I Was Here - Gayle Forman

[goodreads]

Title: I Was Here
Author: Gayle Forman
Genre: YA
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 270
Date read: December, 2015

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.


Extremely well-written like all other books I've read by Gayle Forman so far. Very dark though, and I found myself having to take breaks in order for things not to get too bleak.

I'm actually slightly surprised that I liked this book as much as I did - I usually have a huge problem with suicides in books and movies. I think it helped that the suicide itself happened "off-screen" - so to speak - and that the book focused more on the aftermath - coping with having a friend/relative commit suicide and the desire to have somebody to blame - rather than the suicide itself. I was furious with All_BS and wish he could have been brought to justice more fully, but I actually think Cody's comment got to him more than anything else would have.

I liked seeing the relationships develop as Cody allowed herself to come out from behind her defences, and especially appreciated seeing Tricia stand up and take notice.

In no way a feel-good book, but well-written and a fascinating and thought-provoking read.