Author: Gayle Forman
Review
I liked If I Stay, but I absolutely loved Where She Went. I’m experiencing a difficult time trying to collect my thoughts along with the novel because I’m still spinning from the deep, heartbreaking effect it had on me. That more or less sums up the response I received. If somebody asked you which would upset you more, you’d guess the solution is obvious. A young lady missing her entire family in a car crash versus the anguish of a lovesick rock star, there should be no contest – right? But Forman conveys love and loss with such naked emotion. If I Stay was more subtle, told through mostly happy memories of the spirit she’d shared with her kinfolk, it was moving. Where She Went wasn’t moving, it was gut-wrenchingly sad. I honestly felt every piece of sorrow, despair and anger with Adam. I don’t recollect ever being so in tune with a male protagonist’s emotions, in fact, it’s been an awful long time since I’ve cared so much about the consequence for any case. In most sites, characters like Adam would be caused to look selfish for thinking of themselves when Mia had lost pretty much everything in that car wreck. Not here. Or at least, not in my sentiment; I was at Adam’s side every single page and almost resented Mia at times for hurting him so much. Foreman obviously has a genuine knack for drawing inside a person’s brain and causing the reader see the beliefs that may otherwise be questionable. Wish If I Stay, this chronicle is told from past to present and back once more. But this time round, it’s a post by Mia, then losing her and a present of her absence and that ever constant wondering of WHY? Hence, what I learned from it is what Adam felt– his confusion and his wrath. And so slowly, I witnessed and even read her reason. Except understanding only left me feeling just a little more heartbroken. Because with it, now it wasn’t just his sorrow I had to contend with, it was hers as easily. And when he finally arrived at that point where closure was possible I felt it. What he read about something special ending is what I felt as I turned that last page: Yes, I could feel sad about it, but glad as well because I arrived to see such special people, Adam especially. I definitely want to learn more from Gayle Forman in the hereafter. That the first two novels I’ve read by her would bear upon me so much just makes me wonder what else she throws up her sleeves. I just can’t wait to find out.