Miki's Review of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I have not been salivating for a sequel in ages.  I have finished all of the trilogies I have started.  The anticipation level for new books has been a little low  in comparison to past years.  I have not totally geeked out in a good while.  Well, that all ended this week.  After some serious whining, some begging, and some networking, I finally have a copy of After You by Jojo Moyes (release date 9/29/15) in my hot little hands.  In celebration of my acquisition, I thought it would be appropriate to re-post my original review of Me Before You. Enjoy!

I am writing this review with the tear stains fresh on my cheeks. So many things are going through my mind. Not only am I emotional about the story, but I am feeling so many things about the writing as well. I am feeling a rush in many ways because I am so thrilled to have read something that pulled me in so deeply, from having read something that shows love in such a different way, and from having read something so real. 

I often have book hangovers, where I really have a hard time returning to reality at the end of a book. However, after finishing Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, I think this one might take a little longer to recover from. I am so moved by this story. 

It has been such a long time since I have read a book that so deeply moved me. I now have a totally different point of view on the value of life, the meaning of love, and what it means to live. This is a fantastic novel and I sincerely hope it finds its way onto your reading list.

Pete Writes a Mini Review of Under Major Domo Minor, a Novel by Patrick DeWitt

I became a huge Patrick DeWitt fan after reading Sisters Brothers, which was a fresh take on the western novel genre. I loved his storytelling ability along with the abundance of offbeat humor and adventure. I am pleased to report that his latest book, Under Major Domo Minor, shares those same attributes while departing from the western theme. In this telling, our hero, Lucien, is a sickly, coming-of-age nobody from a nothing village. A kindly priest finds him an opportunity to work under a Majordomo from a far off, decrepit castle in the mountains, and here his adventure begins.

The castle, part ‘Rocky Horror,’ part pure horror, part Monty Python, tests young Lucien in every way possible. Along the way he meets pickpockets, soldiers, decadent nobility, and, perhaps, the love of his life. Allow yourself to be swept away in the adventures of a most unlikely hero in a most unsettling castle, the dreaded Castle Von Aux. 

A Story of a Man Who Wasn't There

Dirk Striker’s Dream

                                         By Pete Schulte

Dirk confided to his wife, Cheri, about a recurring dream he was having. It was the one where he had an imminent test and he wasn’t prepared. If he didn’t pass the test he wouldn’t graduate from Metro U. He wouldn’t be a true Wildcat. What’s more, he couldn’t locate the classroom in a hallway where every room looked exactly the same. And to make matters worse, he was stark naked.

Cheri knew he was having nightmares because Dirk kept waking her with all his distressed thrashing about. “I wish you’d talked to somebody,” she said to him. “You’re driving us both crazy with these dreams.”

“I am talking to somebody,” Dirk replied. “I’m talking to you.”

“But what do I know about anything? Talk to a professional.”

Dirk made and kept an appointment with Dr. Rooter. He told Dr. Rooter everything he’d told to Cheri. “This is a fairly common dream you’re having,” said Dr. Rooter. “Most people can kind of just shake this one off, but you seem particularly bothered. I’d like to think it over and have you return next week.”

Dirk returned the following week eager to hear the doctor’s assessment. Dr. Rooter had a grave look upon his face. “I think, Mr. Striker, that the reason you’re having these dreams is because you never did take that test, you never did graduate from Metro U.”

“What?” said Dirk, aghast. “I most certainly did graduate. I have twenty different t-shirts, I go to all the games.”

“So what?” said Dr. Rooter. “You can still wear the t-shirts. You can still attend the games. You can support the school any way you’d like.”

“But I did graduate,” protested Dirk. “I really did.”

“Do you have a diploma?” asked the doctor. “If you do I’d really like to see it.”

“Oh, I’ll show you a diploma,” said Dirk. “I’ll show you.”

“Because I did some research, and nobody by the name of Dirk Striker has ever graduated from Metro U.”

Later that evening, Dirk and Cheri dug through their closets looking for the diploma. “Where are these damn diplomas?” asked Dirk. “Why don’t we have them on the wall?”

“Because we’re not nerds,” said Cheri.”

“Speak for yourself,” said Dirk.

