Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro 

Faculdade de Letras 
Cursos de Línguas Abertos à Comunidade - CLAC
Student’s Name:  Paulo Ricardo Meritello, Mylena Godinho.

Monitor:  Laura Águia

English VIII |​ ​Head-Monitors:​ Igor de França and Júlia Nolasco​ | CLAC Remoto 
Material developed by:​ Carolina Roque and Larissa Andrade 

Grade:    /5.0 

Task 1 - Written Comprehension (Book Review) 

 
DISCUSSION  
This activity will be discussed in the live meeting (Google Meet) 

Photographs available on the following link: ​JoJo Moyes: Home​. Accessed on August 27th, 2020.   

a.​ Have you ever heard about the book ​Me Before You​? If so, what do you know about it? 
We had already watched the movie when I heard about the book. We think this could be a beautiful story, although the final. 
 
b. ​What is the genre of this book? Do you like reading this type of book? Why (not)?  
Romance. Yes, we love some love storys, but I prefer to watch it. 
 
c.​ Do you know the author Jojo Moyes? Have you ever read any other book written by her? Which one(s)? 
No, I don’t know this author. 
BEFORE READING A BOOK REVIEW 
This activity will be discussed in the live meeting (Google Meet) 

1. Read the synopsis below and answer the following questions.

Me Before You 
A Novel
by Jojo Moyes

Book Summary 
A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn't have less in common - a heartbreakingly romantic 
novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart? 
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose.

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life - steady boyfriend, close family - who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She
takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life - big
deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel - and now he's pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy - but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns
that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn't have less in common - a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What
do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
Available at <​BookBrowse​>. Accessed on August 27th, 2020. 

a.​ Would you like to read this book? Why (not)? 

No. Because we already watched the movie, so it’s not so funny. 

b.​ Do you think this book can relate to people’s lives? In which ways?  
Yes. Because some tetraplegic people can see themselves in the relationship between the characters and the Will’s suffering. 
c.​ Do you think this book is important for the representativeness of tetraplegic people? Why (not)?  
Yes. Because the Will’s situation about his body and psychologically 
d.​ What is the social relevance of having a main character who belongs to a social group that is marginalized in many books? 

To show the hard life of the tetraplegic pleople.  

2. Think of ​three words ​you can use to describe this book and follow the instructions: 
→ Go to ​Mentimeter​; 
→ Enter the code provided by your monitor; 
→ Contribute to the Word Cloud 

READING A BOOK REVIEW 

This activity will be submitted through Google Classroom 

→ Read ​Emily May​’s review about the book ​Me Before You ​and do the following exercises. 

Me Before You 
(Me Before You #1) 
by​ ​Jojo Moyes​ (​ Goodreads Author) 

From  the  #1  ​New  York  Times  bestselling  author  of  ​The  Giver  of  Stars​, 
discover  the  love  story  that  captured  over  20  million  hearts  in  ​Me  Before 
You​, A
​ fter You​, and S
​ till Me​. 

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa  Clark  is  an  ordinary  girl  living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady 
boyfriend,  close  family—who  has  barely  been farther afield than their tiny 
village.  She  takes  a  badly  needed  job  working  for  ex–Master  of  the 
Universe  Will  Traynor,  who  is  wheelchair  bound after an accident. Will has 
always  lived  a  huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and 
now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
 I  had  a  hard  time  rating  this  book  one  star,  because up until the end I really liked it. But 
the  end  is  the  most  important  part  of  every  book  because  it's  what  stays  with  you  and  after  that  I  just  can't  bring  myself  to  rate  it 
anything but "did not like it". 

I  am  honestly  shocked  after  reading  all  those  5*  reviews.  Not  because  people  liked  the  book,  but  because  people  somehow  manage  to  get 
something "inspirational" and romantic out of it... Seriously? I don't want to judge people for their opinio .​ ..more

As  much  as  I  like  a  good  love  story,  I  wouldn't  call  myself  a  romantic.  Not  by  a  long  shot.  In  fact, I can be pretty cold-hearted when it 
comes  to  romance  books,  remaining  emotionless  in  the  face  of  tragic  heartbreak  and  loss.  ​The  Fault  in  Our  Stars  didn't  move  me. 
Eleanor & Park​ was cute, but still an average read for me. 

