Just One Day Review

Just One Day

Gayle Forman

Speak 

August 2013

Quotes:

“Part of me knows one more day won't do anything except postpone the heartbreak. But another part of me believes differently. We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”

“Sometimes the best way to find out what you’re supposed to do is by doing the thing you’re not supposed to do.”  

“You have to fall in love to be in love, but falling in love isn't the same as being in love.”  

“I think everything is happening all the time, but if you don't put yourself in the path of it, you miss it.”  

“And that's when I understand that I have been stained. Whether I'm still in love with him, whether he was ever in love with me, and no matter who he's in love with now, Willem changed my life. He showed me how to get lost, and then I showed myself how to get found.”  

I'm a pretty big fan of Gayle Forman's writing. I think that she weaves story together in a beautiful and effortless sort of way. She also creates such memorable and awesome characters. There aren't many characters of hers that I haven't connected with or cheered for. Comparatively, this book didn't hit me as hard as If I Stay did. However, it is unfair to compare the two since it's such a different story. This one was definitely more upbeat and filled with a lot less sadness. I like books that have adventures and this one certainly has that going for it.

Allyson Healey is in her last summer before she heads off to college. Her parents sent her on a three-week European tour with a group from her school as a graduation gift. On the last day, she meets a boy named Willem, who acts in Shakespearean plays and goes wherever the wind blows. Willem is unpredictable, the complete opposite of the careful and safe Allyson. She decides to shake things up in her life and go with Willem to Paris, a place she desperately wanted to see but didn't have a chance on the tour. There is where the pair share grand adventures as they share one unplanned day in the city of love together. She wakes up to find Willem gone, so she finds her way back to the states on her own, completely heartbroken over his disappearance. As the months at college fly by, Allyson can't get the day that she spent with this boy out of her mind. So she decides to down whatever it takes to track him down.

I liked hearing the story from Allyson's point of view. She was a decent narrator and I liked seeing her develop as the story went on. She could be a little annoying at times considering how jealous she was of every single girl who even looked Willem's way. However, I enjoyed that she was uptight and safe but gradually turned into someone else, a person who doesn't plan everything out and just goes with the flow. Obviously, she's more that person around Willem than she is on her own, but I still thought it was fascinating to see. Willem was a fun character that I really enjoyed. He had a ton of personality and was hard to pinpoint. While I wish he would have opened up to Allyson more about her life, that just wasn't his character I guess.

I'm aware that it's obvious that the two are only together for one day, but I still found myself craving more of Willem. I know that the second book is dedicated to his point of view during the time they were apart, but I just didn't like the flow of this one. Allyson at college was just kind of boring to me and I found myself skimming through it honestly. Overall, I loved the first part of the story because any story in Paris is automatically awesome in my book.