Where She Went Review

Author: Gayle Forman
Release Date: April 5, 2011
Pages: 262 (ARC)
Publisher: Dutton
Most Appropriate For Ages: 14+
Where I Got It: For review ATWT
Other titles in series: If I Stay

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.

One of my most anticipated books of 2011 does NOT disappoint. Gayle Forman takes us on a story that is just as gripping, heartbreaking, and fantastic as If I Stay.

As I was reading Where She Went, in the back of my head I was thinking, "How can I possibly write a coherent review for this book? It's too good!!" But I wasn't really worrying about that, because from page one I was immediately sucked into this raw, emotionally gut-wrenching book. The characters are just as real and flawed and wonderful as we remember, and I love them so. much.

Sometimes a book is so freaking amazing that you're torn between writing down all your favorite quotes and just sitting down and devouring it in one sitting. I chose the latter; I read it the day I got it, and when I was finished I stared at the page and willed more words to come, because I just didn't want it to end.

Book Report:

Plot: Grabbing and well-paced.

Characters: Love them. Lovethemlovethemlovethem.

Writing: BRILLIANT. Gayle Forman is one of my favorite authors.

Ending: *stays silent, because I don't want to spoil anything*

Kid friendly? Pretty. There's some swearing, mentions of sex, and smoking.

Should I read it? Read If I Stay first. But if you have then OH MY GOD YES.

Overall:

Interview with Gayle Forman, Author of If I Stay

I loved If I Stay, so I'm thrilled to have Gayle Forman over for an interview! Be sure to check out my review of If I Stay.

Where did you get the idea for If I Stay?
It was born out of a question that had lingered in my mind for a long time: What would you do if something catastrophic happened to your family and you yourself were hovering between life and death and were somehow aware of what had happened. If you could could choose to go with your family or stay, so to speak, what would you do? After many years of thinking about this, one day out of the blue this 17-year-old girl named Mia popped into my mind and answered the question for me.

Music plays a big part of If I Stay. Was there specific music you listened to while writing If I Stay?
It has nothing to do with the story but I listened to the song "Falling Slowly" from the Once movie soundtrack. I can't tell you why. I mean I can tell you why. I'd hear the song and it would make me start to cry and put me in the right mood for writing, but I can't tell you why the song made me cry. It's not a particularly sad song or a particularly sad movie and, strangely, it no longer has that effect on me. I also listened to a lot of cello and classical. I don't have any background in cello or classical music so Mia's arrival as a cellist was a surprise to me and I had to listen to a ton of music as research.

Were any of your characters based off of a real person?

All my characters are a mix of real people and fantasy elements. But in the first draft, Adam was named Nick, which is my husband's name. Now, Nick isn't quite as dreamy as Adam. Then again, we've been together 17 years so....

What's your most effective way of getting through writer's block?

I do two things. One is that some days I don't write when I know that the material hasn't arrived yet. Usually on days like that I'm thinking pretty obsessively about the story, so I don't really feel blocked.I'm just not ready to sit down at the computer. This is pretty effective because when I do sit down, it tends to come flying out. But really, I think the cure for writer's block, counter-intuitive as it might sound, is to write your way through it. For example, I've found that in order to start a new book, I need to be working on something, even if it's the wrong thing. Similarly, if I've hit a rough patch in a book, I usually need to write my way through it (unless, as I mentioned before, I'm in the thinking stage). I am true believer that the cure for writer's block is to keep writing, even you have to put your current project aside and work on something else. Momentum breeds momentum. Inertia breeds inertia. Which isn't to say that I don't write a lot of crap sometimes, but that's part of the process. You've got the make the clay before you can mold it.

What was the hardest part of If I Stay to write?

After I wrote the entire book, someone suggested to me that I add something to the (already-graphic) accident scene. A moment of pure horror for Mia so awful that it shows why she disconnects emotionally as much as she does physically (and she had to be emotionally disconnected otherwise she'd spend the whole book crying). So I went back and added more to that scene. It's not much. It's just her seeing her wrist with the charm bracelet and trying to wake herself up and thinking it can't be real. This isn't real. Which is how I know I've reacted to very bad situations. Anyhow, because I had already written the book and grown so attached to Mia, that scene was very difficult to write because I knew that it was real (for my fictional character, anyhow) and I knew what I was about to put her through. You really come to care about your characters like they are living, breathing people.

Anything else to add?
The paperback of If I Stay is coming out April 6th. It has a striking new cover, which is very different from the hardcover, and a ton of bonus material in the back, including a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the music in the book and a very personal statement about why I wrote the book (a bit more specific than what I told you here). Also, come visit me on my blog at www.gayleforman.com/blog. That's all.

Thanks again Gayle! I know that I'll definitely be picking up a paperback!

If I Stay Review

Author: Gayle Forman

Release Date: April 9, 2009

Pages: 198 (Hardcover)

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Most Appropriate For Ages: 14+
Where I Got It: Borrowed from a super-awesome friend

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.
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I can't breathe. If I Stay has left me-quite literally-breathless.

Will I stay or will I go? That's the question Mia, the main character, has to face in If I Stay. I can't go too into it without giving anything away, but I can tell you that the circumstances, the consequences, the final choice, every part of it was heartbreaking, but made for an amazing story overall. There was not a dull moment. There were a lot of flashbacks, too, but each part revealed a new part of the story and each one was interesting.

The characters were so real. I feel like we've all become the best of friends in just a little under 200 pages and at any moment they'll come over and we can talk about music. Mia was tough, yet fragile. She had a great relationship with her family, which I loved. And you could tell why she loved them so much, they were great. And Adam was just...amazing. I loved him so much. I loved all of the characters so much.

The writing was gorgeous. You won't catch me saying that about a lot of things, but it's never been more true than when describing Gayle Forman's writing and storytelling. Every word was almost lyrical and each sentence is moving.

I also loved how much music there was in this novel. It talked about punk, classical, concerts, and the whole music scene. They were so into music and you could feel everyone's love for it. For a music freak like me that made me squeal on the inside with happiness.

The ending wasn't exactly what I'd expected, but I loved it so much. I cannot even begin to think about the choice that I would've made in Mia's position because it would be too painful to even think about. Overall, if you haven't read this yet, I highly suggest that you change that as soon as possible.


Be sure to check back tomorrow to read an interview with Gayle Forman! (And by the way, Gayle Forman has just announced that there will be a sequel to If I Stay! Let us rejoice in song! *Music starts to play, but I then realize that a song/dancing isn't in the budget* If you want more on that then you can go here.)

Judging A Book By It's Cover: If I Stay

This book was being called "the next Twilight" before it's release date, and already has a movie adaption in the works. It's also a book that I REALLY want to read.


I love it! It's so beautiful. I'm a sucker for leaf-less trees, and I love the blue backround. My complaint? I don't like how it's washed out towards the bottom. Maybe it's a metaphor or something...but I don't like it. What do you think?