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nagam's review against another edition
5.0
Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading...
After finishing Just One Day, I couldn’t help but feel this sense of wonderment. The places Willem and Allyson visited. Their adventures… and even their misadventures. It left me yearning to travel more. And then there was that ending. Let’s just be honest and say that it shocked us all. Was Willem the boy we had fallen in love with? Who was this boy? And why, oh, why must Gayle Forman torture us and make us wait to find out what happened?
Just One Year is told from Willem’s perspective this go-around. With all of my hesitations about his character, I was left feeling pretty unsure about wanting to know him better. I needed Allyson to give him a good one-two-punch and knock some major sense into him. Willem’s story begins the day he and Allyson are separated — oh, you know, the day that our hearts all swooned and we wanted to break into buildings with boys we met the day before. He recalls moments with Lulu (the only name he ever knew her by) and we get to see what he was thinking and feeling as they spent their day together. (Le sigh.)
Most important to me were the details of WHY he left her alone, stranded, what happened, and how he spent his year. Was Willem searching for Lulu like she was searching for him? We’re led to believe he’s a bit of a playboy, but is it true? Does he pine for her (maybe a little less melodramatically), or does he just move on with his life?
Just One Day was about Allyson’s growth and transformation, just as much as Just One Year is about Willem’s maturity and coming to terms with the loss of his father and peace-making with his mother. He and his mom aren’t on good terms after the death of his father. He’s become lost, a wanderer. Above all else, I love that Forman doesn’t just focus on the reunion of Willem and Allyson (though heck yes that’s the top reason I was breezing through the pages). Willem’s story is a journey, quite literally the majority of the time as he traipses around the globe … one that will have you glued to the pages.
Without fail, Forman’s writing continues to be top-notch. She beautifully enters the mind of a young male who can sometimes be easily distracted and quickly discouraged. She impeccably describes each of the locations Willem ventures to and will, without doubt, make you wish you could hop on the next flight out from your local airport.
After finishing Just One Day, I couldn’t help but feel this sense of wonderment. The places Willem and Allyson visited. Their adventures… and even their misadventures. It left me yearning to travel more. And then there was that ending. Let’s just be honest and say that it shocked us all. Was Willem the boy we had fallen in love with? Who was this boy? And why, oh, why must Gayle Forman torture us and make us wait to find out what happened?
Just One Year is told from Willem’s perspective this go-around. With all of my hesitations about his character, I was left feeling pretty unsure about wanting to know him better. I needed Allyson to give him a good one-two-punch and knock some major sense into him. Willem’s story begins the day he and Allyson are separated — oh, you know, the day that our hearts all swooned and we wanted to break into buildings with boys we met the day before. He recalls moments with Lulu (the only name he ever knew her by) and we get to see what he was thinking and feeling as they spent their day together. (Le sigh.)
Most important to me were the details of WHY he left her alone, stranded, what happened, and how he spent his year. Was Willem searching for Lulu like she was searching for him? We’re led to believe he’s a bit of a playboy, but is it true? Does he pine for her (maybe a little less melodramatically), or does he just move on with his life?
Just One Day was about Allyson’s growth and transformation, just as much as Just One Year is about Willem’s maturity and coming to terms with the loss of his father and peace-making with his mother. He and his mom aren’t on good terms after the death of his father. He’s become lost, a wanderer. Above all else, I love that Forman doesn’t just focus on the reunion of Willem and Allyson (though heck yes that’s the top reason I was breezing through the pages). Willem’s story is a journey, quite literally the majority of the time as he traipses around the globe … one that will have you glued to the pages.
Without fail, Forman’s writing continues to be top-notch. She beautifully enters the mind of a young male who can sometimes be easily distracted and quickly discouraged. She impeccably describes each of the locations Willem ventures to and will, without doubt, make you wish you could hop on the next flight out from your local airport.
girlinthepages's review against another edition
4.0
I knew going in that this wasn’t a “sequel.”