There's  just  certain  things  that  I  don't  like.  Emotionally  manipulative  books  that  feel  as  if  the  author  set out with an agenda to tug at my heart 
strings  -  that  would  be  up  there  with  the  worst.  I  guess  I  subconsciously  rebel  when  I  can  see  what  the  author's  trying  to  do  to  my  feelings.  I 
avoid  a  lot  of  adult  chick  lit for this reason - because experience has shown that most of these books are like Lifetime movies: melodramatic and 
cheesily message-driven. 

But  somehow  -  despite  my  reluctance  to  try  this  book  because  it  seemed  it  would  fall  into  all  the  aforementioned  boxes  -  I  ended  up  caving 
under  the  pressure  and  grabbing  this  book  from  my  local  library.  I  didn't  expect  much.  I  was  just  going  to  try  a  little  bit  and  see  how  it  went, 
feeling confident that it would be crappy and I would be right. ​But hell, I got schooled. 

I  just...  I  can't  even  pretend  anymore,  screw  the  book  snobbery,  I  thought  ​Me  Before  You  was 
wonderful. 
I laughed. 
I cried. 
I shipped like crazy. 
I stayed up most of the night. 

Being proven wrong may never have felt so good. 

I  got  the  giggles  about  halfway  through  chapter  one  and struggled to get rid of them. Humour books are always a difficult sell because I guess it 

always  depends  on  what  you  find  funny...  but  I  found  Lou  Clark  to  be  an  hilarious  heroine.  She's  one  of  those  charming  but  unfortunate 
individuals  that  finds  herself  in  numerous  awkward  situations  but  somehow  gets  through  them  and  just  warms  your  heart  with  her delightful 
lack of propriety. 

I  don't  know  if  there  is  really  such  a  thing  as  a "British sense of humour" but I've enjoyed a bunch of British chick lit/humour with similar MCs 
- ​Bridget Jones​, C
​ onfessions of Georgia Nicholson ​- so maybe there's a pattern here with my tastes. 

If  you're  considering  this  book  but  think  you're  a  shameless  unromantic  like  me, DO NOT read any quotes from it. People keep pulling up these 
quotes  about  the  meaning  of  life and carpe diem and it makes the whole thing seem much cheesier than it is. I thought there was a pleasant lack 
of  cheese,  hehe.  It's  also  nowhere  near  as  romantic  as  everything  tries  to  make  you  think:  the  cover  (the  UK  one  is  even  worse),  the blurb, the 
title... when actually there's very little romance. There is a touch of finding love in unexpected places and against the odds, but the main focus of 
this book is about life and the importance of choices​. 

If  you  haven't  already  been  told,  the  story  is  about  Lou  who  needs  a  job  and  Will  who  needs  a  carer  after  an  accident  left  him  paralysed. 
Completely  unable  to  move  anything  below  his  mid  torso,  Will  longs  for  death  and  wants  to  go  to  Switzerland  to  put  an  end  to  his  misery. 
Horrified  by  this  discovery,  Lou  sets out to improve his life and give him a reason to live and look forward to each day. ​The relationship between 
them is told in such a wonderful way​ and develops through several stages, each filled with hilarity. 

I  think  people's  reactions,  emotions  and  decisions  felt  completely  realistic  in  ​Me  Before  You,  even  if  I  didn't  always  like  them.  The  whole  book 
was  filled  with  the  funny,  ridiculous  situations  that  we  expect to find in comic fiction, but balanced out with a hard dose of reality. It makes you 
think  about  things  you  didn't  think  about  before  without  seeming  like  the  author  wanted  to  make  you  think  about  them.  Things  like  just  how 
depressing  the  lack  of  wheelchair  access  is  in  most  venues.  But  there's  a  great  balance  between  the  funny  and  the  serious,  so  the  latter  never 
becomes too much. 

This  book  made  me  feel  all  the  emotions  without  seeming  to  try  too  hard.  ​Love  was  found  in  a  very  unexpected  place and I definitely want to 
check out the author's other work. 
 

 
Available at <​goodreads​>. Accessed on August 27th, 2020.

1. Decide if the statements below are ​True​ (​T​) or ​False​ (​F​) according to the text. Correct the false ones. 
  /1,0 (0,2 each) 
 
a.​ ( T ) The author is fond of romantic books.  
 

 
 
b.​ ( F ) The author said that she didn’t enjoy the main couple.  
 

She shipped like crazy. 

 
c.​ ( T ) The author sympathizes with the main character - Lou Clarck.  
 

 
 
d.​ ( F ) The author informs that there isn’t a good balance between fun and reality in this book.  
 

