Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Published 2012 · 496 pages · 110,000 words · about 7 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction, Romance
How hard is Me Before You to read?
Me Before You scores 19 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 20 out of 100
- Accessible British English. Some medical and financial terminology.
- Sentence structure: 20 out of 100
- Abstraction: 22 out of 100
- Raises ethical questions about autonomy and quality of life through concrete story.
- Information density: 30 out of 100
- Moderate density. Medical realities and class dynamics add texture.
- Narrative indirection: 15 out of 100
- Linear first-person narration with some dramatic irony about Will's plan.
- Symbolic density: 15 out of 100
- The castle, the wheelchair, and travel as symbols of confinement and freedom.
- Ironic distance: 12 out of 100
- Louisa's naivety creates gentle irony. Will's wit adds sharpness.
- Resolution withholding: 28 out of 100
- Will Louisa change Will's mind? The answer withheld until the final act.
- Structural complexity: 15 out of 100
- Straightforward linear narrative with a clear dramatic question.
How Me Before You is regarded
Me Before You holds a literary regard score of 27 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.