And you should too. It’s not a spoiler, but a fact, and it will save you a LOT of frustration if you know that the synopsis is extremely misleading-it does not in fact “pick up” where Just One Day ended, rather it tells the story of the year Allison spent in Just One Day from Willem’s perspective. Once you’ve accepted that you’re not going to get much in terms of closure, you can appreciate this book for what it is: A year’s journey of self discovery for a male protagonist set against a vibrant travel background.
Willem’s journey was different from Allison’s but still compelling.
Allyson’s journey really emotionally resonated with me because I could relate to the emotional roller coaster that is moving away for the first time to go to college, and struggling to find your independence from your parents. Willem’s journey was a little more subtle in its emotions, as Willem spends a lot of time avoiding, accepting, and eventually striving to change the aspects about himself and reputation he’s acquired, such as being flaky, overly flirty, and a womanizer. Readers are also thrust right into Willem’s family struggles without much of an explanation, and through the story will suss out the broken dynamics between Willem and Bram and Yael, his estranged parents who still haunt his thoughts and actions every day. The family aspect in this duology was fantastic, as multiple generations of family members play a role in both Willem and Allyson’s lives. Yet reading about Willem’s parents love story, and how he often feels like an unwanted footnote in it, was quietly powerful in a way that Allyson’s obnoxiously overbearing parents were not. Also, this book is rife with parallelism; Willem and Allyson’s story draws almost eerie parallels to Bram and Yael’s, and by the end both relationships fit this multi-generational love story like a perfectly crafted puzzle.
I loved the travel aspect.
Willem travels a lot: to run away from his problems, to find Lulu, to avoid himself, and to find a home. The changing scenery had me flipping pages, curious to where he would visit next, but the people he met were truly what impressed me about this book. From a chance meeting with Shakespearean director Kate in the-middle-of-nowhere Mexico to befriending a Bollywood casting agent in India, the cast of characters Willem encounters feels authentic, not just like paper cut outs to fill the story. Each person he encounters also gives him some perspective on his feelings about Lulu and about himself: who he wants to be and who others expect him to be, until he eventually becomes tired of the charade of being Willem instead of just being him. Thus, Forman ties in the Shakespearean theme of pretending into both Allyson’s and Willem’s stories.
The “almost” moments were sweetly unbearable
It was excruciating at some points to see JUST HOW CLOSE Willem and Allyson came to meeting again, only to miss each other by the littlest of moments or the most menial lack of action. It was sort of the ultimate “Little Mermaid Syndrome” (you know, that scene from “Kiss the Girl” when they are THAT CLOSE TO KISSING and Ariel getting her voice back, and the eels interrupt them? But no matter how many times you watch you’re filled with hope that THIS ONE TIME it will happen? I refer to situations like those as “Little Mermaid Syndrome.”)
Overall: If you’re looking for a sequel, an “after,” this book will infuriate you. But if you’re looking for a well-written journey of self-discovery through an authentic male point of view, then Just One Year hits the mark. While not as emotionally evocative as Just One Day, it was really a unique experience to get to see the other side of such a powerful story, and the parallelism between two generations is done really well in this novel.
And you should too. It’s not a spoiler, but a fact, and it will save you a LOT of frustration if you know that the synopsis is extremely misleading-it does not in fact “pick up” where Just One Day ended, rather it tells the story of the year Allison spent in Just One Day from Willem’s perspective. Once you’ve accepted that you’re not going to get much in terms of closure, you can appreciate this book for what it is: A year’s journey of self discovery for a male protagonist set against a vibrant travel background.
Willem’s journey was different from Allison’s but still compelling.
Allyson’s journey really emotionally resonated with me because I could relate to the emotional roller coaster that is moving away for the first time to go to college, and struggling to find your independence from your parents. Willem’s journey was a little more subtle in its emotions, as Willem spends a lot of time avoiding, accepting, and eventually striving to change the aspects about himself and reputation he’s acquired, such as being flaky, overly flirty, and a womanizer. Readers are also thrust right into Willem’s family struggles without much of an explanation, and through the story will suss out the broken dynamics between Willem and Bram and Yael, his estranged parents who still haunt his thoughts and actions every day. The family aspect in this duology was fantastic, as multiple generations of family members play a role in both Willem and Allyson’s lives. Yet reading about Willem’s parents love story, and how he often feels like an unwanted footnote in it, was quietly powerful in a way that Allyson’s obnoxiously overbearing parents were not. Also, this book is rife with parallelism; Willem and Allyson’s story draws almost eerie parallels to Bram and Yael’s, and by the end both relationships fit this multi-generational love story like a perfectly crafted puzzle.
