Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Title: I Was Here
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: (Expected) January 2015
Pages: 270

Goodreads Synopsis:

“Cody and Meg were inseparable.

Two peas in a pod.

Until . . . they weren’t anymore.

When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss.”

The Book in 3 Words:

Poignant, Engrossing, Memorable

Ayesha’s Thoughts:

When I heard I had the opportunity to review this book for lovereading.co.uk I jumped at the chance! I Was Here has been one of my highly anticipated releases of 2015, and I would like to thank LoveReading for giving me the opportunity to read it!

“I Was Here” follows a story about suicide, a delicate topic that is prudent in today’s society. Gayle Forman does this storyline justice by creating a beautiful story that will stay with me for a long time. I found that it was very easy to get into and I couldn’t put down the book, leading me to finish it within a couple of days.

Everything about the story made me think; the characters were very realistic, and the setting was one I could relate to, a small town girl moving to a college in a big city. The emotional scenes stood out especially, Gayle Forman’s writing always seems to shine in the most heart-felt scenes. I have to say, I did shed a tear more than once while reading this novel. Another reason I loved this book was because of the main character, Cody. Her character was easy to relate to and I loved her relationships with other characters, for example Meg’s family (Meg’s brother, Scottie especially). Her character was very relatable and I thought Gayle Forman expressed her grief extremely well. There is no other way of describing this novel other than beautiful.

The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is because at times I felt the love story took over the real message at times, especially towards the end. I would have liked to have seen less focus on the love story, and more on the strengths of the storyline. Also I would have liked Gayle Forman to venture out and write with completely different characters to those she had written with before. The “confident rock star” and the “innocent, shy girl” characters felt all too familiar from Gayle Forman’s other book “If I Stay”.

Other than that, I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone! All the hype leading up to the release date is totally worth it! I can’t wait for it to be released so we can all talk about how much we loved it!!!!!!

Rating: 4/5

Stay Beautiful,

Ayesha xx