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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
I didn't know I could love Gayle Forman's writing anymore than I already did; then this book came along! Just One Day was more than just a contemporary romance, it was magical and compelling. I had trouble putting it down, which was a problem when I read it during school.
The realistic-fic romance genre has been foreign to me lately, since I read more paranormal than normal nowadays. The past few realistic-fic books I've read have nearly all been busts. Except this one, and part of what made this book so great was the fact that I could really relate to Allyson. She was just an honest, good protagonist. There was nothing extraordinary about her, she was just an average girl who struggled to maintain an image of being the 'perfect daughter'. I think most high school students, including me, can relate to that plight.
Forman is a goddess at writing scenery. I felt like I was running down Paris streets, bicycling through Holland, and crisscrossing along Europe. Not only did I feel like I was there, but I also really wanted to be. This book makes me want to set off on a one-woman trip across Europe, which is pretty unreasonable since I'm 16 and don't even have my license. But the fact that the writing can take me to that place is magical on its own.
I need the sequel now. I think I'll even preorder it, which I rarely do with books. If you haven't read Just One Day, or any of Forman's other books, PLEASE DO!
The realistic-fic romance genre has been foreign to me lately, since I read more paranormal than normal nowadays. The past few realistic-fic books I've read have nearly all been busts. Except this one, and part of what made this book so great was the fact that I could really relate to Allyson. She was just an honest, good protagonist. There was nothing extraordinary about her, she was just an average girl who struggled to maintain an image of being the 'perfect daughter'. I think most high school students, including me, can relate to that plight.
Forman is a goddess at writing scenery. I felt like I was running down Paris streets, bicycling through Holland, and crisscrossing along Europe. Not only did I feel like I was there, but I also really wanted to be. This book makes me want to set off on a one-woman trip across Europe, which is pretty unreasonable since I'm 16 and don't even have my license. But the fact that the writing can take me to that place is magical on its own.
I need the sequel now. I think I'll even preorder it, which I rarely do with books. If you haven't read Just One Day, or any of Forman's other books, PLEASE DO!
Unfortunately, both my high expectations and personal prejudices kept me from loving this novel, though I still enjoyed it.
I loved Willem. He’s a Dutch actor who travels with a Shakespeare group doing free performances in the open air rather than a theater. This reminds me of Federico García Lorca, my favorite Spanish poet, and his theater for the people tours bringing drama to the countryside. Given my love for Lorca, I was predisposed to like Willem based on this alone, but he is also charming, fun, mysterious. He is certainly the boy I dreamed about running into when I went off to college (but I met Mister BS instead). But he’s not simply that dreamy kind of guy. He had depth, was unexpected. I’d have run off to Paris with him just like Allyson.
But I didn’t particularly like Allyson. She’s not terrible. She’s just as the blurb said—a typical sheltered American good girl. For the “just one day” part of the book, I liked her. She took a chance, she had her doubts, and I was falling in love right along with her. But I wasn’t really rooting for her to find Willem. I thought she should suck it up, get on with her life, and gain some perspective.
True, I think her struggles with finding closure once she’s off at college were realistic and well-portrayed. She wasn’t unbearably whiny or overly dramatic. I do think there should be representation of all sorts of characters with all sorts of dilemmas in young adult literature, and I do think that many young people will relate to Allyson’s experiences. My problem is that other than her vague struggle to “find herself” in college and ambivalence about her future career goals, there was little external conflict. She was mostly moping about Willem. True, their relationship was left unbearably unresolved, and I wanted to admire her for trying to track him down. I just thought the story and the character would have been more layered had there been something else going on with her.
I wanted to admire Allyson the way I admired Mia from If I Stay. Mia wasn’t without her flaws, but there was something deeper and more nuanced about her character that I didn’t find in Allyson. Of course, my opinion could be colored by a certain kind of nostalgia that I tend to have for characters in books that I loved. But what made Mia compelling for me was how she persevered in spite of real hardship. What I disliked about Allyson is how passive and dejected she was about something that when viewed from the perspective of someone nearing their 30s seemed rather minor and insignificant. Of course, an 18-year-old who has never experienced a deep and life-changing loss could related to Allyson in a very real way, and I don’t want to diminish the experience of a first love. But still, if the big change a character makes is standing up to her parents about taking a pottery class (for which they are paying $5000), I can’t help but think it a bit of a shallow transformation.
