Review: Just One Year (Just One Day #2) by Gayle Forman

Firstly, thanks to Random House Children's Australia for this review copy <3



Date Read: May 23 - 27 2014
Release Date: November 7th 2013
Publisher: Definitions (Random House Children's)
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Contemporary
My rating: 

Synopsis:

"Twenty-four hours can change your life . . .
Allyson and Willem share one magical day together in Paris, before chance rips them apart.

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents life throws at us.

But is one day enough to find your fate?"

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“Accidents. It's all about the accidents.”

The perfect companion novel to Just One Day I absolutely loved this. Gayle Forman can do no wrong. I think I can understand why I’ve seen so many people say they didn’t care about the characters in this as they wanted a sequel of Just One Day – I know I expected it too. But this is Willem’s story, and once I took a step back and appreciated this, I ended up loving this so much. This is a beautiful story about accidents, chance and finding yourself in the face of life and all the things it throws at you.

Just One Year starts at the point when Willem and Allyson were separated in Paris – we finally know where Willem went that day and woah does it spark one heck of a journey.

Forman writes such perfectly flawed characters. Willem de Ruiter is no perfect guy. Far from it. He comes across as almost a player, having flings with different girls. And yet, reading from his point of view I couldn’t fault him. I always got this sense of restlessness from him, this feeling that he could never settle down because of things that had happened in the past 3 years. His home situation was complicated and because of that I think he was always on the move because he was trying to find where home really was. His voice was so relatable, so stunningly real and authentic. I was Willem as he struggled with trying to deal with loss, letting go and finding love. What made him so believable was that he wasn’t always right… In fact, it seemed a lot of the time he was always wrong but he learnt from his mistakes. He grew so much throughout JOY, faced his fears, his demons and acknowledged many truths and mistakes that, without this journey he wouldn’t have learnt.

“There’s a difference between losing something you knew you had and losing something you discovered you had. One is a disappointment. The other is truly a loss.

Through the one year, Willem comes across many people as he travels through Paris, the Netherlands, Mexico, India and back to Amsterdam. All these people – some strangers, some old friends – leave something for Willem to ponder. These diverse people show how we all have different outlooks on life, what we believe as fate and accidents. They challenged Willem’s own beliefs and made this book so wonderfully thought provoking. Do things happen by accident? Or are they not accidents anymore because we took the chance and acted upon it? Was it even an accident or the subject of chance and choice? What is love, what’s it like to be in love, to leave your mark on someone? To find double happiness? These are just some of the many brilliant questions about life that Forman has incorporated into this achingly truthful story. I’m STILL contemplating these things as I write this review, and I will contemplate them for the rest of my life – changing as I grow with experience.

“Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or the lock, or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn’t even show you the door and you have to build it yourself.”

And essentially this is what this book is about – changing as one grows with experiences. How these experiences shape Willem, alter his beliefs and make him question everything he has grown up knowing by taking him out of his comfort zone through meeting these people. The interesting thing is, for the past 3 years he has been on this journey, but without Allyson, his “Lulu”, being the catalyst and opening his eyes to these possibilities, he’d have gone on like his old self. Just like how Willem’s presence left a mark on Allyson in JOD, “Lulu” has left her mark on Willem and she is present in everything he does. It blows me away how that one person can do that to a person.

“Love is not something you protect. It’s something you risk.”

Utilising Shakespeare again as a plot device, Forman uses the characters from some of the Bard’s much loved plays to help Willem grow and relate. To show the reader how these things we deal with today are timeless – have always been, and always will be as we are humans with emotions. I have never been a fan of Shakespeare. I’d studied his plays every year throughout high school and never enjoyed them. Yet, through Forman’s words and Willem’s thoughts/actions, I was able to appreciate the power of verse and iambic pentameter that Shakespeare so artfully manipulated.

“This moment. On this stage. I am Orlando, giving myself to Rosalind.”

This journey that Willem thinks is about finding Lulu – is it really? I thought it was something so much bigger. Something so much more profound. A personal journey to find what we truly desire even if we don’t know what it is. And you ask, does Willem find it? Does he find the meaning of family, love, double happiness? Well you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Just One Year is another achingly beautiful story that Forman seems to execute so effortlessly with her eloquent words and intricate meanings about life. A story about finding us – whoever that may be.

