the characters in it. I read 'after you' and liked it (but not nearly as much) but continued to love the way Jojo Moyes writes and tells the story of Lou Clark. When I found out there was another one carrying on from this, I knew I had to read it. It was completely different from Me before you but it carried on telling Lou's life and how she changed.
Still me follows on from her tough stage in her life after Will's death, and fast forwards to her new beginning in New York. Her employer is a good but incredibly rich man and she works as the assistant to his wife, Agnes. Her boyfriend, Sam, still lives in England. As the book goes on it follows the secrets that Agnes is hiding and this costs Lou a lot. Her new lifestyle is completely different from in England: surrounded by fancy events, expensive clothes, and being ordered around by Agnes.
She then meets a man named Josh in New York. Who completely and utterly reminds her of Will Traynor. Unfortunately, for about five minutes I genuinely thought the book's plot was going to change EVERYTHING and the plot would completely twist. I began to imagine the rest of the book in my head that it WAS will Traynor (which got me excited). Of course, it just SERIOUSLY reminded her of him and looking back, if it did go the way I was thinking and it was in fact him, it would have completely messed up 'me before you' and 'after you' and even the film of 'me before you' wouldn't be as effective if you had read still me.
However, as a reader, I wasn’t convinced that Josh was at all like Will Traynor. The way he was physically described was obviously similar but his actions and words meant I just didn’t like him as a character. Bearing in mind that I absolutely LOVED the character of Will, I don’t know if Moyes was trying to portray that Lou wanted him to be like Will and convinced herself that he was, or Moyes did try to make out that he was like him – which I don’t think she achieved successfully. I know of course it wasn’t him but if he was reminded Lou so much of him, it definitely didn’t remind me and I’m not sure if this was intentional (and she was trying to tell us an underlying message) or it just didn’t work.
At page 100 I wasn’t convinced that I liked the book that much. It was good and written in the same style the other two were, I just wasn’t hooked and excited to pick it up and read it. However, I just sat down and READ it in one single sitting and read through to the end. It got so much better the more it went on and the plot got much more meaningful and interesting. At first, I felt it was written for the sake of it – to write another book, but as it went on, I really felt it held such important messages of finding yourself and following Lou’s life after her getting over the death of Will really finished it off well and the messages it held were important ones about life.
The characters Lou met in New York were both awful and brilliant. Some she grew to love and held close to her heart, some the opposite. Her life in New York was such a change to her life in England and the up’s and down's were very raw and real with her family, relationship, lifestyle and job. I think it had a great theme of Loss and her really getting over it and starting fresh. There are constant references to Will and the messages he left her, essentially “you only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it a fully as possible”. So really, although after you is about the instant response to his death, ‘Still me’ is responding to Will's death and living like he told her to. This involves huge hurdles she has to get over.
Overall, this is the third book in the series and if you have read the other two, read this one. It finished it off satisfyingly and leaves you with a deeper outlook on the other two books. It is not intensely gripping, and of course, nothing can top ‘me before you’ but it is a cosy book which takes you through Lou living like Will wanted her to.
It is not classified as young adult, but I completely recommend it to teenagers too ages 13+.
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