Peak 👀 Into My Life

This book straight up had me BAWLING last night while I eagerly kept listening to it before going to sleep. I rushed to my Libby app to make sure I could borrow the 2nd audiobook. The 3rd one has quite a long hold on it so I will have to wait a bit for it.

Synopsis

Louisa Clark is a 26 year old woman living in a small town in the UK. She has a fairly mundane life working at a cafe to support her family. Suddenly, the owner of the cafe closes down which leaves her out of a job. She starts going to a job agency where she tries out a few but she hates all of them. When hope is seeming to die out a job offer as a companion for a quadriplegic becomes available. She interviews and ends up getting the job.

The man she is working for used to be a successful finance man who traveled the world and lived life to the fullest. A accident caused him to become a quadriplegic. At first he gives Louisa a hard time which makes her job difficult to endure. Eventually their dialogue becomes more like a banter and they become closer.

This book beautifully shows their lives intertwining and Will encouraging Louisa to live a life worth living.

Discussion

1. If you were Louisa, would you have quit working for the Traynors? If yes, at what point?

Probably at the same point she tried to quit - after she found out Will was planning on passing away.

2. Were you able to relate to the way Will felt after his accident? What about his outlook on life did you find most difficult to understand or accept?

I do understand how Will felt after his accident. It was most difficult for me to accept the ending. I felt like he should’ve gave being with Louisa a chance because even he said those last 6 months of his life were the best.

3. Discuss the meaning of the novel’s title. To whom do the “me” and “you” refer?

I think they refer to both Louisa & Will. With Louisa being “me” and Will being “you” - Louisa wasn’t living her life before she met will. With Will being “me” and Louisa being “you” - Will was able to enjoy his last few months alive.

4. Louisa often finds Mrs. Traynor cold and judgmental. Is there an appropriate way to behave in Mrs. Traynor’s situation?

I feel like she should’ve been more nice to Louisa - especially after she realized how happy she was making Will.

5. Why is Louisa able to reach Will when so many others could not?

Because she isn’t a health care provider for him and she doesn’t just see him as his disability. She treats him like a person and she isn’t afraid of hurting him by saying the wrong thing.

6. Were you as surprised as Lou to learn of Will’s plans?

I was surprised but I could understand why he would want to do that.

7. Compare Louisa’s relationship with Treena to Will’s relationship with Georgina. Do siblings know one another any better simply because they are related?

Being siblings you have a lot of common experiences growing up so I feel like in that way you may know each other better. But as you grow older and grow apart you can definitely connect with someone on a deep level and and understand each other better.

8. Would Patrick have asked Louisa to move in with him if he hadn’t felt threatened by Will? If Louisa had never accepted her job with the Traynors, where would her relationship with Patrick have gone?

I don’t think Patrick would’ve asked Louisa to move in with him. I think they would’ve just stayed together because neither one of them likes to have the difficult conversations. I felt like their relationship was already dead before she went to work for the Traynor’s and they are just so different.

10. Discuss Louisa’s own secret ties to the castle. Would most girls in her situation have blamed themselves? Should Treena have behaved differently in the aftermath?

I think most girls in the situation would blame themselves but they absolutely shouldn’t. Treena shouldn’t have said to Louisa that she should’ve have gotten drunk/high. That’s beyond the point.

11. What did you make of the way Lou’s mother, Josie, judges Lou’s decisions regarding Will. Is Josie’s reaction fair?

I think Lou’s mother doesn’t completely understand it and that’s why she reacted like that. I also think Louisa didn’t explain it well enough to her. She should’ve said that she would regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t go to Switzerland to be with Will.

12. Before his accident, Will was a philanderer and a corporate raider who would probably never have given Louisa a second look. Why is it that people are so often unable to see what’s truly important until they’ve experienced loss?