There is Great Consolation in Simply Doing Something You Love

I would categorize the British author, Jojo Moyes, as my literary snack food.  I tend to inhale each book like a bag of potato chips—not particularly nutritious but just what I’m looking for at the time.  I read this book in one day during my spring vacation back in March and it was a perfectly good way to spend a long afternoon.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know Louisa (Lou) Clark over three novels: Me Before You, After You, and now Still Me and truthfully, I’ve found her relationship with Will Traynor the least interesting thing about her.  As a result, I’ve found the two novels about her life post-Will much more satisfying.  In After You, Moyes captures the experience of grieving in an incredibly realistic way, as Louisa attempts to move on but finds it terribly difficult.  In Still Me, Lou has moved on from being a grief zombie but still needs to figure out herself and that’s what this novel is all about.  Through her friend, Nathan, Lou secures a job in New York City with a wealthy family—basically as the personal assistant of Leonard Gopnik’s second wife, Agnes. Agnes struggles in her new role because she is younger, an immigrant, and Gopnik’s former massage therapist.  Part of the novel follows Lou’s falling in love with the city, but the other half focuses on the challenges Lou faces in her new job and in being an ocean apart from her boyfriend, Sam.

There are not a ton of surprises here, but it was nice to see the quirky Lou emerge (in the first novel, a lot of time is spent describing her odd but endearing fashion choices) and Moyes has some things to say about social class, individuality, and family.  This novel does a nice job of showing that a wealthy family has depth even as it exposes the superficial nature of many people’s definition of success.  I was especially pleased with where Lou ends up at the end of the novel and if this is the last time Moyes writes about her, I think we’ve left her at a much better place and I wish her well.