“I can’t tell them apart, last year, this year. They are one and the same. Then is now. Now is then.”

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Just One Night (Just One Day #2.5) Mini Review

Date Read: May 29th 2014
Release Date: May 29th 2014
Publisher: Definitions (Random House Children's)
Source: Bought
Genre: Contemporary
My rating: 

Synopsis:
"After spending one life-changing day in Paris with laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter, sheltered American good girl Allyson “Lulu” Healey discovered her new lover had disappeared without a trace. Just One Day followed Allyson’s quest to reunite with Willem; Just One Year chronicled the pair’s year apart from Willem’s perspective. Now, back together at last, this delectable e-novella reveals the couple’s final chapter."

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Forman has now continued Allyson and Willem’s story in Just One Night. Over the course of one night, two people reunite for the first time after spending one fateful day in Paris together. 

The ideas of accidents, chance, connectivity and double happiness are further explored in this emotional novella. Unspoken words are finally said and I, for one, finally got all the answers I wanted. All the themes come back and tie our two characters together, showing the parallels and how, just maybe, we have to wait for the right time for things to happen.

The conclusion to one day that started from one chance encounter that spanned over the course of two journeys in one year... This one night is what everybody needs.

Review: Where She Went (If I Stay #2) by Gayle Forman

Date Read: December 25 - 26 2012

Release Date: November 4^th 2010

Publisher: Definitions

Source: Bought
Genre: Contemporary

My rating:  (Not enough stars)

Synopsis:
“It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.”

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“Instead of dropping me like a one-night stand, you could’ve had the decency to break up with me instead of leaving me wondering for three years…"

I actually liked Where She Went even more than If I Stay! Gayle just has this way with words (I know, I keep saying that) that manages to bring out all these emotions in me. I thought If I Stay was a hard review to write, but Where She Went has taken me over 2 days! Ah but so worthwhile :D

Along with Mia’s absence, we see what fame has really done to Adam – despite being a famous rock star and essentially achieving his dream, Adam is a wreck. He’s paranoid, emotionally distant and music is a chore for him. Seeing him like that made my heart ache so much. And yet I couldn’t hate Mia or blame her for any of that. Anybody that’s read If I Stay will remember the fateful words Adam spoke to Mia.

“I'd make that promise a thousand times over and lose her a thousand times over to have heard her play last night or to see her in the morning sunlight. Or even without that. Just to know that she's somewhere out there. Alive.”

For me, reading Adam’s voice was more painful than Mia’s in If I Stay despite how bleak If I Stay was. As Adam and Mia spent their night in New York together, Adam’s thoughts were plagued by his memories of three years ago but especially the question of why Mia left. Each thought is filled with this pain and longing and left me wondering how a love like theirs couldn’t withstand everything. But I think that’s the amazing thing about Gayle’s stories – she doesn’t sugar coat anything; it’s reality.

“There are so many things that demand to be said. Where did you go? Do you ever think about me? You've ruined me. Are you okay? But of course, I can't say any of that.”

Following the brilliant structure of If I Stay, Gayle utilises the flashbacks to take us back to those three years Adam went without Mia, but more importantly, those two years he did spend with her. For all of Mia’s insecurities, we see Adam’s love and devotion to her. The flashbacks build up to the bittersweet present and the confusion both feel at having come together on such a (fateful?) night after so long. Music also played a big part in this book. Using lyrics at the beginning of a chapter to imply or foreshadow events isn’t uncommon. But getting those lyrics right is another thing completely. Gayle did the amazing job of writing her own lyrics based on Adam’s band and ohmygoodness were they meaningful! The way everything is layered so that when you peel them back you’re left in awe of what each layer means and how it all comes together, retaining the whole text’s integrity? Yup, this is one mind-blown reader.

I didn’t think it was possible to FEEL so much – both him and me (as the reader). I felt everything that Adam felt: his anger, his grief, his angst and his heartbreak. His actions over the past three years as a result of these emotions were definitely questionable but I could never be annoyed with anything he did. The character building was simply superb.

