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Author: Gayle Forman

Series: Standalone

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Contemporary

Synopsis: This characteristically powerful novel follows eighteen-year-old Cody Reynolds in the months following her best friend’s shocking suicide.

As Cody numbly searches for answers as to why Meg took her own life, she begins a journey of self-discovery which takes her to a terrifying precipice, and forces her to question not only her relationship with the Meg she thought she knew, but her own understanding of life, love, death and forgiveness.

A phenomenally moving story, I Was Here explores the sadly all-too-familiar issue of suicide and self-harm, addressing it in an authentic way with sensitivity and honesty.

How I got this book: Sent from publisher (Thank you Simon and Schuster)

Release Date: February 1, 2015

The Short Version:

It took a while to get started, but once it did I started to enjoy it.

It was fairly creepy and disturbing, which I was not expecting. But it was still good.

I dunno…I expected one thing out of this book but got another, and I just really don’t know how I feel about it.

WARNING: THE LONG VERSION WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.
There was just no way to properly explain my mixed feelings about the book without mentioning specific events/reveals.
As usual, the conclusion is still spoiler-free.

The Long Version:

Well. How do I explain my feeling for this book?

I liked it, but I didn’t like it.

It was good, but frustrating.

Let’s start with the good things:

– The writing.
The writing was just as good as the other Gayle Forman books I’ve read. It was just the story I struggled to get into. Once it started, though, I was fine.
Creeped out. But fine.

– The characters.
Ok, I’m going to be honest here, I hated most of the characters. They annoyed me. But they were definitely real. And that made them good.

– The ending.
Despite everything, it was a good ending. Everything did wrap up nicely, and it was a good way to end it.

But what about the things I wasn’t a fan of?

– Meg’s parents.
These were the characters I had the most trouble with. I was fine with them, right until the end, when it turned out that they had known about Meg’s depression, and (to some extent) her involvement with The Final Solution. But, even though they could see that Cody was struggling to come to terms with why Meg would kill herself, they hadn’t bothered to tell Cody.
I was like, are you kidding me???

– The unexpected creepiness of the book.
The whole thing about The Final Solution and all that was seriously disturbing. This book was not really advertised as ‘disturbing’.
I mean, it wasn’t bad. In fact, it was probably what I actually enjoyed most about the book. It’s just the fact that it wasn’t presented like that.
I mean, it sort-of was. It depends which blurb you read.

– I did not cry.
The books creepiness completely removed all sadness from the book. And for some reason, I just didn’t connect with Cody. She was very obviously devastated by Meg’s death, but for some reason I just couldn’t care.
I have no idea why.

In Conclusion:

It was a good book. And I did like it.

I just had some issues with certain aspects.