Where She Went

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (2011)

This book is the sequel to If I Stay and therefore contains pretty major spoilers.

Three years after Mia's accident she is playing the cello in Carnegie Hall. Adam, whose band Shooting Star shot to fame after he and Mia broke up, is getting ready to fly to London for a tour. But letting his band go ahead without him, he's staying an extra night in New York where, on impulse, he buys a ticket to Mia's performance. A lot has been left unsaid between them, so when they meet for the first time in almost three years, emotions run high and Adam's night in New York is a very long night indeed, full of anger, doubt, and finally hope for the future. Told from Adam's point of view, the short novel spans just a 24-hour period (much like it's predecessor) but this time it's a very different story.

There are lots of flashbacks to the time between when the two books take place, as well as some from before Mia's accident. Since this book is focused on Adam we don't know a lot about Mia's life since the accident but we learn a lot about Adam's end of the breakup with Mia, his subsequent rise to fame, his relationship with his current girlfriend, and problems within his band. He has a lot of unresolved feelings about Mia and together with his uncertain career plans, I found him a wonderfully complicated and compelling character to spend time with.

I listened to the audio and perhaps I would have loved it a teensy bit more had I read the print version. As I have mentioned before I dislike male narrators reading female voices, but since this book is from Adam's point of view, a male narrator was necessary. He was good too, just not...female.

This book received many great reviews, though I'm not sure if I think they are warranted. It didn't have the emotional impact of the first book for me, but I still found the relationship between Adam and Mia compelling. And in a way I feel this book was necessary to complete the story, an aspect of it that I found very satisfying. The writing was really nice as in the first book and I will definitely keep my eye out for more books from this author.

If I Stay

If I Stay by Gayle Forman (2009)

Seventeen-year-old Mia has a rising rock star for a boyfriend, hipster rock-music-loving parents, a little brother who she adores, and is awaiting possible acceptance to Juilliard where she hopes to continue playing the cello. But then, in an instant, everything changes. Her family is gone and Mia lies in the hospital in a coma. Separated from her body, she watches herself in the hospital, observes the friends and family who come to visit her, and reflects on her charmed life, now ruined. Will she ever wake up? Does she even want to?

In Mia's rock-loving family, playing the cello is almost rebellious, but her dedication to music comes through vividly. Before the accident Mia struggled with the decision to move far away to music school leaving behind her family and her boyfriend Adam. Only friends and family are important enough to compete with Mia's love for music, and as she lay in the coma she weighed the loss of her family against her living grandparents, friends, and future musical career.

With this premise, the book could easily have been melodramatic, but it's not at all. Mia was very close to her family and the loss is just staggering, but the author manages to capture it in a way that makes it completely heartwrenching while keeping it real. Many authors would not be able to do this story justice, but Forman handles it deftly and beautifully.

If I Stay is under 200 pages and is a breeze to read, despite its serious themes. The vivid images - of her dad in his bow-tie smoking a pipe, the accident scene, Mia playing Adam's body like a cello - will stick with you long after you've turned the final page. I'd normally be wary of the sequel to such a book, but Where She Went has gotten rave reviews, I think more than this first book, so I've already begun listening to the audio. I'll be posting a review soon!