Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Published January 27th 2015 by Listening Library (Audio)

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, and some secrets of his own. 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
When I Was Here by Gayle Forman was released, I had the opportunity to meet this author during an event at one of my local independent book stores. The signing started out as most do with an excerpt reading from the book, and when the talented narrator Jorjeana Marie took to the podium to bring this story to life, I knew right then I wanted to experience her version through audio.

Well, as with that moment during the event, I was absolutely engrossed by how Jorjeana Marie made this emotional journey feel so real. I finished this audio faster than I have any other because I just couldn’t put it down! Thank you Ms. Marie for giving me an excuse to stay on my treadmill a little bit longer to hear just a little bit more. :)

In I Was Here, we meet Cody as she takes an emotional journey to try and understand why her best friend Meg took her life through suicide. Cody and Meg have been best friends since they were little, and when Cody stays behind in their small town as Meg leaves for college, she struggles to understand how she and Meg drifted so far apart that she couldn’t confide in Cody about her suicide plan. What starts off as a journey for discovery eventually becomes a slight mystery Cody is determined to solve, which involves suicide help boards and a stranger that coached Meg to her death. Cody is not alone in this discovery. Meg’s college roommates and the infamous Ben McAllister help Cody uncover a part of Meg she never knew.

I Was Here is definitely signature of Gayle Forman’s ability to pen a story filled with hard-hitting themes like suicide, depression, love, and self-discovery. As with all of her novels, when you’re done you feel like you’ve achieved completion and closure with her story, and this book is no exception.

Forman’s characters always jump off the pages for me, and Cody did exactly that. I felt like I was journeying right alongside with her. I appreciated her hard exterior that sometimes cracked and exposed her vulnerabilities. I enjoyed watching her fall in love and fight it from beginning to end. But most of all, I applauded her ability to learn and process as she stumbled upon realizations that at times would have broken even me. Cody was a worthy protagonist and Ben was a nice compliment once the wrinkles were ironed out.

Well, I guess I’m back to waiting on the next Forman novel. She’s been on my favorite author’s list for years and after I Was Here, she will remain there.

4 Suns