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Just One Day |  |
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Just One Day | |
网友对Just One Day的评论
I was immediately intrigued when I read the synopsis of Just One Day and eagerly dived into the story. Allyson reminded me of myself, which is probably why I liked her so much. Here was a girl who played it safe, never taking risks and living her life by the book. Then she met Willem, a traveling actor who changed her entire outlook on life. She only spent one day with him, yet in that one day he turned her world upside down. I loved seeing Allyson step out of her comfort zone and do something unexpected and impetuous. It was easy to understand why she was drawn to Willem, as I myself found him very intriguing.
I have to admit that as the book went on the plot was different than what I had expected, but I thought it worked very well. For me the story was truly about Allyson's personal journey and growth. I also liked how the book touched on friendships and how they can change as time passes. There were definitely parts of Allyson's journey that broke my heart. After her time with Willem she was so lost and had some very important decisions to make about her future. This book was so full of ups and downs, and I really enjoyed watching Allyson's transformation. I am looking forward to getting my hands on the next book and reading the continuation of Allyson and Willem's story.
As much as I enjoyed Forman's IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT, both were only 4-star stories for me. They were enjoyable, emotional, and extremely intense - but something kept me from loving them. Whatever I was missing from those two novels, JUST ONE DAY has it. Allyson Healey's journey begins after a chance encounter with Willem, who offers to take her Paris for an incredible, chaotic day of adventure. But the next day, he's gone, she's alone, and so begins the next adventure as Allyson attends college, takes a Shakespeare class, figures out who she is and where she's going next in this bittersweet coming of age story.
It may be a story you've heard before: Girl meets boy, instant and intense connection, one memorable and romantic adventure that ends far too quickly and messily. But, Forman knows her characters intricately, and it shows because the characters - with their quirky and endearing qualities - are the ones who lift the story up and make it fly. JUST ONE DAY is the most perfectly imperfect story of love, loss, friendship, chance, change, random acts of kindness*, independence, misunderstandings, and bravery. I wish I could do this novel some justice by giving it a remarkable review that inspires someone to pick this book up, but I guess I'll have to settle for simply saying this: do not let this story pass you by.
HIGHLIGHTS: Forman features imperfect characters and situations. Allyson isn't perfect or a cookie-cutter heroine, but flawed and evolving. Forman expertly writes emotion, making you grin at the flirty banter, blush at the more romantic moments, and even stirs sympathy deep within your core as Allyson finds herself in her lowest moment. The characters** and locations*** are wonderfully written. I especially love the helpfulness and kindness of the some of the side characters. Life and friendships are not easy and don't always work out as you reach adulthood, so I appreciate Forman for portraying Allyson's life (every up and down) as realistically as possible.
LOWLIGHTS: Waiting for the sequel? Yes, that's a definite lowlight. I need JUST ONE YEAR and I need it now. *glares at calendar*
* Seriously, there were some moments where I felt all warm and fuzzy inside, just because of the kindness random characters showed to Allyson and other characters. I like to hope that there are plenty of people like that in the world.
** Dee! I adore Dee. And Willem, too.
*** Paris! I want to go there so badly. It sounds lovely.
**** Received an unsolicited ARC of the novel from publisher, and purchased a paperback copy at a later date.
Original Read - December 2012: Given that it's Gayle Forman, I don't think it would have been possible for me to give it any less than five stars regardless. But Just One Day truly deserves it and earned a special place in my heart, as all Gayle's books do. It was definitely an emotional roller coaster and even though nothing close to the events that play out in the book have happened to me, then sentiment is just the same: falling in love, doubting how fast those feelings come on, fear of rejection, being rejected, and the quest to find the answers WHY. I can honestly say I've been through those exact situations and felt those feelings far too many times in my own teen/college years and I was right there with Allyson as she fell in love and then felt her heart break over and over again.
I don't know what more to say about the book except that I hope whoever reads this feels the same way I did - Totally invested, totally connected with the characters. I think if you've ever felt that way in a relationship (or non-relationship in some cases) that I think you'll easily fall right into step with the characters that Gayle Forman creates.
It's also further proof that I can actually read books set in foreign countries. Clearly before the select contemporary romances that I had read this year, I was not reading the right books. I've never been to Europe, but through the beautiful writing of Gayle Forman and several other contemporary writers, I've never felt more at home in Paris, London, Amsterdam, and various other sections of Europe. To me, that really says a lot, and I think the reason why is that I wasn't just getting descriptions of events that happened here and there - It was an emotional connection to that canal, that house, that park that made it feel like a place I could see myself. I have a tendency to tie places back to feelings and that was something that was expertly written in Just One Day.