“And it’s like, Mia, don’t you get it? The music is the void. And you’re the reason why.”

Reading Where She Went made me believe that true love exists.

But do second chances? READ AND FIND OUT ;D

“You don’t share me. You own me.”

Review: If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

Date Read: December 20 - 25 2012

Release Date: January 1st 2009

Publisher: Definitions

Source: Bought
Genre: Contemporary

My rating: 

Synopsis:
"In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make, and the ultimate choice Mia commands"

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"It's all just a matter of time, and part of me wonders why I'm delaying the inevitable."

Definitely one of the most moving books I've ever read, Gayle Forman writes a bittersweet tale about life, death and making choices. I sobbed, I laughed and I hoped beyond hope that Mia would stay.

I've been putting this review off for so long because I didn't know how to write it. Consequently, I haven't done my review for Where She Went  (the sequel) yet either because I felt like I had to review if I Stay first D: This was possibly one of the hardest reviews to write because I felt so much sadness and hope reading this and I just didn't know how to form all my emotions and thoughts in to words.

Gayle Forman really has a way with words. The voice she creates for Mia is intelligent, mature and so full of love I was hooked on the first page.

"My dad smiles and taps on his pipe… He also wears bow ties. I am never quite clear on whether all this is sartorial or sardonic."

Within the first 3 pages, Gayle has shown (not told) that Mia's family is a close one. Her ex-punker dad now turned middle-school teacher, her ex-punker mum who now works at a travel agent, her younger brother Teddy who is 8 and lives high off coffee, and 17 year old Mia herself, are all connected by their love of music. Their family is a happy one: Mia teases her adorable, hyper younger brother and her parents joke around and are extremely lenient due to their rock days.

"Dad and I guffaw at the same time. Mom makes cereal and toast. Dad's the cook in the family."

You might be thinking "ok why is Jaz telling me this? Doesn't this spoil the story? What is the point of this?" Well for those of you who haven't read this, you'd find it out in the first 2-3 pages anyway so it's no spoiler. Why am I telling you this and what's the point? The point is to (try) and establish the warmth that is Mia's family. They're not perfect, but they're honest and love each other. And this is what made If I Stay so painful. Because that one car crash tore Mia's whole family apart.

Stuck in a sort of limbo, Mia watches as  they take her ruined body from the wreck, operate on her  and watches as she fights for her own life. But the question is, should she bother fighting?

The course of the novel is a series of flashbacks. As each event occurs in the present (an operation, a visit from a family member, a visit from her friend and boyfriend), a flashback ensues. This was the most beautiful thing about the book - the way Gayle structured everything. Each present event is LINKED to a flashback. For example, when her best friend Kim comes to visit for the first time, Mia remembers how she and Kim met. Or when Teddy is brought up, she remembers the day he was born. The structure was absolute perfection. As we watch the chronological clock wind in the present, Mia has built us a picture of her entire life - family, friends, boyfriend, musical life. And the great thing? Not once was I confused about the present or the past. Everything is defined so clearly and yet it flowed so wonderfully - absolutely seamless.

"How is he [Adam] going to know that I'm actually early? That I got to Portland this morning while the snow was still melting? [About the accident]

*

'Have you ever heard of this Yo-Yo Made dude?' Adam asked me. It was the spring of my sophomore year, which was his junior year."

See how Gayle has made it so that while Mia worries about Adam not knowing she was in an accident, she flashes back to their first meeting? I KNOW RIGHT IT'S AMAZING AND I WAS JUST MINDBLOWN AT HOW SIMPLE YET FLUID THIS WAS!!!

The flashbacks are all so meaningful, each one a funny friendship or family moment, a nervous touch, a declaration of love.

And ah the romance! So bittersweet and full of love. My heart went out to Adam…

"Adam is crying and somewhere inside of me, I am crying too…" ohgoodness I'M CRYING TOO MIA.

But the whole point of the flashbacks? To show what Mia had, what she has lost, what she still has left and ultimately, is it worth it for her to stay?

I can't remember how many tissues I used up reading this… DON'T READ IN PUBLIC I TELL YOU!

"If you stay, I'll do whatever you want... But if you need me to go away, I'll do that, too… And that would suck, but I'd do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay."