Still Me (by JoJo Moyes)

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I only started reading JoJo Moyes’ novels about nine years ago. I enjoyed some more than others, then in 2015 read the very powerful ‘Me Before You’, which I liked very much. I was delighted to learn that there was a sequel, and read ‘After You’ almost exactly a year ago. I was then surprised and even more pleased to discover that there was a third book about Louisa Clark, heroine of the first two books. ‘Still Me’ went on my wishlist as soon as it was out in paperback, and I was given it for my birthday in April.

I have just finished reading the book, and thought it excellent. It’s not necessary to have read the earlier books, but they certainly fill in a lot of the background. We meet Louisa at the start of chapter one as she is going through Immigration in an American airport. She’s rather tired, and a bit jet-lagged already, and finds herself talking to the official in uniform despite his lack of response. It’s a good ploy to give the bare bones of what we need to know from the previous books, and I thought it worked well.

Louisa is starting a new job, working as a personal assistant to a woman not much older than she is called Agnes. Agnes is Polish, and is the second wife of the extremely wealthy businessman Mr Gopnik. Louisa has this job due to the personal recommendation of Nathan, who was a friend of someone she used to work for, and who is Mr Gopnik’s personal trainer.

She is thrown right into a lifestyle she had barely dreamed of before. An army of ‘staff’ look after everything the Gopniks could possibly want. They own two floors of a very expensive apartment building, but barely know their neighbours. Mr Gopnik works long hours and expects his wife to be something of a ‘trophy’, appearing at charity balls and business dinners. She finds this stressful, because so many of the people she meets there were friends with his first wife.

Louisa seems to pick up what she’s supposed to do very quickly, although it’s far removed from what she is used to. Her natural style is bohemian, but suddenly she has to wear a uniform or other conventional outfits. The housekeeper doesn’t seem to like her much, and although Agnes offers a kind of friendship, their relationship is so unequal, with Louisa being a paid employee, that she feels quite lonely at times.

I vaguely recalled that Louisa started a relationship with the paramedic Sam towards the end of ‘After You’, and also got back in touch with her parents and her sister Treena. So part of the story involves her trying to maintain a long-distance relationship with someone who is very busy and doesn’t like writing letters or emails. She also tries to stay in touch with her family, so there are occasional pieces of correspondence given, when they add to the story.

I don’t think it’s as powerful a book as ‘After You’. Louisa has come to terms, mostly, with the anguish and pain she suffered at the end of ‘Me Before You’, but she’s still trying to work out who she is, what she wants out of life, and what matters to her. As such, it’s a very engaging book. I liked her very much; she has integrity and loyalty, and a deep sense of compassion. I liked some of the minor characters, too: her friend Nathan, in particular, and the doorman Ashok.

I liked Sam a lot too. Their relationship goes through rather a roller-coaster of emotions, as they manage to see each other, then some disaster happens. It’s something of a theme in the book, and would be clichéd if it weren’t a relatively minor thread, alongside Louisa’s job.

I really didn’t like either of the Gopniks, however, nor Mr Gopnik’s snooty daughter Tabitha. And I distrusted the young man Josh, whom Louisa meets at an event, from the start. He looks like someone she once loved, but it becomes apparent all too quickly that he is ultra-ambitious and too smooth, and rather a womaniser. The blurb on the back of the book implies that Josh turns Louisa's world upside-down; I didn't want that to happen, so was relieved that he turns out to be of much less importance than I feared.

My other slight problem with the books is that I didn't find the New York lifestyle and experiences entirely authentic. Perhaps they are: but there are a few places where the writing doesn’t feel quite right. Maybe I’m being picky; it doesn’t matter to the storyline that the shops show Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving (something that never happened in my experience, when we lived in the US) but it jarred just a little. The whole ultra-wealthy businessman caricature felt a bit too pat, as well. I liked Louisa’s forays into ordinary life much better, when she joins protests to save a local library, for instance, or helps a lonely old lady with her dog.

There’s a revelation from Louisa’s sister which I could see coming several chapters in advance, but I didn’t see most of the twists and turns of the story, which is quite emotive at times. I read the final 120 pages or so at one sitting as I could barely put it down. The conclusion is entirely satisfying, albeit featuring another clichéd situation - but one painted with Louisa’s typical last-minute panic and things going wrong, leaving everything quite tense up to the end.

Overall I enjoyed this book very much. Louisa herself is so likeable that I could see things through her eyes. I would recommend 'Still Me' to anyone who likes women’s fiction. Ideally it should be read after ‘Me Before You’ and ‘After You’, but it could stand alone too.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews