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A review by nixeia
A World Without You by Beth Revis
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.