From the shelf: I Was Here

Title: I Was Here
Author: Gayle Forman
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Realistic Fiction
Date read: January 7-8, 2016
Dawn Rates: ★★★★ (4/5)

Summary (cr: goodreads)

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.

My Review: (also in goodreads)

This would be Gayle Forman's book outside of her duo series which I loved and I think this was a much more emotional story. Cody and Meg were friends for as long as they can remember, more than best friends kind of like sisters. It was then when one day Cody found out that Meg killed herself was when her world and how she sees it changes her forever. This is a story of discoveries and acceptance. Cody who once thought that Meg was her rock, didn't know what to do now she was gone. It was one of those cliche stories in which they both lived in the same small town but they had big dreams on leaving and taking over the world together. If I were in Cody's place, I too will feel betrayed that something was going on with that person which I consider as my sister. Betrayal will be the first emotion that would transcend after being numbed by the news. Sometimes we think we know everything about the closest to us only to realize that there are things unsaid. This is Cody's journey in rediscovering her best friend and even discovering things about herself. What was off at least for me in the beginning is Cody's romance with Ben. It was weird at first but if you look at it in another way, it was like Meg brought them together. A bit morbid but that could only explain everything. The title of this story is apt. Everyone, no matter how small their trace would be, could send ripples to everything around them. 

Till the next read...