The secondary characters in this novel were hit and miss for me. Even though I wasn’t particularly fond of Allyson’s travel companion, I thought it was interesting to see how a childhood friendship plays out in college. I’m always interested in the way female friendships are portrayed in YA fiction, possibly because I don’t think they get the attention they deserve. Forman gets bonus points for including a character experimenting with her sexuality, though I thought it was constructed in a very typical way (and was a bit dated—unless hairy armpits and Ani DiFranco love are still the best way to recognize college lesbians). Dee, the close friend Allyson finds in Shakespeare class, and her chef boss at her summer job, Wren, felt much more real and were a welcome addition to the story. I appreciated the tidbits of Allyson’s Jewish grandmother, though her parents lacked the charm of Mia’s (which was important to the plot, but less fun to read). The cast of characters that Allyson meets on her second trip to Paris were delightful, and it was nice to see Allyson opening up and connecting with people. I only wish it was something she’d experienced on her own, rather than only as a result of her search for Willem.
Even though I wasn’t as excited about this particular narrator, I still love Gayle Forman’s writing style. She has a way of setting a scene that puts the reader fully in the moment. (Seriously, the Nutella scene! So strange and real and intimate). For a day in Paris falling in love, their experiences were definitely not typical or traditionally romantic. I thought they were a well crafted backdrop to an unexpected and confusing relationship.
Possibly because I enjoy getting in the head of all the characters in a romance, love first person present tense, but strongly dislike novels with alternating first person perspective, the idea of romantic “duets” appeals to me. Though I didn’t feel like I needed it to make the story complete, Where She Went complimented If I Stay beautifully. What irritates me about the more deliberate set up of Just One Day is that the ending is an unbearable cliffhanger, and I don’t feel like it could be read on it’s own. (And, not to spoil too much, but I might have liked this story better had it ended a few chapters early).
Just One Day was good, but not as great as Adam and Mia’s story. Fans of her work will most likely enjoy this, and readers without my particular opinions about the type of Character Allyson is may even like it better.
Just One Day will be available January 8th, 2013. I received an ARC by bidding on it in the YA for NJ auction that benefited survivors of Hurricane Sandy.
I loved Willem. He’s a Dutch actor who travels with a Shakespeare group doing free performances in the open air rather than a theater. This reminds me of Federico García Lorca, my favorite Spanish poet, and his theater for the people tours bringing drama to the countryside. Given my love for Lorca, I was predisposed to like Willem based on this alone, but he is also charming, fun, mysterious. He is certainly the boy I dreamed about running into when I went off to college (but I met Mister BS instead). But he’s not simply that dreamy kind of guy. He had depth, was unexpected. I’d have run off to Paris with him just like Allyson.
But I didn’t particularly like Allyson. She’s not terrible. She’s just as the blurb said—a typical sheltered American good girl. For the “just one day” part of the book, I liked her. She took a chance, she had her doubts, and I was falling in love right along with her. But I wasn’t really rooting for her to find Willem. I thought she should suck it up, get on with her life, and gain some perspective.
True, I think her struggles with finding closure once she’s off at college were realistic and well-portrayed. She wasn’t unbearably whiny or overly dramatic. I do think there should be representation of all sorts of characters with all sorts of dilemmas in young adult literature, and I do think that many young people will relate to Allyson’s experiences. My problem is that other than her vague struggle to “find herself” in college and ambivalence about her future career goals, there was little external conflict. She was mostly moping about Willem. True, their relationship was left unbearably unresolved, and I wanted to admire her for trying to track him down. I just thought the story and the character would have been more layered had there been something else going on with her.