Dirk admitted to Dr. Rooter that he couldn’t come up with his diploma but was sure it existed. For this session, Cheri joined her husband in the doctor’s office. She spoke up for Dirk to Dr. Rooter. “I’m sure he went to Metro. I’m certain of it. Isn’t that where we met, Dirk? Gosh, it was so long ago.”

“No,” Dirk admitted, “we met at a bar. Brooklyn’s. You remember, Shakey was there?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied. “Shakey.”

Dr. Rooter dismissed Dirk from the office. He wanted to speak to Cheri alone. “I wanted to ask you about your wedding,” said the doctor to Cheri.

“Yeah, what about it? We got married down in Pueblo.”

“How many people attended?” asked the doctor.

“I’d say 50 or so.”

“And how many came on behalf of Dirk?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “Shakey was there.”

“And who exactly is Shakey, Dirk’s brother?”

“No, not his brother. His friend.”

“But no family?”

“No, no family,” Cheri said to Dr. Rooter. “But he’s from far away.”

“How far?”

“At least as far as Florida.”

“What are you saying?” questioned Dr. Rooter. “That’s not even a straight answer. We’re you ever really married?”

“I don’t know,” said Cheri, sobbing. “I don’t know!”

“What kind of name is Dirk Striker anyway?”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you even know this man?”

“I love him,” whispered Cheri. “I love him. He’s my Buckeroo.”

Dirk attended his next session with Dr. Rooter without Cheri. However, they were joined by a tall man with a dark suit. He introduced himself as Paul Aubry from the National Security Agency. After introductions were made and all got settled, Dr. Rooter spoke first. “Normally, Dirk, I wouldn’t discuss your case with anybody else but your spouse. But I didn’t see any other way of really helping you out unless I got some others involved.”

“So you called the NSA?” said Dirk.

‘Well, you’ll see why?” said the Doctor.

Paul Aubry lowered the dark shades he was wearing. “Mr. Striker, I’d like the discuss the biography you provided to Dr. Rooter.”

“It’s all true,” protested Dirk. “I didn’t tell any lies.”

“I don’t think you did either,” said Paul Aubry. “But let me elaborate.”

“Please.”

“The high school you claimed you attended, St. Charles High, doesn’t know you from Adam.”

“What? You mean I never went to St. Charlie’s? I was never a Blue Devil?”

“No, you weren’t. And the middle school you mentioned, Riviera, doesn’t exist anymore. It’s condominiums now.”

“Well, that’s Florida for you,” said Dirk.

“Same goes with your elementary school,” said Paul. “It seems, Mr. Striker, that you don’t exist at all. Never have.”

“What?” questioned Dirk. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“It didn’t to us either,” said Paul Aubry, “until we did a little more digging. It seems, Mr. Striker, that you were delivered to us long ago from one of our enemies. You were supposed to infiltrate and deliver unto them information that was very important to us. But something happened along the way. I don’t know, maybe you were bonked on the head or something? Maybe you took too much cough syrup? But for whatever reason, our agency has determined that you don’t know much of anything. In fact, we’re all astonished at how little you do know -- about any subject. Aside from being a good husband and a rabid Wildcats fan, there’s really nothing to you at all.”

“I might take offense to that.”

“It really doesn’t matter,” said Paul. “What’s interesting is that somewhere along the line you created this man, this Dirk Striker, and somehow forged a life for yourself, made a complete break with your former self and the mission you were ordered to complete. For that we give you the utmost credit.”

“Well,” said Dirk, “thank you, I guess.”

“The good news,” said Paul, “is that for whatever reason your country wants you back. They’ve agreed to a prisoner swap with one of our people who was captured.”

“I’m a prisoner?” asked Dirk.

“Right now you are,” said Paul.

From a high train window at Denver’s Union Station, Dirk said his final farewells to Cheri, who remained below on the platform. “Thanks for being my wife,” he said to her, “if you really were my wife.”

“Where are they taking you?” she asked. “What is your country anyway?”

“I don’t know,” said Dirk. “They won’t tell me yet. I hope it’s Italy though. That’d be a swell place for sure.”

“If it’s Italy you’ll be getting a visitor real soon,” she said to him. “I love you, I love you, I love you, Dirky-boy. You’ll always be my Buckeroo!”

The train began to pull away. Dirk said to her. “Good-bye, Wildcats! Good-bye, America! Good-bye, Cheri, my love. I‘ll miss you most of all…”

The end.

