Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

I Was Here

by Gayle Forman

Publisher: Penguin Books

Pages: 288

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

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.

Kritters Thoughts:  Cody is left behind.  Her friend committed suicide and for Cody it felt out of the blue.  Her friend Meg was away at college and both Cody and her parents didn't see the signs and wish they had the chance to help Meg work through whatever issues she was dealing with.  

As most Gayle Forman's books go, this one is dealing with a sensitive subject - suicide.  I thought it was an interesting take on suicide as the friend, Cody, tries to figure out the why and how she could have maybe prevented it.  

I enjoyed reading Cody's journey, but kept forgetting that Meg didn't die from cancer or an accident and that it was suicide and it made me nervous that the seriousness of suicide may not have come across throughout the whole book.  I hope that young readers don't read this book and lose a sense of seriousness about suicide.

As part of the Gayle Forman shelf, I liked it.  It read smoothly and quickly, but definitely a tough subject to tackle.



SPOILER ALERT

Cody comes to find out that Meg went to a suicide support group online and ended up being mentored into suicide.  I had not ever thought that these existed and was intrigued to just read about this.  This is mostly why I love fiction - to be enlightened about things that I never knew existed.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Penguin Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.