Where She Went by Gayle Forman

If I Stay Series

If I Stay, Where She Went

Published: April 5th 2011 
Publisher:  Dutton Juvenile /Penguin Audio

Website: Author’s Website

Series: If I Stay

Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Narrated By: Dan Bittner

Quick Review

Introduction

Three years after the end of Mia and Adam’s relationship, Adam happens upon one of Mia’s concerts and watches her play her cello. They rekindle their friendship, not talking about what has happened, even though Adam needs to know why Mia abandoned him.

Story

            Where She Went is different than its predecessor in many ways. The focus is so different, it’s hard to say if I would have enjoyed it if I had never read If I Stay. If I Stay has an interesting mix of character drama and the afterlife (without there actually being any definite afterlife). Where She Went lost most of the intrigue about being in limbo. Sure, the book tries, giving glimpses into Mia’s opinions/feelings about her experience and the death of her family, but it falls flat. What it does well mirrors what the first book also did well – character-driven drama.

Protagonist/Narration

            Instead of the protagonist being Mia, this book was from Adam’s first-person POV. Mia didn’t stand out to me, but Adam and the book’s narrator, Dan Bittner, was much better. I find Adam has more personality than Mia, even though he can be creepy, at least he is interesting. Three years is a bit long to be hung up on someone, though. Maybe so much time shouldn’t have passed, though the author probably had to have her graduated or near graduation for this story to work. Adam lives in a self-destructive world that gets old really quick, and there are three whole years to listen/read about. Adam isn’t like other people with usual ex-partner situations, where you acknowledge that they are probably living and probably happy but you couldn’t care less either way. And this is Adam’s problem; a student could write an interesting paper about the unhealthy relationship they hold on each other.  

Mia

            I hated Mia in this book. Her decisions and her actions hurt Adam, and you can criticise Adam for handling it poorly all you want, but the fault falls on Mia for being a terrible person. People break up all the time, and at least one person is usually crushed. But, Mia, seriously? I couldn’t believe what she did. It didn’t fit her character either, but the reader is blindsided as much as Adam was, so that experience is realistic.

What I did like was how Mia became the antagonist. Yes, there are other characters that are halting Adam’s progress (in life), but Mia is the worst figure here, even though she is presenting herself as her familiar, sweet self.

Writing

            Perhaps it is Adam’s cynical thoughts and reckless behaviour, but I liked the writing more in Where She Went. Even when he scared me when he thinks this:

“And I have to fight the urge to take her by the shoulders and slam her against a shuttered building until we feel the vibrations ringing through both of us. Because I suddenly want to hear her bones rattle. I want to feel the softness of her flesh give, to hear her gasp as my hip bone jams into her. I want to yank her head back until her neck is exposed. I want to rip my hands through her hair until her breath is labored. I want to make her cry and then lick up the tears. And then I want to take my mouth to hers, to devour her alive, to transmit all the things she can’t understand.”

Crazy? Yes. Interesting? Yes. It was creepy to listen to when I was walking home at night in the city. 

Final Verdict

Read this book if you really want to close the story from If I Stay. This book lacks the wonderful ambiguity that made readers think about the afterlife, if Mia should choose to live or pass on, and if she should stay with Adam. While I like Dan Bittner’s delivery and I like Adman’s cynicism, there was a lot of whining coming from Adam. There is only so much a reader can take. I wonder though, if this is because I am an adult now, and some books that I loved as a teen I can no longer stand now (cough*Palahniuk *). Maybe I would have found him more tolerable as a teen – and maybe this is a voice that teens will love, it’s hard to say. For a book club pick, I’d only use it if previous participants really loved the first one and they really want to read the next one together.

If I Stay By Gayle Forman

If I Stay Series
If I Stay, Where She Went

Published: April 6th 2010
Publisher: Turtleback Books
Website: Author’s Website

Introduction

Mia and her family are driving into town on a snow day when they are involved in a collision. Disembodied, Mia watches paramedics and nurses try to keep her alive. The remains of her life gather—her grandparents, best friend, and boyfriend—to see if she will awaken from her coma. The choice is hers to make, and she remembers her life, thinks about her future, and the ones who have already left.

Cover Blurb

“Will appeal to fans of Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT.” – USA Today. Whoa there, USA Today. Not that I ever took you seriously, but you just lumped together a paranormal romance about vampires with a tragedy novel about a girl in a coma. Unless you’re making the connection that this book is a fad that will come and go (which I agree with), you are totally wrong.

Story

I’ve read that some people expected this book to have more paranormal aspects. Admittedly, I thought it was going to be a little bit more about her as a ghost, and the book is far from that. It’s not a paranormal story about the afterlife; it’s a character driven drama told mostly in flashbacks. I did like how the afterlife isn’t explained, because the book isn’t about it. It’s about her choice. There are no answers about the afterlife given to the reader, and to me, that was great because it would have been too much. The book has more than one concept of “staying”, and I enjoyed thinking about what her decision should be, knowing that it would be a tough one.

This book is not plot driven—it’s character driven, so it is more on the literary side. Some people find it slow, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just different from books like Divergent, where the pacing is faster and has large plot points.

Characters

The protagonist has a nearly perfect life that revolves around music. She has a boyfriend, Adam, who I didn’t like or dislike, and he is a rising star in the music scene too. Her parents are old rockers, and even her little brother plays drums.

The story is music-centric, and it mostly plays like a 90s after-school show (this burns away with the reality of the collision). Her free-thinking parents are basically fantasies from every teen. They aren’t perfect, but I’m saying this as an adult. As a teen, I would have been taken aback and wishing that my parents were that cool. As an adult, I know that her parents are actually far from perfect and therefore they are actually realistic.

Gripe

My only gripe is a commonly mentioned mar on this book: Mia slides a bow across her boyfriend’s body as foreplay. This wouldn’t occur in any serious fashion, ever. It brings the love of music into a weird fetish territory, as the reader is told that Mia sees the cello as a person. I’m certain that Hannibal Lector could walk in and take it from there (and the book would be a million times better, no hyperbole). Whatever floats your boat, but I can’t take that scene seriously.

As an aside, I’m going to discuss the following:

Obligatory One Star Reviews       

1.       Sex in YA gets one star.

It’s fine if you have your own views on morality. It’s fine if you, a reader, want to wait for marriage. But don’t force your opinions on someone else, or on a book. Don’t expect books to follow your moral code because it isn’t your personal codex. The book doesn’t follow your moral code so you have to give it one star in reviews? Grow up.

2.       Only God can make the choice.

A review also can’t tell me, regardless of my own religious views, that only God can make the decision about whether she lives or dies. Giving a one star review because a book doesn’t follow your religious code is also ridiculous. You can see from the back of the book, or the introduction, that this book is about her making the choice. Read the ingredient list before you eat a box of chocolate chip cookies and complain that it has chocolate chips.       

Film

The film is in theaters now. It's one of those movies that I'll wait to see at home. The trailers that I have seen on T.V. didn't showcase the music aspect of the film, which is both a shame to the book and misleading to potential movie-goers. Chloë Grace Moretz will always be Hit-Girl to me, though it's fantastic that she is getting more roles on big projects. If you haven't seen the trailers, here's one that I liked: 

  

Final Verdict 

I’m not sure why, but I want to read Where She Went because I want to close the loop, so the book was successful—I care enough that I want to know what happened after. I recommend this to people who are comfortable with a non-linear story. It is a quick read that made me sad without making me cry. It is another over-hyped tragedy novel, but I can’t complain or find much fault in the book itself. This book can generate a discussion at a teen book club about what the readers think she should do, if she should stay and on what levels.