Scan barcode
nixeia's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book I bought a few years ago but due to some personal issues, I hadn't found it in me to read it yet. And then, this week, I picked it up and this book pulled me out of my reading slump.
Spoilers ahead!
I didn't read the synopsis whatsoever when I started to read this and I firmly believe it makes the book 100 times better. I didn't know Bo was delusional, nor did I know he didn't actually have powers- I was entirely captivated in HIS delusions without any idea of what actually happened. Slowly, Bo begins to lose his mind a little and snippets of reality, the true reality, manage to shine through his warped perspective.
He's an unreliable narrator, for sure, but when you're blissfully unaware of the extent of his issues, you become so much more immersed in the story- you're rooting for him, working with him and most importantly, you believe him. The secondary characters are mere people in his eyes- he's too stuck in his perspective to put any emphasis on them and I think this is one of the first indicators of how messed up Bo really is.
Throughout the book, some chapters are dedicated to his sister's, Phoebe, POV. Through her, you can see how Bo's family is utterly rotten from the inside because of his 'powers' [delusions]. She brings forth a sense of truth and some may even think her chapters are boring but to me, they really reflect how much the focus tends to shift from child to child when one of them is unwell. She showed great signs of denied mental illness too, and so did both of her parents but none of those issues were ever spoken about- like a taboo, for the family.
As the time goes through the book, Bo becomes even more frantic about wanting to save Sofia- you can see their relationship through snippets of his own memories [perhaps 100% unreliable too] but their relationship is so pure and filled with love that you just...root for him, all throughout? You wish for him to find her again, you wish for him to control his 'powers'- all until you realize he's just messed up in the head and everything was a complete misconception.
I haven't finished the book yet because it's so heavy on my mind but I will within the week and I'll 100% complete this review because holy sh-t, this book is AMAZING.
Spoilers ahead!
I didn't read the synopsis whatsoever when I started to read this and I firmly believe it makes the book 100 times better. I didn't know Bo was delusional, nor did I know he didn't actually have powers- I was entirely captivated in HIS delusions without any idea of what actually happened. Slowly, Bo begins to lose his mind a little and snippets of reality, the true reality, manage to shine through his warped perspective.
He's an unreliable narrator, for sure, but when you're blissfully unaware of the extent of his issues, you become so much more immersed in the story- you're rooting for him, working with him and most importantly, you believe him. The secondary characters are mere people in his eyes- he's too stuck in his perspective to put any emphasis on them and I think this is one of the first indicators of how messed up Bo really is.
Throughout the book, some chapters are dedicated to his sister's, Phoebe, POV. Through her, you can see how Bo's family is utterly rotten from the inside because of his 'powers' [delusions]. She brings forth a sense of truth and some may even think her chapters are boring but to me, they really reflect how much the focus tends to shift from child to child when one of them is unwell. She showed great signs of denied mental illness too, and so did both of her parents but none of those issues were ever spoken about- like a taboo, for the family.
As the time goes through the book, Bo becomes even more frantic about wanting to save Sofia- you can see their relationship through snippets of his own memories [perhaps 100% unreliable too] but their relationship is so pure and filled with love that you just...root for him, all throughout? You wish for him to find her again, you wish for him to control his 'powers'- all until you realize he's just messed up in the head and everything was a complete misconception.
I haven't finished the book yet because it's so heavy on my mind but I will within the week and I'll 100% complete this review because holy sh-t, this book is AMAZING.
ketsueki_randi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I think one of the things I most enjoyed was how the author really puts you in Bo’s head. Even though there’s no way Bo can control time and go back in time, but there’s this feeling that, maybe, there’s something otherworldly going on. I’m not all that sure how the mental health representation is because Bo doesn’t have an exact diagnosis, but it has felt fairly accurate. It’s hard to talk about the other side characters because of Bo’s diagnosis and because he had to create this alternate situation to cope with being in an alternative school (and later to deal with Sofia’s suicide).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide
mackey5's review against another edition
5.0
This book did such a fantastic job portraying mental illness. It was heart wrenching and I could not put it down. I felt a deep connection to the characters, although I was slightly disappointed in the ending. The addition of the epilogue messed up the ending for me. I would still give it 5 stars though as the rest of the book took me on a rollercoaster of emotions.
emleemay's review against another edition
2.0
Time won’t let me change it. I am, at best, an observer. I cannot rewrite history.
I just... can't rate this any higher. I want to. The premise is fascinating and I loved Revis' [b:Across the Universe|8235178|Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)|Beth Revis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1401852218s/8235178.jpg|13082532]. But, even though this book picks up in the second half, the idea is much stronger than the book itself.
Firstly, contrary to what some people seem to be assuming, this is not a sci-fi novel. And it's not a spoiler to say that either. I had thought it might be one of those novels where the narrator believes in something paranormal and everyone else thinks they're crazy, and we as the reader don't know which is true for most of the book. Actually, no. The novel is exactly what it appears to be from the blurb and it is clear instantly that this is a story about mental illness.
There were times, especially in the beginning, where I was disappointed that we knew the truth. The story didn't pull me in and I felt like I had all the answers but was waiting for Bo to catch up. Gradually, however, the book found its strength in portraying the fear and confusion one would expect from a severe mental illness - in fact, I believe this is the most severe psychosis I've ever read about in YA.
In [b:A World Without You|27272505|A World Without You|Beth Revis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1467209837s/27272505.jpg|47291212], Bo believes that he has the ability to travel through time. He also believes that he is at a school for teens with special powers, that his classmates also have their own powers, and that his beloved Sofía is trapped in 1692 - a time only he can rescue her from.
There were a number of problems for me.
1) Forgettable secondary characters. Literally none of the other characters are memorable. They appear as the most basic outlines of people, falling into bland boxes: the benevolent doctor, the distant workaholic father, the caring mother, the mean asshole (Ryan), the sassy one (Gwen), the weird one (Harold) and the sweet love interest (Sofía). None of them are developed beyond this.
Bo's relationship with each also remained undeveloped. Perhaps this was deliberate, given that his perspective rarely surfaced from his troubled mind, but the effect is that they are one-dimensional and easy to forget.
2) Phoebe's perspective. Bo's sister gets her own chapters and the problem is that she's uninteresting. Phoebe mostly whines about how she doesn't get any attention because she's the normal daughter with good grades and a college future. I know this is supposed to show the reality, in contrast with Bo's skewed perspective, but she is boring. Does anyone actually care whether she's the best or second-best cello player in her school orchestra?
3) Storytelling via flashbacks. In his attempt to save Sofía, Bo repeatedly tries to go to the past. However, he finds himself accidentally "travelling" to other memories instead. These parts felt really forced because it was obvious that the author was trying to paint in a backstory. It was like... "Oops, I'm in the wrong past! But oh! Here's a story about the early therapy sessions!"
4) Repetition about the damn strings! Bo views time as being like strings winding away into the past - in order to travel somewhere, he grabs the strings. And, honestly, it grew so tiring reading about the descriptions of strings, especially when he was searching for Sofía. Passages like this:
The red string of Sofía’s past evens out along the weave, smoothing down flat again. Any chance I had of pulling the end of Sofía’s string from the vortex disappears before my eyes.
Over and over.
5) The last chapter. As I said, the book does gain some strength as it progresses, mostly because it really is quite frightening to imagine Bo's confusion. The penultimate chapter is excellent and, though it would have been evil to leave it hanging there, it would have made an impact. Instead, we got one more chapter of Phoebe's perspective, taking the edge off and leaving it dull and flat.
A book with a lot of potential, but it didn't live up to it.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Store
kerrycat's review against another edition
5.0
(For Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine, I gave this four stars and a Top Pick rating)
X-Men meets The Catcher in the Rye in this psychological thriller. Revis’ latest explores mental illness as readers take a hallucinatory ride with Bo, an immediately sympathetic character in a complex fantasy world where time and control elude him. His disturbing and heartbreaking story will leave readers breathless.