Now it is Pete's Turn in the Hot Seat...Here is His Interview

Pete, what are you currently reading? 

I’m glad you asked that, Miki. I am currently reading Under Major Domo Minor by Patrick DeWitt. I loved his previous novel, Sisters Brothers, and so far I’m really enjoying this one too. His dark, edgy humor appeals to me and I can never tell where his story will go. His books are always surprising and fun.

What books are on the top of your To Be Read pile? 

I don’t know the title of it, but there is a new John Irving book on the horizon that I’ll be certain to read.  I’ve loved his novels since the days of The World According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire.

What is the first book you remember reading for fun? 

I remember reading  Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins. I was quite the sports nut as a kid, and this book told the truth – warts and all – about what it means to be a professional football player.

What books have changed your life or had an impact on you? 

Although On the Road doesn’t quite resonate with me as a middle-aged guy, it did influence my younger self. As a young person without direction, it appealed to me because here were a bunch of guys also without direction, finding meaning in a life where you just took off in search of whatever was out there. I remember Kerouac describing seeing Denver rising up out of the plains. I took that same route many years later and felt a connection to the Beats, albeit in a minor way. I guess you have to find your own way in life no matter what your influences are.   

What are some of your favorite movie adaptations of a book?

 Anything by Somerset Maugham usually translated from a good book to good movie. Some I’ll mention are Of Human Bondage, The Painted Veil, The Razor’s Edge, and The Moon and Sixpence. He’ll always be one of my favorite authors.  

If you could have dinner with any literary character, which would it be?

I think Doc from John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. I just think he was a swell guy, and we’d have a great time drinking ‘old tennis shoes’ together. We’d have to fight it out over Suzy however.  

Miki's literary interview

In this segment, Pete asked Miki some questions about reading…

What are you currently reading?  

Right now I am reading a pretty broad list of books.  I am reading How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  It is a nonfiction classic that has been around for decades, yet the observations and advice are relevant for any interaction you might have today. 

I am also listening to My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.  My friend Helen recommended her, and I can see why. She is one of the leading novelists out of Italy. Her depictions of how complicated and special friendship can be are incomparable. I really love this book and her writing.

Lastly, I am reading a backlist book by Jojo Moyes.  I am so excited for the sequel to her book, Me Before You, that I just had to read something by her in the meantime.  That is why I picked up The Last Letter from Your Lover.  I just can’t get enough of her emotional and often times hilarious characters.

What new books coming out are you looking forward to reading?

Well, as I mentioned before, I am very excited for the newest Jojo Moyes, After You.  Me Before You was one of the best books I read.  It was so moving and has stuck with me years later.  I am beyond excited for the sequel.

M Train by Patti Smith is also on my most anticipated list.  Just Kids was brilliant.  I have never been transported so easily in non-fiction. If M Train is half as good as her debut, it will be a great read.

I am also DYING for the next novel by Rita Leganski.  I don’t know what it is about or what it is called yet, but I do know the manuscript has been turned in and I am scouring her Facebook and Goodreads pages for updates.

If you were stuck on an island with only three books, what would they be?

1)   Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides.  I have read this one about 5 times and it reaches me in a different way every time. 

2)   The Harry Potter box set…I know, it is cheating, but you can’t just pick one.  This series is like a bunch of puzzle pieces, so what is the point of only having one?

3)   Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.  This book has family drama, sensuality, comedic timing, and magic.  If you are limited on reading material, you might as well pick a book that has it all?

Choose one of the following:

     1) A golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

     2) A tour of Paris with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

     3) A semester at Hogwart’s Academy.

As tempting as the golden ticket would be, especially since it would fulfill most of my childhood dreams, I am hands down waiting for my owl to drop of my invite to Hogwarts.  This is a dream that will never die.

If you weren’t currently married, what literary character do you think would be a good match for you?

I have had a thing for Mr. Darcy for a good 20 years, so he would be my top pick.  Dexter from One Day comes in a close second. And Pip from Great Expectations would be 3^rd.  Basically, my fictional husband would be British.

What do you consider your first adult-themed book?

The first “grown up” book that I remember reading without a teacher assigning it would be The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank.  I think I read it in one sitting.  I could not put this one down.  Jane’s love life was a bit advanced for me at the time, but like I do with everything I read, I learned A LOT!