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Me Before You
Me Before You
Jojo Moyes | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
1
8.3 (59 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ham Handedly Dealing with Sensitive Materials
Contains spoilers, click to show
I did NOT like this book. In fact, there were several sections of this book where I actively hated the book. Before you continue reading, note that I do intend to spoil the story.

First, the only character that has more than 5 lines that I didn't think was awful was Nathan the nurse. Lou, Will and their whole families were terrible! Selfish, rude, cold and uncaring. Maybe my sister is too supportive even at the worst of times, but Treena made me want to scream with her selfishness.

Second, I feel as though they took an exceptionally sensitive subject and kicked it around in the dirt for a while. I would be interested in sitting around discussing the concept of euthanasia. However, I feel like this story focused on all the wrong arguments.

Third, this book did a huge disservice to the paraplegic and quadriplegic community. Even with the addition of the chat rooms with the other members of the community, there is a lot of emphasis on how life will inevitably blow until the end of time if you're in a wheelchair. It felt like a book that was intended to educate and inform people who maybe don't know much about this life and instead, they wrote an extremely whiny story about one man who's a giant asshole.

Fourth, Louisa's rape should have been a major plot point, treated as a juxtaposition to Will's accident. Instead, the treat Lou getting raped by a group of men as an after thought that Will cures with one conversation.

Fifth, the writing was lazy and the pacing was bad. It felt overly long and things were dragged out farther than they needed to be. Also, Will's family's money was a bit of an easy fix. Will could have top of the line everything. He could afford to go on fancy expensive trips. He could afford a nurse to come over several times a day. Imagine how much more real this story would be if Lou was the disabled person. Lou's mom would be the one responsible for her care. This would be a much more dire situation. Will comes across whiny because he has to rely on other people. He doesn't seem like a sad man in a bad situation. He seems like a whiny selfish asshole

Finally, what do these people have against therapy. When someone has been through an experience as traumatic as a car accident that leaves you paralyzed, you should probably speak to a therapist. I do not mean Nathan, the physical therapist. I mean a psychologist. I'm not saying Will wouldn't have ultimately made the same decision, but somehow I think trained licensed professional might have been a better option for Camilla Traynor to hire as opposed to unemployed waitress.

I know I'm apparently in the minority in this, but I HATED this book.
  
Rating: 4.5

Ruder's grandmother—Babushka, in Russian—seemed to have an answer for every ailment, and it was always organic and made from things in your kitchen. After years of using her Babushka's beauty secrets on herself and her grandmother's clients, Ruder moved to America and started using the treatments on the women in her salon. Now, studies have proven that the treatments that her grandmother used for decades are just as good or better than the ones in the stores, because they're more concentrated and have less chemicals and more organic material.

The idea behind Babushka's Beauty Secrets is this: Instead of an expensive treatment that is not as concentrated or involves being eaten, getting soaked into the bloodstream, and deposited in the right place, why not just apply the vitamin or the mineral in high concentration directly to where you need it?

Babushka's Beauty Secrets has everything from foot scrubs to facial masks to hair treatments to acne treatments. There are treatments for eyes, lips, hair, hands, feet, and whole body. There are even waxing processes and shaving creams. There are recipes in here aimed for younger pre-teens all the way up.

All the ingredients in Babushka's Beauty Secrets are the ones you'll have in your refrigerator: Milk, eggs, mustard, mayonnaise, avocado, olive oil, etc. In one section of the book, Ruder compares prices of treatments and natural foods: the prices are hundreds of dollars difference, and they work better.

The only thing that bothered me slightly was the vagueness of some of the ingredients. When she says "milk," does it have to be whole milk? fat free? does it make a difference? Milk is an example, but there are other ingredients she mentions that are not specific. With so many chemicals in our food today, is there a specific brand that is best? is there a brand that we need to avoid? there is nothing in the book along these lines. In the long run, I think if it did make a big enough difference she would mention it, but it still raised questions for me.

Some of the specific things that Babushka's Beauty Secrets hits on:

Skin treatments that make your skin glow and look young
eye treatments for dark circles, crows feet, and eyelashes
lip moisturizers and colors
hair treatments for dandruff, dry hair, thin hair, oily hair, every kind of hair etc
feet treatments
treatments for cellulite and sunburns
one ingredient wonders
I was very impressed and surprised by Babushka's Beauty Secrets. Not only did I learn cool recipes, but I know now why each one works the way it does, because the reason you're using it is explained in the recipe. Basically, this book will save you a lot of money and educate you on keeping your body healthy. It's 110% worth the sixteen dollars—because you'll be set for beauty treatments for everything for the rest of your life.
  
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