I loved the travel aspect.
Willem travels a lot: to run away from his problems, to find Lulu, to avoid himself, and to find a home. The changing scenery had me flipping pages, curious to where he would visit next, but the people he met were truly what impressed me about this book. From a chance meeting with Shakespearean director Kate in the-middle-of-nowhere Mexico to befriending a Bollywood casting agent in India, the cast of characters Willem encounters feels authentic, not just like paper cut outs to fill the story. Each person he encounters also gives him some perspective on his feelings about Lulu and about himself: who he wants to be and who others expect him to be, until he eventually becomes tired of the charade of being Willem instead of just being him. Thus, Forman ties in the Shakespearean theme of pretending into both Allyson’s and Willem’s stories.
The “almost” moments were sweetly unbearable
It was excruciating at some points to see JUST HOW CLOSE Willem and Allyson came to meeting again, only to miss each other by the littlest of moments or the most menial lack of action. It was sort of the ultimate “Little Mermaid Syndrome” (you know, that scene from “Kiss the Girl” when they are THAT CLOSE TO KISSING and Ariel getting her voice back, and the eels interrupt them? But no matter how many times you watch you’re filled with hope that THIS ONE TIME it will happen? I refer to situations like those as “Little Mermaid Syndrome.”)
Spoiler
I think the hardest one for me was when he finally got the contact info for the coordinator on Allison’s trip who would have known exactly who “Lulu” was, but decided it was just another dead end and didn’t follow up with her.Overall: If you’re looking for a sequel, an “after,” this book will infuriate you. But if you’re looking for a well-written journey of self-discovery through an authentic male point of view, then Just One Year hits the mark. While not as emotionally evocative as Just One Day, it was really a unique experience to get to see the other side of such a powerful story, and the parallelism between two generations is done really well in this novel.
mckinlay's review against another edition
5.0
THERE'S SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS!!! LOOK AWAY!!! i just... i can't.
aimeelio's review against another edition
5.0
I really loved this, but if you are looking for the continuation of 'Just One Day' you will be sad. If you recall, 'Just One Day' ended with Willem opening the door to Allyson. 'Just One Year' ends at the same time. This is Willem's coming of age story. Lovely, lovely journey.
cozy_reading_times's review against another edition
4.0
Direkt nach dem ersten Teil gelesen und genauso sehr geliebt. Es war wundervoll, das ganze nochmal aus Willems Perspektive zu erleben.
lindsey_kerrigan's review against another edition
4.0
It was still really good and I still love these characters and this book but it didn’t amaze me like the other one did the whole time I was trying to just get to the end and now I just really want to move on to the novella. I did love how perfectly everything aligned though and how at the same time they were both finding themselves with the help of the other person.
seelettybloom's review against another edition
3.0
Gayle, I'm just saying you can do better. Tell me that you've heard that lately. Seriously though this book was very anticlimatic. But I shouldn't be surprised considering how I felt about Where She Went.
jconnolly96's review against another edition
4.0
Okay wow. This book wasnt what i expected it to be. I was expecting it to be what happens after Willem & Allyson finally meet up (like at the end of Just One Day). I wasnt disappointed though. I have such a huge love for the character Willem now and im SO glad there's the novella to fill me in on what happens next because i can handle not knowing
ajmarrs's review against another edition
4.0
One of those rare cases where the first book actually warranted a sequel and the sequel was just as good (if not better). While I enjoyed reading Willem's POV over the last year, and learning more about his character, I'm left with an extreme frustration that we didn't get any more interaction between him and Allyson. Sure we got a "happy ending", but they barely said a word to each other! And considering both books were about them trying to find each other, it would've been a bit more satisfying to hear them say that...to each other.