Scan barcode
A review by corky12
A World Without You by Beth Revis
5.0
TLDR: If you enjoy a unreliable narrator or want a well-written book about someone struggling with mental illness, pick this up! Phoebe is unnecessary, but you can look past her for some great (very flawed) characters and a winding story. Even I struggled with figuring out which world was real, immersing me further in the protagonist's confusing world.
A World Without You is a harrowing look at mental illness. It never diagnoses the protagonist, veering away from stereotypes a diagnosis may cause. Bo believes himself to be a time traveler; and the reader is swept along his story of traversing times, losing his girlfriend in the timestream, and doing his best to get her back. While he grapples with controlling his new power, everyone else at his boarding school is dealing with this same girlfriend's supposed suicide and a group of government officials inspecting the school for medical negligence.
First thing to know: This book starts slow. I listened to the audiobook, and after an hour and a half, I had no idea how the author could drag out this story for another 11 hours. Though I was tempted to give in, the unreliable narrator aspect drew me in again, and I'm glad I stayed. Bo's story is full of navigating reality. Though I knew the book was about mental illness, I struggled to discern what was really happening and what was all in his head. At times, I succumbed to the belief that his powers were real and a giant conspiracy was brewing to keep his girlfriend missing.
Secondly, his sister Phoebe was not a well-written character. There were very few chapters where I felt her POV was necessary. She is meant to ground the reader in reality, but she had no personality besides self-pity. Phoebe is the generic "sister of the disabled kid" trope (see my review on Rules for why this is problematic), which means she is jealous of how much attention her brother gets and she wishes she were an only child. Unlike other sisters, though, she does not get much better as the story progresses. Even at the end, when she is finally starting to come into her own and treats her brother like an actual human being, her personality is a blank. The book could have used other methods to show not-Bo's reality (and in fact it does!) in much better ways than including a POV from Phoebe.
Lastly, A World Without You is a roller coaster of emotions that I would recommend to anyone who can deal with it. It's long, and the protagonist is very self-absorbed. The characters are flawed and scarred and relatable. Its plot weaves between being a grief-stricken drama, a time travel incident, and a local conspiracy. And readers sometimes cannot tell which is which. The ending wasn't my favorite, but books like this are hard to wrap up with a bow.
If you can get past the negatives and the trigger warnings, A World Without You is a must-read, at least once.
A World Without You is a harrowing look at mental illness. It never diagnoses the protagonist, veering away from stereotypes a diagnosis may cause. Bo believes himself to be a time traveler; and the reader is swept along his story of traversing times, losing his girlfriend in the timestream, and doing his best to get her back. While he grapples with controlling his new power, everyone else at his boarding school is dealing with this same girlfriend's supposed suicide and a group of government officials inspecting the school for medical negligence.
First thing to know: This book starts slow. I listened to the audiobook, and after an hour and a half, I had no idea how the author could drag out this story for another 11 hours. Though I was tempted to give in, the unreliable narrator aspect drew me in again, and I'm glad I stayed. Bo's story is full of navigating reality. Though I knew the book was about mental illness, I struggled to discern what was really happening and what was all in his head. At times, I succumbed to the belief that his powers were real and a giant conspiracy was brewing to keep his girlfriend missing.
Secondly, his sister Phoebe was not a well-written character. There were very few chapters where I felt her POV was necessary. She is meant to ground the reader in reality, but she had no personality besides self-pity. Phoebe is the generic "sister of the disabled kid" trope (see my review on Rules for why this is problematic), which means she is jealous of how much attention her brother gets and she wishes she were an only child. Unlike other sisters, though, she does not get much better as the story progresses. Even at the end, when she is finally starting to come into her own and treats her brother like an actual human being, her personality is a blank. The book could have used other methods to show not-Bo's reality (and in fact it does!) in much better ways than including a POV from Phoebe.
Lastly, A World Without You is a roller coaster of emotions that I would recommend to anyone who can deal with it. It's long, and the protagonist is very self-absorbed. The characters are flawed and scarred and relatable. Its plot weaves between being a grief-stricken drama, a time travel incident, and a local conspiracy. And readers sometimes cannot tell which is which. The ending wasn't my favorite, but books like this are hard to wrap up with a bow.
If you can get past the negatives and the trigger warnings, A World Without You is a must-read, at least once.