I’ve just finished reading this book. I really enjoyed it. It is written in a very clear and approachable style which makes it a perfect holiday read. I identified with the narrator’s situation: a young woman to whom something bad happens in her late teens which results in her living a safe but very limited life into her twenties. The author seems to have done very thorough research on quadriplegia. It’s not a a subject that sit comfortably in chick lit but somehow Jojo Moyes pulls it off.

There were many times when I felt like I was reading a book for teenagers but there are odd passages that are breathtakingly vivid and recognisable. I suppose the writing style is simple and unsophisticated in comparison to the last book I read: The Sense of an Ending. I was found that I was surprised when I came across the occasional perfectly articulated passage. My favourite example is when Lou goes to a classical concert for the first time:

The conductor stepped up, tapped twice on the rostrum, and a great hush descended. I felt the stillness, the auditorium alive, expectant. Then he brought down his baton and suddenly everything was pure sound. I felt the music like a physical thing, it didn’t just sit in my ears, it flowed through me, around me, made my senses vibrate. It made my skin prickle and my palms dampen. Will hadn’t descibed any of it like this.

I found this book took me through a range of emotions. It is what they call a page turner. I didn’t find it funny as apparently others have but parts of it are deeply moving.

SPOILER ALERT –>

I was completely gutted by the ending. It was a good ending but it was very upsetting and not the uplifting conclusion I’d expected. I do respect the author for taking that route though.

(27th in 2012)