2.9 reading response 4: Still Me

“You shut down a library Louisa, you don’t just shut down a building, you shut down hope.”

―  jojo Moyes , Still Me

Jojo Moyes’s character Louisa Clark returns following Me Before You and After You in a new novel that follows the irresistible Lou as she travels from her home in England to New York City, where she is hired by the multi millionaire Mr Gopnik in order to be an assistant to his much younger wife Agnes. Jojo Moyes portrays Louisa Clark as a  fashionista, funky and quirky young woman who wears her heart on her sleeve. Lous humorous yet touching interactions with ever-friendly Ashok and neighbor Ms De Witt highlight her humanity and desire to fully live her life. As Lou is exposed to the lifestyle of the very rich, she maintains her integrity and discovers that the benefits of wealth cannot guarantee real happiness. Moyes’s many readers will be enlightend by the humor,  realistic and well-developed characters such as Ms De-Witt and Ashok as well as louisa herself

“You always have one foot in two places. You can never be truly happy because, from the moment you leave, you are two selves, and wherever you are one half of you is always calling to the other.”  ― jojo moyes, Still Me

Jojo tells us about Louisa after Will’s death in the sequel “after you”  An accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started. Even though her body heals, Lou knows that she needs to get back to living her life following Wills words to “ live boldly, push yourself, don’t settle, just live well, just live”   Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group including a young boy who helps her find love again after Will, the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and ruins all her plans, driving 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 getting over the grief of Will and continuing on with her life through meeting Wills unknown daughter and sam the handsome paramedic

“Still me” the third book of the series,  Louisa has left her too-perfect paramedic boyfriend Sam on the other side of the ocean and is ready for her new life in new york. Throughout the novel Jojo continues to relate the novels catchphrase  “Live boldly” Where Lou follows Wills advise and pursues to fully live her life! She says, “I looked up through gritty eyes and there it was across the Brooklyn Bridge — Manhattan — shining like a million jagged shards of light; awe-inspiring, glossy, impossibly condensed and beautiful, a sight that was so familiar from television and films that I couldn’t quite accept I was seeing it for real.” the reader gets a peak on New York’s skyscraper-high society: “glamorous charity balls, exclusive luncheons, and a gleaming house buzzing with cleaners, florists, pet behaviorists” However, characters emerge, weighing down the excitement: from Ashok, the big-hearted doorman, to Tab, the Gopniks’ daughter, to Ilaria the maid to the Gopniks themselves and the fashion queen Ms De-Witt. Moyes doesn’t spend enough time with anyone in Louisa’s life and so their predicaments feel paper-thin. Louisa helps ease Agnes Gopnik’s discomfort as an outsider in a new social class, as the young, second bride of Leonard Gopnik Meanwhile, paramedic boyfriend Sam’s new co-worker, “who sounds and looks like Pussy Galore,” seems to be angling for more than a work relationship. Louisa is torn between her life in england with her handsome boyfriend as well as the time she spent morning over Will and the new life in new york with the advise of Wills words to live boldly.  Louisa’s sympathetic nature and her easy humor that stands up even during tough times are endearing qualities. By the time Louisa takes the advice from a no-nonsense neighbor ms De-Witt, “You know, I think at some point, dear, you’re going to have to work out who Louisa Clark really is,” Louisa learns she going to have to find herself, this time by her own and without Will Traynor or Paramedic Sam.

Throughout the novel Jojo moyes makes the readers continuously think and refer back to Will Traynor and his message of “live boldly” despite not being mentioned at certain times this makes me as reader think about all of lives hardest choices and with choice comes sacrifice. 

One Reply to “2.9 reading response 4: Still Me”

  1. A good response overall, Portia. You may wish to include your personal thoughts more clearly through the use of personal pronouns, however, there is a good amount of textual evidence discussed here – Also, make sure that you do come to final conclusions about the text at the end of point discussions.

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