Of course I recommend it to anyone and everyone. I'll recommend Gayle's books to people until the end of time and there's something so timeless about not only her writing but the way she writes her characters. I feel like even in 10 years when new generations pick up her books, they won't feel dated. I'm sure some minute details like the technology of whatever cell phones turn into in 10 years may be outdated, but only slightly so because the focus is almost entirely on the feelings that Allyson experiences and the universal message that she not only learns for herself, but that the readers can pick up about their own lives as well.
And the end - AH! I feel like I'll definitely read this book a few times before I can get my hands on Willem's side of the story. I know it may feel like a long way from now, but maybe like the characters, I can wait Just One Year.
Re-read completed 10/2/13, review posted 10/14/13: Pretty much ever since I finished JUST ONE DAY, I had been dying for a re-read. Between this book and IF I STAY/WHERE SHE WENT, it was really the reason I started the Gayle Forman Read Along -- I needed a good, solid reason to re-read when I was drowning in books I still haven't read. Ever since I first finished JUST ONE DAY back in December of last year, I felt like I NEEDED to read it again. I had connected with it so much the first time around but I needed to reach out and make that connection again. I needed to fall in love and get heartbroken all over again. I needed to remember what was so special about this book for me.
I think one of the most interesting things about re-reading this book was that it was RIGHT after I had met Gayle Forman. (I died. I was SO nervous.) I was actually a bit thrown off by her speech at the Anderson's YA Lit conference because she talked about JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE YEAR more as Allyson and Willem's journeys of finding and discovering themselves more than any part of this romance and I was like, "WHAT!? Gayle, you're crazy! These are hands down love stories." (Okay, I didn't actually say that.) Obviously they're still love stories and hi, I swoon. I melt. But hearing that from Gayle and then re-reading JUST ONE DAY (which I had actually just started before that conference) had totally changed how I viewed this book -- in a good way.
I'm just going to come out and say it: I'm a review buffer. I knew I loved Gayle Forman and I knew I did love reading JUST ONE DAY... But... I don't think I knew exactly WHY I was giving it five stars my first read around except for the fact that I wanted to. I knew I felt a connection, but I didn't exactly know specifically why other than the fact that I knew I was going to love it. The magic of re-reading JUST ONE DAY opened my eyes to everything that I wasn't sure of the first time around. I knew that JOD was not only about Allyson & Willem but also about Allyson's self-discovery and that was just SO much more apparent to me this time around. Allyson didn't just fall into a depression after her Europe trip because of Willem -- she missed that part of herself that was free and independent and fulfilling. I think I passed up a lot of those moments when I first read this book because I was looking for a heart-breaking romance and I missed one of the main points of the book.
I also really got to appreciate all of the Shakespeare references and allusions so much more. Not like I've brushed up on my Shakespeare since my last read, but I think that re-reading, I was less anxious to get to the end and see what happens (since I already knew), so I got to really take my time and drink up every single word on the page. I read into the Shakespeare ties and saw exactly how much these plays paralleled what was going on in Allyson's life as well. There were so many underlying themes that I appreciated so much more the second time around and I was kind of fascinated how closely the book followed these themes in the selected Shakespeare plays!
JUST ONE DAY was exactly what I needed before I started the much-anticipated JUST ONE YEAR. It also rekindled my thirst to write for which I cannot thank Gayle enough. Her writing is truly an inspiration to me and on a personal note, it's made my WIP feel like a real book for the first time when before it was just random paragraphs that had little cohesiveness. It was such a pleasure to read this book again and create an even deeper connection than I had before!
Allyson is at the end of a European tour which was a graduating present from her parents. She's been a "good girl" all her life: followed the rules, good grades, friends with her parents, didn't stay out late drinking with other teenagers on the Teen Tours. But here in England she makes the unusual decision to break away from her tour, skip "Hamlet" at the Swan Theatre, and instead, goes to see "Twelfth Night" performed outdoors by a traveling group. At the end of the performance she is thrown a coin by the very cute guy who invited her to come. She does nothing about this, but by some accident, encounters Willem the next morning on the train to London. The attraction between Allyson and Willem is palpable. He persuades her to take the train to Paris that day, because her tour had not been able to go there earlier in their trip because of a strike. They can just be gone one day because she has to fly home the next. Their adventure, romance, and heartache change Allyson. The choices she makes that day begin her journey to grow up, to find herself, and to become who she was meant to be.
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