Add I Was Here to Gayle Forman’s List Of Sexy-As-Hell Coming-Of-Age Page Turners
Some good, tear-jerking books make you want to curl up in a ball all day, rereading passages and mourning everything you’ve ever lost and ever will lose. Others make you want to run outside and soak up every experience you can, really live every minute starting now. Gayle Forman’s books make you want to do both simultaneously, which is a little bit difficult. I Was Here, out this week, is no exception. For those of you who haven’t yet devoured her works, here’s a little primer on her fiction titles. For those of you who have, shove this post in front of your friends and get them onboard.
I Was Here
Cody and Meg have been inseparable best friends since kindergarten, until Meg got a full scholarship and Cody was left behind in their small Washington town, saving up to join Meg in Seattle. Until the day she gets Meg’s suicide email, informing her that the girl she thought she knew inside and out has killed herself in an anonymous motel room. Sent to pick up Meg’s things from school, Cody slowly learns about everything her friend kept hidden about her new life away from home. This is as much a story about mourning as it is about letting go and determining who you’ll be when you grow up, free from the confines of your parents and childhood. And, FYI, there is a very cute Tragic Guitar Hero in the mix.
Cody and Meg have been inseparable best friends since kindergarten, until Meg got a full scholarship and Cody was left behind in their small Washington town, saving up to join Meg in Seattle. Until the day she gets Meg’s suicide email, informing her that the girl she thought she knew inside and out has killed herself in an anonymous motel room. Sent to pick up Meg’s things from school, Cody slowly learns about everything her friend kept hidden about her new life away from home. This is as much a story about mourning as it is about letting go and determining who you’ll be when you grow up, free from the confines of your parents and childhood. And, FYI, there is a very cute Tragic Guitar Hero in the mix.
Sisters in Sanity
Forman’s first novel will probably elicit more tears of rage than grief. Brit has been dropped off by her father at a boot camp for rebellious teens — of which, with her dyed magenta hair, tattoos, and punk band, she is the textbook example. But Red Rock Academy’s method of reforming students is to tear them down, encouraging them to tell on each other and hurl insults at insubordinate girls. This is no therapy. Then Brit makes friends with a group that calls themselves the Sisters in Sanity, and together they plot to take the whole place down.
Forman’s first novel will probably elicit more tears of rage than grief. Brit has been dropped off by her father at a boot camp for rebellious teens — of which, with her dyed magenta hair, tattoos, and punk band, she is the textbook example. But Red Rock Academy’s method of reforming students is to tear them down, encouraging them to tell on each other and hurl insults at insubordinate girls. This is no therapy. Then Brit makes friends with a group that calls themselves the Sisters in Sanity, and together they plot to take the whole place down.
If I Stay
The hit novel (adapted last year into a movie starring Chloe Grace Moretz) is not just a masterful punch to the gut, but also, somehow, an uplifting story, too. The gut-punch part: The main action takes place on the day Mia and her family are hit by a truck on the highway, killing her parents and baby brother and putting her into a coma. She has an out-of-body experience, watching herself in the hospital, seeing her extended family in the waiting room, and witnessing the lengths to which her boyfriend and best friend go to sneak into the forbidden ICU. All the while she tells the story of her life as the classical cellist daughter of rock and roll parents who had more in common with her budding rock-star boyfriend Adam than she does. She realizes it might be up to her whether to join her family or stay with the living. Don’t let the mystical quality of that deter you, every bit of this novel feels grounded in painful reality.
The hit novel (adapted last year into a movie starring Chloe Grace Moretz) is not just a masterful punch to the gut, but also, somehow, an uplifting story, too. The gut-punch part: The main action takes place on the day Mia and her family are hit by a truck on the highway, killing her parents and baby brother and putting her into a coma. She has an out-of-body experience, watching herself in the hospital, seeing her extended family in the waiting room, and witnessing the lengths to which her boyfriend and best friend go to sneak into the forbidden ICU. All the while she tells the story of her life as the classical cellist daughter of rock and roll parents who had more in common with her budding rock-star boyfriend Adam than she does. She realizes it might be up to her whether to join her family or stay with the living. Don’t let the mystical quality of that deter you, every bit of this novel feels grounded in painful reality.
Where She Went
Years after the events of If I Stay, Adam really is a rock star visiting New York City just before his band’s world tour, when he runs into Mia (oh, yeah, spoiler alert: she stayed). This tale of what happened to him in the years following her accident is both an entertaining look at the music industry and fame and a fascinating glimpse at how boys deal with heartbreak and survivor’s guilt.
Years after the events of If I Stay, Adam really is a rock star visiting New York City just before his band’s world tour, when he runs into Mia (oh, yeah, spoiler alert: she stayed). This tale of what happened to him in the years following her accident is both an entertaining look at the music industry and fame and a fascinating glimpse at how boys deal with heartbreak and survivor’s guilt.
Just One Day
Instead of death and betrayal, Forman takes a detour here into a story about adventure and risk (but yeah, there’s still plenty of heartbreak). On the last day of her tour of Europe with a school group, straight-laced Allyson does the most unexpected thing: she ditches her tour and takes a train to Paris with free-spirited Dutch actor Willem, whom she meets in London. Their whirlwind day together changes her perspective on everything, casting a dreary shadow over her return to everyday life and her first year of college.
Instead of death and betrayal, Forman takes a detour here into a story about adventure and risk (but yeah, there’s still plenty of heartbreak). On the last day of her tour of Europe with a school group, straight-laced Allyson does the most unexpected thing: she ditches her tour and takes a train to Paris with free-spirited Dutch actor Willem, whom she meets in London. Their whirlwind day together changes her perspective on everything, casting a dreary shadow over her return to everyday life and her first year of college.
Just One Year
This is Willem’s story, beginning the morning after his day with Allyson, whom he only knows as Lulu. Though he’s been doing his best to live a no-strings-attached life, the truth is, he’s always running away from his grief over his father’s death. Like with If I Stay/Where She Went, this dual perspective gives depth to the events of Allyson’s adventure. You also might find yourself updating your passport and looking up flights by the end of the book.
This is Willem’s story, beginning the morning after his day with Allyson, whom he only knows as Lulu. Though he’s been doing his best to live a no-strings-attached life, the truth is, he’s always running away from his grief over his father’s death. Like with If I Stay/Where She Went, this dual perspective gives depth to the events of Allyson’s adventure. You also might find yourself updating your passport and looking up flights by the end of the book.
Just One Night
Sorry, if we say anything about this ebook epilogue, it will ruin the preceding stories for you. Just take a wild guess at what the title means.
One more thing everyone forgets to mention about Gayle Forman’s books: on top of being insightful and evocative, they’re also sexy as hell. How is that even possible? We’re just going to have to reread them all again and get back to you on that.
Sorry, if we say anything about this ebook epilogue, it will ruin the preceding stories for you. Just take a wild guess at what the title means.
One more thing everyone forgets to mention about Gayle Forman’s books: on top of being insightful and evocative, they’re also sexy as hell. How is that even possible? We’re just going to have to reread them all again and get back to you on that.