Where She Went Review

Where She Went - Gayle Forman

*April 5th, 2011 Dutton Juvenile

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.

Where She Went is the perfect sequel to Gayle Forman's Bestselling If I Stay. The follow-up is just as poignant, just as bittersweet, and just as beautiful.

I'll admit - when I first heard about Where She Went, I was a little doubtful about how Forman would pull it off. If I Stay functioned so well as a standalone that it was hard to imagine a sequel that would be not only of the same caliber (or better) writing-wise, but also an additional piece that would add to the story. With Where She Went, Forman more than managed to pull it off brilliantly!

Although the follow-up is clearly a continuation of the same story, there are a number of fundamental differences. For one thing, the setting takes place three years later. For another, it takes place in the busy, bustling metropolis of New York. But most importantly, Where She Went is told from Adam's perspective. This, as it turns out, is one of the best things that could've happened to make the sequel as great as it is.

Sure, in If I Stay, we're managed to meet Adam. But everything we learned was filtered through Mia's perceptions, everything told through a biased lens. With Where She Went, we get Adam, raw and real. It's great to get further insight into the enigma that is Adam, the way that he dealt with the aftermath, the inner turmoil he experienced, the emotions that were released in unhealthy ways. The characters - not just the main ones, but all of them - seem almost closer now, having been experienced through an additional medium.

The interactions between Mia and Adam, the way that the events of the past three years are revealed, the fact that this next part of the story, too, occurs in a very short period of time... Forman executes it all with the same precision, skill and beautiful writing present in If I Stay. If I Stay and Where She Went hardly read like two separate novels - if anything, they're perfect complements for each other, two parts of one whole.

With a great sense of pacing, beautiful prose and intricate character relationships, Forman's deft writing skill has been proven yet again. This is definitely one YA author to keep an eye out for!

Waiting on Wednesday (29)

Where She Went - Gayle Forman
*April 5th, 2011 Dutton Juvenile

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 Juilliard'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.

I reviewed If I Stay back in June, and rather enjoyed it, so it'll be great to see where the story goes next in the follow-up. This is one that's built up quite a reputation with the first book so anticipation for the second is high! Let's see how it measures up :)

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

Reviews: If I Stay & Wintergirls

First, a brief explanation. A lot of my reviews tend to be on the longer side, and as such take a while and a fair amount of thought to write. And after having set a sort of standard with longer reviews, it feels like it would be weird to have them suddenly interspersed with much shorter ones. But the fact of the matter is, some books are simply able to be reviewed much more succinctly. That and some days longer reviews just feel so daunting, especially when there's a backlog and a ton of other stuff to do.

As such, some books - usually those with less things to say about, or those shorter in length, or those read not specifically for the purpose of reviewing - will be reviewed in compilations. Books specifically for review will continue to receive full-length reviews in the format of "[Book Title] Review" while mini-reviews¹ will carry the title formatting of "Reviews: [Book Title] & [Book Title]". Feel free to comment below with any feedback on this!

And now, to kick things off:²
If I Stay - Gayle Forman
April 9th, 2009 Dutton

Gayle Forman's If I Stay is a heartbreaking musing on life and death, the in between, and the decision to go one way or the other. As a story, Forman has accomplished some really remarkable things with it. For one thing, the whole course of it takes place within a very short period of time, but through flashbacks we get a sense of all of the characters. The emotions are very raw and the characterization is very intense. The relationships between characters are portrayed very dynamically.

Personally, I'm not particularly fond of the reasons for Mia's final decision; it felt a little abrupt and easy and sort of brought down the whole book a little. ³ It's undeniable though that Forman's got a great way with words.

With beautiful writing, great descriptions and a unique story-telling style, Forman's If I Stay is an gorgeously heartbreaking story.


Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson
March 19th, 2009 Viking

Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the big-shot names in YA today, which sets Wintergirls up with high expectations - it definitely does not disappoint. Halse Anderson is known for tackling difficult and controversial issues pertinent to today's youth. Wintergirls deals with eating disorders - but it such away that makes the deadly disease come alive. It's almost like it was personified as another character or something, which was really remarkable to see.

There's also something about the writing: the diction choice, the phrasing, the metaphors... it's so unique, so specifically branded as 'Laurie Halse Anderson'. There are so many passages of sheer beauty:

"The snow drifts into our zombie mouths crawling with grease and curses and tabacco flakes and cavities and boyfriend/girlfriend juice, the stain of lies. For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds" (Halse Anderson 15)⁴.

How beautiful is that? Wow, just breathtaking. Alas, I didn't connect with the characters (particularly Lia) as much as I would've liked. There's something about Wintergirls though, something that just stays with you. Hours after you finish reading it, the words continue to play out in your head, the scenarios repeat themselves, and your mind just continues to contemplate the story.

Memorable and riveting, Wintergirls is a breathtaking story about an all-too-real issue plaguing today's youth. Laurie Halse Anderson has created a vividly real story that unfortunately plays out in real life all too often.

__________
¹ Awhile ago I do recall seeing a feature/meme about mini-reviews, but there were a bunch of restrictions (i.e. word count-wise) that didn't really fit what I wanted to do.
² Book titles link to the Goodreads pages for summaries, etc.
³ I also seem to recall reading a description about spiderwebs being fragile (can't find the exact location now) which was a little jarring, as spider webs are supposed to be one of the strongest substances out there...

⁴ Halse Anderson, Laurie. Wintergirls. New York: Speak, 2009.

In My Mailbox [34]

I went to the bookstore today, and it was actually a little bit painful. There were all these great books, books that I really wanted to get. But it was a guilty sort of feeling. Basically, the next month is going to be brutally busy - it's IB exam season. In fact, our English teacher has basically said that we're not supposed to be reading any books that we're not using for our exams until they're over - yeah, she said this a couple of weeks ago, actually. Well, there goes that.

In the end, I ended up getting If I Stay by Gayle Forman in paperback. This was first released sometime last year, back when I first started Lucid Conspiracy. The reviews that circulated about this book pretty much declared it to be amazing, so I've been meaning to get my hands on a copy of this. Man, this book seems to have so many cover variations!

I also received The Line by Teri Hall, which I'd almost thought wouldn't show up after all, so that was nice. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr showed up as well, which is also exciting. I remember once upon a time, I used to like reading stories about these sorts of things, land of Faerie, magic, etc. I mean, I absolutely adored the Firebirds and Firebirds Rising anthologies (edited by Sharyn November). (Alas, I haven't gotten around to Firebirds Soaring yet.) It'll be fun to get back into that realm.

So there you have it - my week in books. Your turn now - what was in your mailbox this week?

*In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren

**Also - don't forget to enter to win a SIGNED copy of D.J. MacHale's Morpheus Road: The Light!