Unfortunately, over the long 10 day weekend, my family did not have a vacation planed... But, while being locked in my house, I managed to read the new book by Gayle Forman, I Was Here. Forman is the author of the If I Stay books.
I Was Here is about a girl Cody, trying to find her way after her best friend, Meg, commits suicide. When Cody is asked to go clean out Meg's dorm room, she comes across many people and things she had no idea about. Looking deeper into Meg's life, Cody discovers that there might be more to Meg's suicide than she thought.
I thought this was a good book. It was a great mixture of mystery, tragedy and romance. It was your typical dealing with a loss story, but I still think it was entertaining, a good read and sends out a great message about life. As you can probably assume, it was depressing at times but also funny and uplifting at others.We see the title of the book come into play closer to the middle of the book. It says, "New stuff was always being scrawled over the old, though one line, Meg's favorite, remained gouged into the metal: I Was Here. She loved that. 'What more can you say, right?' she'd ask." (99) I think that is a great title for the book and really good supporting detail in the story. Although it is a simple statement, it holds a lot of words behind it.
When reading the Author's Notes section at the end of the book, you can see the true meaning of the story come out. Forman explains that she got her inspiration for this story from a girl named Suzy who suffered from depression and committed suicide. She also tells us that,"... majority of people who take their own lives-90 percent or more- had a mental disorder at the time of their deaths." Gayle Forman then reaches out to those who are suffering from depression or going through a dark period in there life. She gives names of multiple websites and numbers for help lines that will help people in need. She also says, "Life can be hard and beautiful and messy, but hopefully, it will be long." I think it is really awesome how she is reaching out to the readers. Although it is just a story, it holds a lot of meaning and reaches out to people in the real world. I Was Here sends out a very inspiring message that allows you to see not only into the lives of the characters, but also into the lives of real people.
