Don’t Judge a Book by its Movie is a feature on The Candid Cover spotlighting and reviewing book to movie adaptations.
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publisher: Penguin Books
Cast: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer
Director: Thea Sharrock
Screenplay: Jojo Moyes
Genres: Romance
Publication Date: December 31, 2012
Rating: 
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
Me Before You: Book vs. Movie
Comparing the book vs. the movie for Me Before You by Jojo Moyes is difficult. This is definitely a movie that will rip your heart out and the book will do the same. There aren’t many differences between the novel and the film in this adaptation, which is really exciting for book lovers. While the book has so much more to offer the reader, the film is a very well executed version of the novel. Most of the events and details from the book are included and are seamlessly translated to the screen. Readers will not be disappointed and those who have yet to read this five star book are never left in the dark, making this one of the best book to movie adaptations that I have seen in quite some time.
❀ The book has a Theme of Family
Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You is an easy to read contemporary romance novel that really digs deep into the topics of family, love and living life to the fullest. Through its quirky and intoxicating main character, Louisa, the reader discovers just how important living a rich life is. Her employment as a caregiver for a quadriplegic man, Will, who has been stripped of a life that he loved teaches her that she must live life as fully as she can. Louisa realizes and grows so much as a woman through her interactions with Will, while Will finds peace from guiding Louisa and getting to know her. It is the perfect romantic contemporary for those who enjoy reading the genre and would make for a great book club selection. You will have a hard time setting this book down.
❀ Comparing the Book vs. The Movie is Hard
Not having been aware that Jojo Moyes actually wrote the screenplay as well had me a little bit nervous as to what to expect from this film. I was so delighted and surprised to discover that Jojo also wrote the script for the movie because it certainly stayed true to the novel. Obviously, the entire book can’t be translated into a two hour film and some elements of the story were not included. There are some characters that are not present and some who are less developed for the screen. Also, there is even a scene at the castle that is new to the plot and really adds depth to Will’s character, although it leaves out an important moment of Louisa’s self discovery. All in all, I was really thrilled to see this story come to life and definitely enjoyed seeing some of the setting and the casting that was so on point.
❀ Both Book and Movie are enjoyable
As always in this feature, I try to dissect both the book and the movie and then decide if the book was translated to the screen effectively. I really do believe that this book to movie adaptation was well done and will be embraced whole heartedly by fans of the novel and those who just love a good tear jerking film. The plot gives readers and movie goers so much to digest and will have you gross sobbing either way.
About Jojo Moyes
Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.
Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.
Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.
She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.
About Lori
Avid reader. Contributor to The Candid Cover. Educator.