I wanted to admire Allyson the way I admired Mia from If I Stay. Mia wasn’t without her flaws, but there was something deeper and more nuanced about her character that I didn’t find in Allyson. Of course, my opinion could be colored by a certain kind of nostalgia that I tend to have for characters in books that I loved. But what made Mia compelling for me was how she persevered in spite of real hardship. What I disliked about Allyson is how passive and dejected she was about something that when viewed from the perspective of someone nearing their 30s seemed rather minor and insignificant. Of course, an 18-year-old who has never experienced a deep and life-changing loss could related to Allyson in a very real way, and I don’t want to diminish the experience of a first love. But still, if the big change a character makes is standing up to her parents about taking a pottery class (for which they are paying $5000), I can’t help but think it a bit of a shallow transformation.
The secondary characters in this novel were hit and miss for me. Even though I wasn’t particularly fond of Allyson’s travel companion, I thought it was interesting to see how a childhood friendship plays out in college. I’m always interested in the way female friendships are portrayed in YA fiction, possibly because I don’t think they get the attention they deserve. Forman gets bonus points for including a character experimenting with her sexuality, though I thought it was constructed in a very typical way (and was a bit dated—unless hairy armpits and Ani DiFranco love are still the best way to recognize college lesbians). Dee, the close friend Allyson finds in Shakespeare class, and her chef boss at her summer job, Wren, felt much more real and were a welcome addition to the story. I appreciated the tidbits of Allyson’s Jewish grandmother, though her parents lacked the charm of Mia’s (which was important to the plot, but less fun to read). The cast of characters that Allyson meets on her second trip to Paris were delightful, and it was nice to see Allyson opening up and connecting with people. I only wish it was something she’d experienced on her own, rather than only as a result of her search for Willem.
Even though I wasn’t as excited about this particular narrator, I still love Gayle Forman’s writing style. She has a way of setting a scene that puts the reader fully in the moment. (Seriously, the Nutella scene! So strange and real and intimate). For a day in Paris falling in love, their experiences were definitely not typical or traditionally romantic. I thought they were a well crafted backdrop to an unexpected and confusing relationship.
Possibly because I enjoy getting in the head of all the characters in a romance, love first person present tense, but strongly dislike novels with alternating first person perspective, the idea of romantic “duets” appeals to me. Though I didn’t feel like I needed it to make the story complete, Where She Went complimented If I Stay beautifully. What irritates me about the more deliberate set up of Just One Day is that the ending is an unbearable cliffhanger, and I don’t feel like it could be read on it’s own. (And, not to spoil too much, but I might have liked this story better had it ended a few chapters early).
Just One Day was good, but not as great as Adam and Mia’s story. Fans of her work will most likely enjoy this, and readers without my particular opinions about the type of Character Allyson is may even like it better.
Just One Day will be available January 8th, 2013. I received an ARC by bidding on it in the YA for NJ auction that benefited survivors of Hurricane Sandy.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
frustratingly good
There is a world of difference, Lulu, between falling in love and being in love.
I must make a confession. When I was scrolling through the Hoopla app looking for good audiobooks to listen to, I favorited this one for later listening. Months later, I queued it up, and went to town.
Went to town thinking this was [b:One Day|6280118|One Day|David Nicholls|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873020s/6280118.jpg|6463667]. Boy, good thing I'm a really hardcore reader who pays attention to detail. ::facepalm::
When I realized what I'd done (Dear Google: WTF am I reading), I almost considered quitting and pretending it had never happened. Because I'm so anti-romance novels that it would be unfair to the author. Just because I'm an inattentive, bitter Bunny doesn't mean an author's book needs to be ragged on.
I am so, so, so glad I kept going with it. It helps that this is the author of [b: If I Stay|4374400|If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)|Gayle Forman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347462970s/4374400.jpg|4422413], which I loved so very dearly.
This book is exactly, exactly, what I need in a romance story. Picture perfect. I want to take this book and hand it to every author who's romance storylines made me want to high five them in the face with a giant dictionary.
Allison is a fully formed person when we meet her. Sheltered, and scared, but still. She's on a European "trip of a lifetime" with her bestie, and it's not everything she's ever hoped for, but that's okay. She turns left instead of turning right, and ends up meeting Willem.
What follows is 24 hours of first date that made me fall in love with both of them, and root for both of them. I knew (from googling WTF) that he was going to disappear. I didn't know anything spoilery, but I knew that. And when it happened, my heart seriously did break for her.
