Disclaimer: I received this book through Penguin's First to Read program in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow! I finished A World Without You this morning and it was an unbelievable book. It takes a look into mental illness and how it impacts more than just the person with the illness.

This story follows Bo and his sister Phoebe shortly after Bo's girlfriend/classmate, Sophia committed suicide. Bo is struggling with a mental illness. While coping with his loss, he's created a fantasy world where Sophia is still alive, but lost in 1692. Bo believes that he has the power to travel through time and save Sophia. There is also a lot of issues at the Berkshire Academy, because the school is under investigation for Sophia's suicide. In Bo's mind, all of his classmates have some sort of special ability. When the state officials investigate the school, he believes that they are impacting his ability to travel through time.

Phoebe's point of view offers glimpses into the reality of other people dealing with someone in their life having a mental illness. Her story shows how her family chooses to deal with Bo's illness and how that impact them and their choices. She feels that she has to be the perfect child to offset her brother. It was very powerful to see both Bo and Phoebe's points of view about how they remembered the same situations. I really liked how Phoebe described Bo - "He's like a man who lived through a battle but isn't quite sure whether or not he left the war." This was definitely a heartbreaking, but powerful book that I would recommend people to read. ( )

A World Without You by Beth Revis is a heartbreakingly realistic depiction of a seventeen year old young man's struggle with mental illness.

Attending the Berkshire Academy on an island off the Massachusetts coast, Bo believes the school is for gifted students who have "superpowers". His superpower is the ability to travel back in time, his girlfriend Sophía's gift is invisibility and his classmates' gifts range from telekinesis (Ryan) to pyrokinesis (Gwen) and speaking with the dead (Harold). Unfortunately, his assumptions could not be farther from the truth since, in actuality, he and his classmates are suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses. After Sophía commits suicide, Bo is convinced he time traveled with her back to 1692 where he accidentally left her. Frantically trying to "rescue" her, he sinks deeper into his delusions and as he becomes certain someone is trying to control his mind, Bo ignores evidence that conflicts with his belief he and his classmates have superpowers that the school is teaching them to manage.

Although Bo's perceptions are completely unreliable, his fear, anger, confusion and grief are all too real. Utterly convinced Sophía's disappearance is his fault, he is frantic to figure out how to use the "timestream" to get back to 1692 so he can rescue her before she falls victim to the Salem Witch Trials. His anger over everyone's insistence that she is dead is palpable as is his fervent belief that he and his classmates are at the Berkshire Academy to learn how to control their "superpowers". Some of his delusions are based on real life events, however, Bo's psychosis skews his perception about what is really happening around him. He believes, with all his heart, that his version of reality is correct, that any contradiction of his viewpoint is suspect and somehow altered by outside forces. Readers get an in-depth view of how his mind works as Bo desperately tries to bring Sophía back and these heart wrenching chapters are a true to life portrayal of how someone with a mental illness thinks and acts.

Although mostly written from Bo's point of view, occasional chapters from his sister Phoebe's perspective show the effects of his mental illness on the rest of the family. Through her eyes, readers see the disruption and destruction he wreaks when he is home. The emotional toll is high as everyone tries to keep the peace when he is around and Phoebe feels enormous pressure to be the "perfect" child in an effort to balance out Bo's problems.

A World Without You by Beth Revis is a heartachingly honest young adult novel that is as fascinating as it is poignant. This impressive story provides an informative, well-researched look into what someone suffering from delusions, paranoia or psychosis experiences on a day to day basis. Although the storyline occasionally gets a little bogged down and repetitive during Bo's attempts to find Sophía, the plot is refreshingly unique and quite compelling. A heartrending yet surprisingly hopeful novel that I found impossible to put down and highly recommend to readers of all ages. ( )

I finished A World Without You by Beth Revis sometime last week, and it's taken me a bit to process it. A World Without You follows the story of Bo, who believes he has the ability to travel through time. He attends Berkshire Academy, which on the outside is a school for troubled youth, but Bo knows that it's really a cover up for the truth: Berkshire is a place for kids who have superpowers.

After Bo's love, Sofia, commits suicide, Bo has difficulty believing that she's really gone. Instead, he believes that she's trapped somewhere in the past, and that only he as the ability to save her. As Bo gets deeper into his mission to save Sofia, Bo's reality gets more and more muddled until he is no longer sure what is real and what isn't.

The premise of this book sounded awesome to me, which is why I picked it up at the library. Revis drops the reader right in the middle of the action at the beginning of the book, which is a bit disorienting but also mimics the way that Bo must be feeling at the death of Sofia. Revis did an excellent job of constructing well-rounded characters, characters that you become attached to by the end. The portrayal of mental illness here was really strong, giving readers a variety in terms of the way it affects different individuals.

While I think this book is important in the way that it deaths with mental illness, I had issues with the structure of the plot itself. I felt as though there were scenes and parts of the story that weren't needed; eliminating these would have created a more immersive experience for me, as the reader. I also wanted Bo's sister, Phoebe, to take a stronger role in Bo's struggle with mental illness. She was given a strong presence in the book, yet I wasn't exactly sure why, or whether or not her chapters were really necessary. I think the book could have gotten along fine without them.

Overall, if you're looking for an immersive read that positively portrays mental illness, I think I would still recommend this book. Despite the plot flaws (in my opinion), it's super important in terms of the YA mental illness genre. ( )

Absolutely heartbreaking story & fantastic writing. ( )

I was looking forward to this because I really liked Across the Universe but this felt really long and repetitive. It was okay and I like that it portrays severe psychosis but. Eh. ( )