Book Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Book Review:  I Was Here by Gayle Forman

The high school librarian at my school received this ARC and as soon as she finished it, I snatched it up from her.  I have been a fan of Gayle Forman since I read If I Stay and Where She Went.  Thank goodness for two "cold days" - I have had plenty of time to read :).

Summary by Goodreads:

Goodreads.com

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 Thoughts:

While I don't think this book is as good as If I Stay, I still did enjoy this one.  The topic of depression and suicide is a difficult one to write about and I thought Forman did a realistic job of focusing on how Meg's friends and family dealt with the aftermath.  I found myself hooked right from the beginning and desperate to understand the the mystery behind Meg's suicide.  By far, I found Cody's determination to figure out the reasons behind Megan's death to be the focal point of the story.  There are so many questions those left behind have when loved ones commit suicide and Cody slowly finds her answers by learning about Meg's "other" life away at college.

The only part of the story that was a bit of a disappoint was the relationship between Meg's former love interest, Ben, and Cody.  I don't think Forman needed to have those two become romantically involved.  It seemed a bit forced and it didn't flow with the rest of the story.  I would have been perfectly happy had they just stayed friends and tried to solve this mystery of Meg's death together.