Reading Challenge Review #1: “A book with a number in the title” (Just One Day by Gayle Forman)

Just One Day by Gayle Forman is the kind of book that makes you want to pack a bag and jump on a plane to Paris tomorrow morning. This is the first book by Forman that I have read and I am so excited to read the companion book, Just One Year. Just One Day includes so many of the romantic things that I love to read about: Shakespeare, Europe, and spontaneous adventure and travel.

During the summer before her first year of college, Allyson Healey travels on a group trip around Europe. At the end of a slightly disappointing trip, Allyson meets Willem, a Dutch boy who wanders around the world performing with a Shakespeare troupe. When Allyson mentions that she did not get to travel to Paris because of a strike, Willem suggests that they go for just one day. Allyson decides to take a chance and go to Paris with this boy that she has just met.  The book follows Allyson as she experiences a day in Paris with Willem and her life after her time with him is up and she is forced to return to reality.

I love to read Young Adult fiction, but I often get tired of the books continually surrounding characters that are still in high school. I was very glad to see that this book was about college age characters.

Throughout the book, there are allusions to Shakespeare’s famous play “As You Like It” and its theme that not everyone is who they are pretending to be.  Allyson, like many young adult characters, is trying to figure out who she truly is while everyone around her seems to be changing or pretending to be someone that they are not. Allyson experiences a lot of character growth in the book and it will be interesting to see how Willem develops in Just One Year.

Gayle Forman provides unique and thought provoking views on love, time, and identity. The book centers around the “accidents” of fate. The way the story pieces together through a series of “accidents” to reach the conclusion is very intricate and intriguing.

There are many aspects of this story that would make a realist scream.  The idea of falling in love with someone you’ve just met is very romantic, but the lack of deep conversation the author includes between the two main characters makes the reader wonder why they think that they love each other so deeply, never mind the fact that going to Paris with a stranger is very unsafe. I hope to see more genuine interactions between the two main characters in the next book. However, often times, I read to escape the realities of my own life for a while, so the aspects of the story that may not have been as logical did not negatively affect my opinion of the book.

I loved traveling with Allyson around Europe. She meets so many interesting people and visits so many interesting places on her journey. Just One Day is a romantic story that will make you want to travel and fall in love. Just One Day is a great book to read if you want to dive into a world of spontaneous adventure and love.