Last week I would get back to you guys with my comments for “Just One Year”, but I never thought I’d do it so fast. Truth is, as soon as I finished “Just One Day”, I started reading the 2nd book of this duology. I absolutely loved Allyson’s story and I expected a lot from this 2nd book. At first, it wasn’t that good, but in the end, it didn’t disappoint. Far from it. Willem’s story is not as straight as Allyson’s. But you have to expect that. Their personalities and life styles are so different, their journey’s were bound to be quite different as well.
The book starts at exactly the moment where Allyson and Willem get separated. We already know how scared and confused Allyson was at finding herself alone in a strange city, not knowing what had happened to Willem and why had he left her. Now we know Willem’s side of the story. He was attacked and ended up unconscious at a hospital, with some memory loss. We see his desperate attempts to try to find his Lulu. And then when he realizes is a lost cause, we see him moves on. But he moves on because of her. Because of the day they spent together.
While reading the first book, I remember thinking how there wasn’t much about Willem. We didn’t really know him. Just some glimpses of his story and some things we learnt from Allyson’s assumptions. He was a complete mystery. But after what went on in the first book, we, as much as Allyson, needed some sort of closure.
I’l try not to be spoilerish, though if you’ve read “Just One Day”, you know how this book ends. And even though you know how the book ends before even opening it, you LOVE that it ends that way. This shows that even though the ending it’s important, the journey to get to that ending is as important (if not more so). As with Allyson’s story, this book is a journey of self-discovery. These 2 books are, ultimately, a love story. But the journey these 2 characters go through, is so much more important. With other love stories, all you care about is for the 2 lead characters to end up together. That’s it. But with Allyson and Willem (for me), it’s not important if they don’t end up together. I don’t mind. The truth is that, because of meeting each other, each of them is better with him and herself. Their search for each other is a way for them to find themselves and, in doing so, they find each other again.
Willem’s journey is riddled with coming to terms with his past and facing his future. A huge part of his story deals with his family. And this book doesn’t make family life all white-picket-fence and cute. It shows you the nasty bits. Parents falling out with their kids. Families coming apart. Separation. Up-bringing. How raising a child can be difficult. We learn so much about Willem’s childhood and upbringing by getting to know his mother’s childhood. The evolution that Willem goes through with his family (and friends) is beautiful. How he reconnects and starts bonding again. How he goes from a lobe wolf to being surrounded by people. How he finally admits he needs them.
Another interesting things about Willem’s story is that, at first, you might see him as confident, relaxed, easy going, so sure of his place in life. But, as Allyson was so clever to see, this might not be so. That philosophy of believing in accidents and letting life take its course, leave everything to fate, it’s actually something quite coward to do. Willem is always going where the wind blows him. He doesn’t take control of his life. He isn’t steering the wheel. And he isn’t actually “going” anywhere. He is escaping. He has been escaping forever. After you learn his story and background, you may understand why. But you’ll be glad and rooting for him when he makes the decision of taking control of his life. That decision is related to his passion. His calling. We might have first met him as a street performer in Guerrilla Will, but he introduced himself as an “accidental actor”. Now, he will actually pay attention and become what he was meant to be.
Lastly, another thing that I loved, was all the talk about trips and going to far away countries. The talk of flying and planes. I love travelling. I do. With a passion. So a lot of things that Willem feels and thinks spoke to me. When he describes that feeling of landing someplace after a long flight. How he sometimes dreams with the sounds and sensations of taking off and landing. It was perfectly written. The part I loved the most is when he describes that “pause” he feels after he’s gone through customs and he is in that moment of total disorientation of being somewhere for the very first time. If you like travelling, you’ll like this book.
Gayle Forman wrote a beautiful love story between 2 characters you actually care about. And the magical thing is that, while reading each book, the love story is the element you care the less about. And yet, it’s the driving force that moves these 2 characters to go through an epic self-discovery journey.
