Welcome to the read along for JUST ONE YEAR, part of the Gayle Forman Read Along event!
Each WEDNESDAY, we will be posting the answers from the previous week and I’ll be giving you my answers as well as the questions for the next week’s batch of chapters! Here’s a look at our official schedule for the event:
October 18th: Questions week 1 (Ch 1-12)
October 23rd: Answers week 1 (Ch 1 – 12), week 2 questions (Ch 13 – 21)
October 30th: Answers week 2 (Ch 13 – 21), week 3 questions (Ch 21 – 32)
November 6th: Answers week 3 (Ch 21 – 32), week 4 questions (Ch 33 – end) Now!
November 13th: Answers week 4 (Ch 33 – end), wrap-up & giveaway winner announced!
As you may have noticed, there will be a little giveaway for one of the JUST ONE YEAR read along participants! I’ve detailed the guidelines for the giveaway allllll the way down at the bottom!
ANSWERS: WEEK 3
- How did you feel about Willem’s time in India? Besides his mother, what do you think he found from his time there?
I feel like he got a lot of “Willem” time. Yes, he’s been travelling this whole time but I feel like it wasn’t until India that he finally started really taking time to figure out who he is and what he wants to do with his life now that’s it’s changed so drastically. I also feel like actually being with his mother and yet again coming up with conflicts between the two of them really forced them to work on their relationship. It was an immediate concern and one that Willem couldn’t run from anymore. On a different side of the same note, Willem finally got to see a good side to his mother. It’s so easy to see the hard times and the bad situations, but Willem go to see his mother at work and understand more now that he’s an adult himself how hard things can be. He was able to step outside of himself to see things from her perspective which is something he wasn’t able to do before. - Prateek told Willem, “To dream is the ultimate dare.” What do you think he means by that?
Prateek has pretty big dreams in store for himself and dreaming is the first step to making those big things in your life happen. If you never dream it, you cannot do it. Simple as that. I also think that in Willem’s case, he’s been holding himself back too much. He has dreams at times but won’t allow himself to follow through with them. Instead, he’s been running away from a lot of his problems or even the good things but ones that scare him. Prateek sort of prods him and pushes him to really take risks and put himself out there. - Do you have hopes for Willem and his mother? Do you think they’ve mended their relationship?
I think they still have a long way to go in mending what has been damaged throughout Willem’s life, but they’re definitely on the right track. They’ve taken a really big first step into regrowing their relationship and I really loved seeing the two of them finally make a connection instead of missing them all the time! - We finally find out how Bram died. How do you think that affected Willem’s theory of fate and accidents?
Well it certainly wasn’t a happy accident, but an unfortunate turn in chance nonetheless. I think Willem put a lot of faith in Fate and in chance and the odds of Bram’s death actually occurring were so miniscule and yet it happened. Growing up with one notion and then his father’s death totally fracturing that idea… I think it’s really shook up Willem and he wasn’t sure if his life philosophy was a good one anymore. - Why do you think that just one day with Allyson awoke so many feelings in Willem?
I’m not actually sure why she was the catalyst… I think as different as I thought the two of them were in Just One Day, I really see similarities in Just One Year once we get to know Willem. Willem helped Allyson be more bold, take more chances, and really grow as a person. I almost feel like he saw what he brought out in Allyson but was still stuck himself. Along with a romance, he really made a connection with her and saw a happy accident in the crossing of their paths. I actually don’t know if he knew it or not — maybe subconsciously, maybe I’m making it up — but I feel like his character needed to find her again to make things right. Things were not finished, they did not have an ending or a goodbye and the open ending really affected Allyson. It damaged her entire view of the trip, of Willem, and even back on herself. I like to think that Willem needed to make things right with Allyson again not only for his sake, but for hers.
QUESTIONS: WEEK 4
- How do you feel about the travel aspect and sense of worldliness in Willem’s life versus Allyson’s own travels and personal adventures? How do you think travel affects their lives differently?
What does travel mean to you? - Another big symbol in the book was Allyson’s watch. We know it meant something specific for Allyson. What do you think it meant for Willem?
- Both Willem and Allyson grew because of what they found in each other. Is there a person in your life who has helped you grow? Who helped you bring out the person you wanted to be?
- Who caught the Adam Wilde reference!?
- How did you feel about the ending? There have been quite a few reactions! What did you think?