Where She Went by Gayle Forman is the highly anticipated sequel to If I Stay , one of the best books I read last year. (click to read my review)
If I Stay was amazing. If I let myself, I could go on and on about that book, but I've already written that review, so I'm going to limit myself to one adjective. If I Stay is one of those books with characters that seriously move you and become real to you. You hurt with them, feel with them, love, cry, and bleed with them. So, I'm not even a little embarrassed to admit that when I found out Gayle Forman had written a sequel from Adam's POV 3 years later, I made some really interesting noises, jumped up and down a little bit, and had to take a break from my computer because I couldn't get my heart rate down. It shouldn't surprise anyone that this is/was my most highly anticipated novel of 2011.
Antony John, the author of Five Flavors of Dumb hosted a giveaway on his site for a copy of his novel and his ARC of Where She Went. Not gonna lie — I freaked out a little bit. I got my #1 most anticipated book along with a book I've heard nothing but good things about and had been interested in reading. Made of Awesome! So thanks Antony for giving me a copy, and thanks Gayle for writing such great stuff. Now, I'm going to tell you why I loved it. Also — I'm going to assume, if you are reading my review, that you have already read If I Stay, and this review is full of spoilers for If I Stay. (Actually the existence of a sequel is a spoiler, but I digress.)
Although this was my highly anticipated book, I was a lot scared of it. I loved If I Stay, and I thought the story was perfect as it was. I didn't think it needed anything else. What if the sequel wasn't as good? What if it ruined the way I viewed Adam and Mia?! The synopsis tells us that they aren't together anymore, and that Adam has a girlfriend. Who is not Mia. After I got this book in the mail, I stared at it for a few days, scared to open it in case my expectations and hopes were dashed into the dirt. How can you top a story like If I Stay?!
The answer? You don't. You just finish the story. Where She Went is Adam's story. On the outside, Adam's life is perfect. He's got the rich and famous rocker lifestyle, complete with gorgeous girlfriend, but he is miserably unhappy and suffers from some serious anxiety about crowds. He hasn't talked to Mia in years, and everyone knows better than to bring her up around him. This is the story about what happens when fate gives them a possible evening together, and they decide to take it.
Where She Went does not have the emotional impact of If I Stay. It can't. If I Stay is Mia trying to decide if she is going to live or die, and Where She Went is dealing with the aftermath of that decision, and Mia and Adam's break-up. But the magic of both these books is not the situation our characters find themselves in, but the characters themselves. The connection I shared with them as a reader was so strong I knew how they would react or feel as they did. I felt with them.
It was so interesting being inside Adam's head this time around, and I feel like that is the real strength of the novel. He is still struggling with his role in bringing her back, only to lose her. He promised her that if she would live, he would let her leave him if she needed to, as long as she was alive in the world, somewhere. But, I don't actually think that he believed she would. So when she does, he takes it really hard. Which is, ironically, when he wrote the music that made his band such a success.
Where She Went is told in the same style as If I Stay. We only hear what Adam is thinking, the story takes place entirely in one evening, and a lot of the details are supplied by relevant and revealing flashbacks. This is how we learn why Mia left and what their lives were like after the accident. And, it's not really a pretty picture. Things have been rough for them.
Mia's story was scary in it's simplicity. Everything in her story pivots around one crucial event, one major decision — My family is gone, do I stay, or do I go? Adam's story is more complex. Outwardly, his life should be perfect but he's a mess. And people are not quite as understanding or empathetic that you miss your high school girlfriend as they would be about missing your entire family. Although, as I mentioned before, this story can't have the same emotional impact as If I Stay did, the emotion is definitely there, and the story is more complex, more layered. Adam has more he has to deal with than Mia did, and he handles stress in very different (often unhealthy) ways.
I could talk your ear off (or eyes...) about this book all day long. But, to at least appear/pretend that I know how to be concise, I'm going to leave you with the knowledge that this book is wonderfully brilliant and the perfect follow up to If I Stay. Nothing else would have worked for Mia and Adam. Love it or hate it, this was undeniably their destiny and I loved being there to watch them fulfill it.