Just One Day by Gayle Forman Essay

Allyson Healey has lived her unblemished life in a neat teensy box mapped out by her parents. but du frame in a European tour after high direct graduation, she meets an actor named Willem. Theres instant attraction and Allyson is charmed. When Willem invites her to spend one day in genus Paris with him, she decides to be impulsive for once and agrees to accompany him instead of heading to London with her best friend.That day in Paris is magical and Allyson learns to take life as it comes, to pounce on the chances that come her way. only after a night of sex, she wakes up to find herself alone. Devastated, Allyson returns to London to meet up with her friend, and from there to the U.S. where she heads off to college in the fall. What follows is a year of self-discovery and picking up the pieces after Allysons first attempt at get hold of the day results in disaster.Despite my best intentions to keep an open mind, I go into novels with expectations. If I keep on and Where She We nt were so emotionally visceral and I suppose I expected more of that here. I didnt really get it.Maybe it was the pacing. The summer stint in Europe took up more than a third of the novel. That doesnt pull much room for self-discovery. In truth, what happens is that Allyson spends half of her freshman year in college in a deep depression. She attempts to return to the box outlined for her but finds she no longer fits because shes discovered the world the exists beyond it. This dissonance affects all aspects of her life. Her once-perfect grades plummet. Her friendships stumble and fail.Of course, all that would have been fine at heart the context of a story if more weight had been given to the idea of self-discovery. Instead the shadow of Willem henpecked everything. I just cant get behind the portrayal of a one-night stand derailing persons life so badly. Yes, she was a teenager an older one, true, but still a teenager. solely even so, Allyson wasnt a virgin. Shed had a boyfrie nd. Yes, she thought shed fallen in love. But because of her age, I wasnt convinced. This is my age speaking but we know this story. nonpareil-night stands where the girl thinks she has a deep fellowship with the guy but the guy acts like he barely even knows her the next morning? such(prenominal) a common tale. I realize knowing it happens is different from having it actually happen to you but the entire thing left a bad taste in my mouth.Part of my feelings can be chalked up to the knowledge that Just One Day is the first half of a duology. The follow-up will be told from Willems point of view. I can already guess how itll go. He didnt actually leave her alone the next morning. He had a reason Hes not an asshole. If Allyson had only waited and had conviction in their love, thered been no reason for that year of moping. It was all just a misunderstanding. But if thats the case, I would have liked for Allysons half of the tale to focus more on self-discovery and globe-trotting, t he latter of which takes up less than 100 pages of the novel.In many ways, I think Just One Day is attempting to replicate the magic of If I Stay and Where She Went. If thats the case, it fails. It didnt have the same romantic and emotional impact. The themes of self-actualization and discovery despite or in spite of life-changing love dont ring as strongly. If thered been more focus on Allyson learning to enjoy life for herself and on her own terms instead of her life being affected by Willem on many levels, by chance I would have enjoyed it more. That, I feel, is the spark missing from this story. Theoretically, I like the idea of chance meetings mending the shape of your life. But what I dislike is that chance meeting becoming the source of all your sadness, joy, and motivation.