The Odd Couple

     She was pleasant but a tad ditzy, walking around town in technicolor tights and dresses, content with her waitressing job at the Buttered Bun, a  local coffeeshop. He, on the other hand, was an A-lister from London. Big business guy, extreme adventurer, handsome, worldly and sophisticated.
   But now he--Will--is in a wheelchair, and she---Louisa--needs a new job and has limited options. Unless working in a chicken processing plant or being a pole dancer can be considered choices.
   Louisa, Lou for short, and Will meet. She will be his companion for six months. And so it begins. A love story unlike any I have read before.
  Yes, I expected these two unlikely souls to get together at some point, but their journey as a couple is quite remarkable. This is not a cutesy, love-at-first sight tale. In fact, they don't really like each other much at first. Will is morose and detached from everything and everyone from his previous life and makes Lou's job miserable. Seems like she'll never break through.
  Over time, though, the two adjust. There are ups, downs, good days and bad. Big challenges and tiny victories for them both. With simple outings Will slowly starts to engage in life again, and Lou gets a taste of the world outside her little village. While she becomes a new friend and social director, Will assumes the role of teacher as he pushes Lou to try new music, new food, new books and movies.
  All very copacetic, agree?
  Not so fast. Although confined to a wheelchair, Will is a man of action, and he's got a plan. Although he can't feed himself, get dressed, bathe or travel without assistance, he can still choose how he will live these next few months and how he may--or may not--end it all.
   And so it continues. Can Lou make life worthwhile for Will? Will she find enough stimulating trips and activities for him to balance out the monotony and melancholy and infections and fevers and hospital stays?
  I loved Lou's conviction. She researched. She made a calendar. She planned. And Will came along and enjoyed the ride. And six months passed. Decision time came.
   I stayed up well past midnight last night to see how it all turned out. Very few books have that power for a woman who gets sleepy at nine, but there's no way I could have waited until the next day.
   Jo Jo Moyes is some storyteller! The book moves quickly but leaves a mark. It's more than a love story, although that's a big part of the last quarter of the book. Bigger than the couple's growing friendship and affection was the question it raised about how we live. Do we push? Do we step outside our boundaries? These are questions that pop up in many books that I read, but somehow this story with these characters made me think more carefully about how I answered them.
   The Push From the Book: Public libraries can't get every book in the universe. No library can, which is why we're lucky to be a part of a library system. Bethel Tulpehocken Library did not have this book, assigned reading for me as part of a book club selection. I borrowed it from Sinking Spring!
  Know this: more than 16,000 books and materials circulating to library users in Bethel come from OTHER libraries in our system or state. If you want a book that's not on our shelf it doesn't mean you have to go out and buy it. Ask someone at the circ desk to find it for you. Or you can go online and select the book, which will be shipped to Bethel. So easy. So convenient. Sharing is a good thing.