She said: “​The whole book was filled with the funny, ridiculous situations that we expect to find in comic fiction, but balanced out with a hard dose of 
reality”. 
 
e.​ ( T ) The author proposes that this book make us think about social causes, such as accessibility.  
 

2. The list below shows some typical characteristics of book reviews. Mark the ones that are present in the review above.  
  /0,3 (0,1 each) 
( x ) summary of the story 
( ) information about the book (title, name of its author, genre, etc) 
( x ) a critical evaluation of the book 
( ) a recommendation to read the book or not 
( x ) the rating   
 3. The  author  mentions  some  positive  and  some  negative  aspects  related  to  the  book.  Extract  from  the  text  ​one  statement  to  represent  each 
aspect.   
  /0,4 (0,2 each) 
 
Positive Aspects  Negative Aspects 

  It's  also  nowhere  near  as  romantic  as everything tries to make you think: 

  The  relationship  between  them  is  told  in  such  a  wonderful  way  and  the  cover  (the  UK  one  is  even  worse),  the  blurb,  the  title...  when  actually 
develops through several stages, each filled with hilarity.  there's very little romance. 

 
 

4. The  author  mentions  many  positive  aspects  about  the  book.  Based  on  that,  would  you  say  that  the  author recommends the book? Why (not)? 
Would  it  be  better  if  the  author  had  written  an  explicit  recommendation?  What  words  could  she  have  used  to  make  the  recommendation 
clearer?   
  /0,5 
 
Yes, she recommended the book. It is not explicit, however, she wrote some good things about the book that makes us want to read the book. We 
think the recommendation could be more explicit, using expressions like “I recommend…”, “You should read it”, etc.  
 
 

5. The sentences below were underlined in the text. Take a look at them and do the following activities.  
(1)​ “The relationship between them i​ s told​ in such a wonderful way [...]” 
​ een told​, the story is about Lou who needs a job and Will who needs a carer after an accident left him paralysed. 
(2)​ If you haven't already b
​ as found​ in a very unexpected place [...]” 
(3)​ “Love w

a.  ​The  statements  above  were  written  in  the  passive  voice.  What  is  the  purpose  of  using  the  passive  voice  in  those  sentences?  Why  is  this strategy 
useful in this type of text?   
   /0,4 
 
The use of passive voice in these cases has the purpose of highlighting not the agent responsible for the action, but who/what is being impacted by 
it. Passive voice is commonly used in headlines or reviews because the omission of the action agent makes the phrase more concise. 
 

b. ​Match the sentences in the box above with their correct verb tenses. 
  /0,3 (0,1 each) 
 
( ) Past Perfect  ( ) Past Continuous 
( 1 ) Simple Present  ( 3 ) Simple Past 
( ) Present Continuous  ( 2 ) Present Perfect  
 
 
c. Why were these verb tenses used in those statements? Which effect do these verb tenses cause? 
  /0,4 (0,2 each) 
 
The use of passive voice in these cases is intended to indicate actions at different times. The verb to be is inflected according to the tenses, "is 
told" for an action in the present; “been told” for an action in the past with present consequences; “was found” for an action completed in the 
past. 
 

6. Based  on the synopsis you have read on the ​Before Reading Section​, do you think Emily May was able to present a good summary of the book 
plot? Is this characteristic important in this type of text? Why (not)?  
  /0,3 
 
Yes. Because she talked about all the characteristics of the book and the feelings she felt reading to the book. 
 
 
 7. After  reading  Emily  May’s  review,  which  words  from the ​Word Cloud ​we created on the ​Before Reading Section ​would you still use to describe 
the book? Justify your answer.   
  /0,3 
 
None. None of the Word Cloud words could describe the book with truth. 
 
 

8. How did this book impact the author’s life? You need to answer this question using your own words!  
  /0,3 
 
Jojo Moyes’ life was impacted by this book because it brought success and recognition to her work. 

AFTER READING A BOOK REVIEW 

This activity will be submitted through an Online Forum on Google Classroom 

Now, go to the ​Online Forum ​(on Google Classroom) and answer the following questions.  
  /0,8 
→ Did the review of ​Me Before You​ live up to your expectations after reading the synopsis? Why (not)? 
→ In your opinion, would you have the same impressions as Emily’s when reading the book? Why (not)? . 
→  Did  this book impact your life in some way? Write a small paragraph on the ​Online Forum ​describing how this book’s synopsis and review made you 
feel. [​You must comment on your classmate’s answers as well.​]