Bo lives at Berkshire Academy, a boarding school for teens with special powers, where he works with Dr. Franklin to gain control over his ability to travel through time. After he loses his girlfriend Sofia when he takes her into the past, he grows frustrated by everyone’s references to Sofia’s “suicide” and realizes that he must rescue her before she is lost forever. Phoebe, Bo’s younger sister, seems to be the only one who can help him verify reality and lead him to the truth. (RAZORBILL, Jul., 384 pp., $17.99, ISBN: 9781595147158, HC, 12 & Up)
- See more at: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/world-without-you#sthash.taSeGwOM.dpuf
X-Men meets The Catcher in the Rye in this psychological thriller. Revis’ latest explores mental illness as readers take a hallucinatory ride with Bo, an immediately sympathetic character in a complex fantasy world where time and control elude him. His disturbing and heartbreaking story will leave readers breathless.
Bo lives at Berkshire Academy, a boarding school for teens with special powers, where he works with Dr. Franklin to gain control over his ability to travel through time. After he loses his girlfriend Sofia when he takes her into the past, he grows frustrated by everyone’s references to Sofia’s “suicide” and realizes that he must rescue her before she is lost forever. Phoebe, Bo’s younger sister, seems to be the only one who can help him verify reality and lead him to the truth. (RAZORBILL, Jul., 384 pp., $17.99, ISBN: 9781595147158, HC, 12 & Up)
- See more at: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/world-without-you#sthash.taSeGwOM.dpuf
firefly8041's review against another edition
2.0
This was really boring, I'm surprised I actually made myself finish it.
dariadanley's review against another edition
3.0
Wow. Beautifully written, dynamic characters, and a gripping plot, what more could you want! This book took a very unique take on mental health, one that I would never expect. I got something totally different from what I picked the book up for.
"A World Without You" follows a boy named Bo who attends a school for gifted young people. He has the ability to control time and can travel through it. When his girlfriend allegedly commits suicide, he believes she is lost in time. The book focuses on Bo's efforts to retrieve Sofia while taking on the issues at Berkshire Academy.
This book looked at mental health through a completely different lens. Instead of observing the mentally ill, this story took us inside Bo's mind. I expected Bo to have powers and use them to get Sofia back and make things right, but it turned out he didn't have powers at all. He made it all up.
The author did such a good job of driving the hero, and the reader, mad. I got frustrated and confused with what reality was and wasn't, just like Bo. I do wish that the distinction of power and illness was clearer, but I think the author did it strategically. I wasn't able to fully understand that Bo was sick until the ending of the book. Even he convinced me that Sofia wasn't dead and Ryan was manipulating him.
But, other than a few minor things, I really enjoyed this book. I would gladly recommend it to those who are looking for something regarding mental health. It looked at schizophrenia instead of the typically depression. It was such a unique book and a true treat to read.
"A World Without You" follows a boy named Bo who attends a school for gifted young people. He has the ability to control time and can travel through it. When his girlfriend allegedly commits suicide, he believes she is lost in time. The book focuses on Bo's efforts to retrieve Sofia while taking on the issues at Berkshire Academy.
This book looked at mental health through a completely different lens. Instead of observing the mentally ill, this story took us inside Bo's mind. I expected Bo to have powers and use them to get Sofia back and make things right, but it turned out he didn't have powers at all. He made it all up.
The author did such a good job of driving the hero, and the reader, mad. I got frustrated and confused with what reality was and wasn't, just like Bo. I do wish that the distinction of power and illness was clearer, but I think the author did it strategically. I wasn't able to fully understand that Bo was sick until the ending of the book. Even he convinced me that Sofia wasn't dead and Ryan was manipulating him.
But, other than a few minor things, I really enjoyed this book. I would gladly recommend it to those who are looking for something regarding mental health. It looked at schizophrenia instead of the typically depression. It was such a unique book and a true treat to read.
kish576's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5