First Impressions: A World Without You

As a literary artist, I often times get burnt out on writing which in turn also seems to discourage me from reading. Too many words in such a short span of time makes my head spin, but as I am in my senior year, I have been working on many things that could make my writing process more productive and less destructive. 

One of those things being a steady writing and reading schedule. So as I started this journey, I thought to myself – What could hold me to reading new books every month? And the conclusion I have come to? Blog.

In this series of blogs, I am going to review the first chapter of every book I read, and hopefully, remember to do a final recap of my thoughts towards the end of the year.  There is so much to get from an initial chapter of a book,  but I can only assume that my first impressions will be far different from what I leave the book with. 

For the first blog in this series, I am going to be giving my initial thoughts based off of the first chapter of “A World Without You” by Beth Revis.  Before I give my thoughts on it, I do want to give a warning for slight mentions of death, nothing specific, but the first chapter does involve a funeral. 

 The book opens up from the point of view of Bo, a seventeen-year-old boy at Berkshire Acadamy, a school on a small island off of Massachusetts.  He describes the island as a gloomy place that barely ever sees sun, and from what he says about it, I imagine it to be almost like the island in “Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children” which I love.

In the chapter, Bo is heading towards some kind of ceremony, but it isn’t really clear that he is heading to a funeral until the second page when he comments on all the food in the kitchen. “Why do all old people cook when there is a tragedy?” So true. 

After that, Bo is lead to a ceremony in the courtyard of the school by “Doctor” who is introduced as a teacher of sorts. This is where the reader finds out that Bo’s dearest friend, Sofia, has passed away – although it isn’t clear how. At the ceremony Bo and a few other people are asked to say a few words and release a lantern in honor of Sofia, but Bo’s distaste for the whole situation leads him to opt out of speaking much. 

After, Bo manages to slip away and the chapter leaves off on him saying he is going back to the last place he saw her. 

Okay, now that we are through with the synopsis, here are my first impressions of the book. 

1. Something is off…

So from the first chapter, I was able to gather that the untimely death of Sofia had some suspicion surrounding it, or so I believe. Just the way Bo describes how uncomfortable he is with the whole situation leads me to think that there is something more to just a young girl who passed away.

2. Bo has family issues? 

At the ceremony, Bo sees his family seated and glares at his father. It seemed to me that there were some underlying issues that may be the reason Bo is now at a boarding school

3. Bo was very in love with Sofia.

This one is the assumption I am most sure about. Just the way Bo describes his mourning over Sofia is different to that of a friend. I am really interested in the relationship between the two… even though I know this book will likely leave me sobbing. 

 

So far this book already has me hooked on the concept and I am really excited to see what the plot develops into. 

Hopefully, I will keep up with this blog series… If I do I’ll update when I am done lol.

Author: Adele Bryant

K-pop, Jane Austen, food, and writing enthusiast. Strong believer in pineapple on pizza.