Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

WARNING: If you haven't read IF I STAY, then you probably shouldn't read this review. Especially since it may contain spoilers!

W h e r e  S h e  W e n t by Gayle Forman

Release Date: 4/5/11 (Hardcover)

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Age Group: Older Teens/Young Adults

Pages: 264

Source: Own/purchased
Challenge: 2nds Challenge
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kindle

Word Blurb: Heartbreaking, devastating, relieving!

"It's been three years since the devastating accident ... three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance."

So, after leaving off in IF I STAY, the predecessor of WHERE SHE WENT, I wondered about what was going to happen next. And this book answered all of my questions.While things didn't turn out as I'd hoped they would by the end of IF I STAY, the story is still beautiful in its own right. Reading in Adam's POV of the events that took place during IF I STAY, some of the flashes of the past with Mia and her family, all the way unto now during WHERE SHE WENT, I really saw how Adam was effected by everything. And I felt for him; I was heartbroken for him. Forman masterfully created another fantastic and heartfelt story about loss and moving on, skillfully fabricated these amazing, memorable characters that stuck with me long after I'd finished reading...

I loved Adam in IF I STAY. He's adorable, with this underlying sweetness, this intense love for the shy and awkward Mia, and an obvious passion for music. What's not to love? So, to see how the aftershocks of IF I STAY left him was so upsetting to me. This wonderful guy basically went through hell in a span of three years, since Mia cut herself off from him. To top it off, he was left floundering, for answers, for reasons, for an explanation as to why Mia just decided to leave him. (I remember hating Mia for this, until things are later explained.) And after reading WHERE SHE WENT, I got to see how much Adam genuinely loved Mia's family, and how much they loved him - including him in everything they did, always wanting him around. To see that their deaths left him shattered... was extremely painful.

Not to mention that his life has since then turned to sh**, and his personality has altered to match. No longer is Adam that nice, sweet teenager from Oregon, but a miserable adult and celebrity living in L.A. So, one can see why I would be desperate for Mia to return to him, through this chance encounter in New York that I'd heard about. It was great, seeing that their connection hadn't faded, their physical and emotional reactions to one another hadn't withered, and that, despite everything that happened up until that point, they are still familiar to each other, syncing into this old, familiar rhythm.

Seeing a changed Mia was a little shocking as well. She grew up with a little bit of confidence, and I was happy that her career as cellist skyrocketed. And, after everything on her side was explained, I felt for her. I stopped blaming her for everything that went wrong with Adam's life, while, simultaneously, so did Adam.

Adam's growth, and release of his hold on the past, the bitterness, and the resentment, all lead up to one magnificent ending. One that I was hoping for this pair all along. I'm sad to see these books come to a close, but overall, I was incredibly happy with WHERE SHE WENT, a wonderful, fitting sequel to the emotional IF I STAY.

"Mia looks down at my outstretched hand, opens her mouth to say something, the just sighs. Her face hardens into a mask as she reaches out her own hand to take mine.
The tremor in my hand has become so normal, so nonstop, that it's generally imperceptible to me. But as soon as my fingers close around Mia's, the thing I notice is that it stops and suddenly it goes quiet, like when the squall of feedback is suddenly cut when someone switches off the amp. And I could linger here forever.
Except this is a handshake, nothing more. And in a few seconds my hand is at my side and it's like I've transferred a little of my crazy to Mia because it looks like her own hand is trembling" (56-57 | 264).

Thanks for reading! And happy blogging!

View the book trailer:

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I f  I  S t a y by Gayle Forman

Release Date: 4/9/09 

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Age Group: Young Adult (13+)

Pages: 234

Source: Borrowed/public library
Meme: Forget Me Not
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kindle

Word Blurb: Five words- A blow to the heart.

"In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands."

It's been a long time since I've been affected in such a way by a book. Pushed to tears, a severe blow to the heart that threw me into a daze... I've always been one to feel deeply, no matter the medium. And in this case, I was completely stunned. By the time I was done reading IF I STAY, I felt like my heart went a few rounds with the champ and lost, utterly emotionally drained. I don't know how the heart withstands what's been lost the way Mia has lost... It's like, if I applied that life-altering moment to my life, I don't think I would've chosen to stay. I don't. I'm weak when it comes to pain pressure.

I'm kind of painfully, beautifully mesmerized by the novel... With Mia relaying the events of her life, helping me get to know the most important people in her life, making me feel agonized right along with her... The characters were just amazing people. Mia had the best parents a girl could ever ask for. They were painstakingly real, people you wish you knew. Her brother was like this giant energy ball, always saying the funniest things as a result of wobbly seven-year-old thoughts. Her grandparents, so old fashioned and sweet. Then there's le boyfriend and best friend, Adam and Kim. Adam, a climbing rock star, has an underlying sweetness and passion for music, this incredible love for the shy, quiet girl that Mia is. And Kim, with her brutal honesty and short-temper, all the while somehow maintaining this goody two shoes image. I cracked up a lot because of her! And thank goodness I did, otherwise I would've found myself drowning in this bittersweet and emotional story...

The story itself is told in first person POV, through Mia's eyes in the present and in flashes of the past. The events that occur... How does one heal after the crippling of the soul? A single blinding moment which takes away everything you've known, and all that you loved? How do you get passed that? I honestly wouldn't know how to deal. I think that's why I had to cry those six or seven times that I did. (I was reading this in school, so people were staring at me funny when they saw I was crying. People just don't seem to get how emotionally invested a person can become while reading a book.) My heart felt like it had been squeezed and pulled, my emotions wrung out and twisted. At one point, I thought about putting the book down and just not reading it, because I didn't think, as sensitive as I am, that I could take much more. The whole thing just felt so real to me, as if I was right there with Mia as everything unfolded.

You might have noticed that I have no smileys posted for this one. That's because I more than love this book, yet at the same time I don't know what I feel. So, I left it without smileys. IF I STAY is an exceptionally written, wrenching story of a shattering moment, a single accident, in a heartbroken Mia's life... I'm definitely going to seek out the sequel/companion to this, and hope that everything turns out alright with the heart-achingly beautiful turn of events by the end of this book.

"When Teddy slid out... He didn't come out squalling like you see on TV. He was just quiet. His eyes were open, staring straight at me. He held my gaze as the midwife suctioned out his nose" (132 | 234).

"Mom always said that it was because Teddy saw me first, and because I cut his cord, that somewhere deep down he thought I was his mother... She exaggerated. Teddy didn't really think I was his mother, but there were certain things that only I could do for him...And when he'd skin a knee or bump his head, if I was around he would not stop crying until I bestowed a magic kiss on the injury, after which he'd miraculously recover... I would do anything to have been able to give him one" (133 | 234).

"'Jesus, Mia your hands are freezing.' He squats down, takes my right hand into his...draws his mouth to them, blowing warm air into the shelter he's created. 'You and your crazy hands.' Adam is always amazed at how even in middle of summer, even after the sweatiest of encounters, my hands stay cold...He says I have bionic hands, that this is why I'm such a good cello player.
I watch him warm my hands as he has done a thousand times before. I think of the first time he did it, at school, sitting on the lawn, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I also remember the first time he did it in front of my parents... I was freezing outside. Adam grabbed my hands and blew on them. Teddy giggled. Mom and Dad didn't say anything, just a exchanged a quick look, something private that passed between them and the Mom smiled ruefully at us" (165 | 234).

Thanks for reading! And happy blogging!