And we follow her for a year. A heartbreaking year, and an exhilarating year. In which she suffers, and grows, and becomes a fully formed person.
That dreaded phrase, A Coming of Age story? Yes, good, right. That is exactly what I've just read, and it's beautiful.
She wasn't depressed because a boy dumped her. She wasn't broken because she lost a boy, she was broken because she lost the person she became when she was with him. She lost her strength, and her spontaneity, and her whimsy. She went home and got back into the little box that was her life, and she was miserable, and it was heart wrenching.
I loved the parts after she returned from Paris even more than her time with Willem. Because seeing her come out of the suffering, and find herself, was just so beautiful, and so beautifully done.
I couldn't love this more.
Well, if they hadn't referred to pate as "meat butter", I might've liked it more.
I must make a confession. When I was scrolling through the Hoopla app looking for good audiobooks to listen to, I favorited this one for later listening. Months later, I queued it up, and went to town.
Went to town thinking this was [b:One Day|6280118|One Day|David Nicholls|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873020s/6280118.jpg|6463667]. Boy, good thing I'm a really hardcore reader who pays attention to detail. ::facepalm::
When I realized what I'd done (Dear Google: WTF am I reading), I almost considered quitting and pretending it had never happened. Because I'm so anti-romance novels that it would be unfair to the author. Just because I'm an inattentive, bitter Bunny doesn't mean an author's book needs to be ragged on.
I am so, so, so glad I kept going with it. It helps that this is the author of [b: If I Stay|4374400|If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)|Gayle Forman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347462970s/4374400.jpg|4422413], which I loved so very dearly.
This book is exactly, exactly, what I need in a romance story. Picture perfect. I want to take this book and hand it to every author who's romance storylines made me want to high five them in the face with a giant dictionary.
Allison is a fully formed person when we meet her. Sheltered, and scared, but still. She's on a European "trip of a lifetime" with her bestie, and it's not everything she's ever hoped for, but that's okay. She turns left instead of turning right, and ends up meeting Willem.
What follows is 24 hours of first date that made me fall in love with both of them, and root for both of them. I knew (from googling WTF) that he was going to disappear. I didn't know anything spoilery, but I knew that. And when it happened, my heart seriously did break for her.
And we follow her for a year. A heartbreaking year, and an exhilarating year. In which she suffers, and grows, and becomes a fully formed person.
That dreaded phrase, A Coming of Age story? Yes, good, right. That is exactly what I've just read, and it's beautiful.
She wasn't depressed because a boy dumped her. She wasn't broken because she lost a boy, she was broken because she lost the person she became when she was with him. She lost her strength, and her spontaneity, and her whimsy. She went home and got back into the little box that was her life, and she was miserable, and it was heart wrenching.
I loved the parts after she returned from Paris even more than her time with Willem. Because seeing her come out of the suffering, and find herself, was just so beautiful, and so beautifully done.
I couldn't love this more.
Well, if they hadn't referred to pate as "meat butter", I might've liked it more.
I enjoyed thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was different. It left feeling like I need to travel and just go without a purpose other than to live in the moment. It feels relatable as to how we are all trying to find our place in the world. There is a level of growth that I felt while reading. I was there with the Allyson, watching her grow as a person after the whirlwind of a romance. The end left me wanting more.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I relate to Allyson on so many levels. I doubt who I am. I want to be Lulu, I really do. But I don't think I can ever muster the courage.
Really liked it.It's a book about a journey and finding yourself!!!
DUTCH PEOPLE CAN'T CASUALLY SPEAK DANISH MRS. FORMAN. Idk why the fuck this detail bothered me so much. Dutch is much closer to German than the Nordic languages and even then it would've been a struggle to communicate. There's a difference between mutual reading comprehension between the languages and actual ability to have conversations like it's nothing with a complete stranger in another language you don't know because it bears similarities to your own.Wtf. Even a quick Google search is enough. Aside from that this book is so cheesy and trite, every possible trope is there, the main characters' complaining and ungratefulness pissed me off and the insta-love is unbelievable and forced. My idealist 14 year old self loved it so much hence the second star. I seriously wish Americans would stop writing about Europe. No matter how much research they do they always seem to stereotype and screw up everything about different cultures .