Before you find out how their story ends, remember how it began....
When he opens his eyes, Willem doesn’t know where in the world he is—Prague or Dubrovnik or back in Amsterdam. All he knows is that he is once again alone, and that he needs to find a girl named Lulu. They shared one magical day in Paris, and something about that day—that girl—makes Willem wonder if they aren’t fated to be together. He travels all over the world, from Mexico to India, hoping to reconnect with her. But as months go by and Lulu remains elusive, Willem starts to question if the hand of fate is as strong as he’d thought. . . .
The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents that happen—and the happiness we can find when the two intersect.
I highly anticipated Just One Year by Gayle Forman after reading its pre companion, Just One Day. It drove me insane to find out what happened to Willem and if he shared the craving that Allyson had for their happenstance to be something more permanent- like a "stain." Don't let me down Willem. Don't let me down.
J O Y was written in Willem’s POV. We were able to distinguish the mystery that made up his being and his perspective of that fateful one day and the events throughout the year until Allyson finally had found him.
'Accident - how I found her. Accident - how I lost her.’
Willem was a character I begged to be acquainted with. He made me ask so many personal questions about him while I’d read. What made up his thought process? What was he running away from? Did he even try to find Allyson? Was he confused or in denial, maybe both? Is he a player? Did he hide behind some facade? Is he scared to love someone? Thankfully, my questions were answered throughout the read. Plus answers to questions I’d never thought to have asked, that needed to be asked!
What I’ve mostly gathered about Will and his behavior was he had freedom, but elements of endearment and a nurturing that all children should have, was missing along with loss. Which, resulted to one single, challenging word. COMMITMENT
While I thoroughly enjoyed the read, I did find myself disappointed in some of Willem's actions. After all, Gayle Forman is going to give us a realistic character with suaveness and faults, right? I felt like Will continued to settle while his mind continued to race about "LuLu." It was kind of a turn off to see Willem turn to other girls when he was so hung up over another one. But I mean, in sucky reality, that's just what boys do. So many times fate seemed like it tried to steer him in the right path, only it would collide, ugh!! You’d know this and recognize these directions from the settings in book 1, how fate is certainty. He travelled to that fork in the road. He took the wrong turn, but with the help of friends, he detoured and he found the way- well actually the direction found him, 'because you find things when you aren't looking for them'. There had been so many bumps in the road along the way in this read. I almost even ripped a page!! But fate, freed Will.
I was glad that Willem had Broodje, Prateek, Kate (I liked her- girl kept it real with her reality checks—something Willem definitely needed) and friends. They were great confidants and helped him to try and locate the target - the ‘Principle of Connectivity’ can have some profound leads.
There was a flaw in my eyes in Just One Year. The end. I mean, it definitely had the closure I was hoping for, just not enough. I wish it had been elaborated more. More interaction between Willem and Allyson. I waited the whole book, actually two books, to have this dynamic rekindling moment. However, it did not by any means ruin this book for me.
It wasn’t surprising and is EXPECTED that Gayle Forman's writing bears so much sentiment and so many inspirational words. ‘
There’s a difference between losing something you knew you had and losing something you discovered you had. One is disappointment. The other is truly a loss.'
Read my review of Just One Day by Gayle Forman by clicking HERE
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