anastasia
Written on Feb 3, 2018
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The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed If I Stay
Picking up several years after the dramatic conclusion of If I Stay, Where She Went continues the story of Adam and Mia, from Adam's point of view. Ever since Mia's decision to stay - but not with him - Adam's career has been on a wonderful trajectory. His album, borne from the anguish and pain of their breakup, has made him a bona fide star. And Mia herself has become a top-rate cellist, playing in some of the finest venues in the world. When their respective paths put them both in New York City at the same time, the result is a single night in which the two reunite - with wholly satisfying results.
And don't miss Gayle's newest novel, JUST ONE DAY and the forthcoming companion, JUST ONE YEAR.
- ISBN10 0142420891
- ISBN13 9780142420898
- Publish Date 17 April 2012 (first published 1 April 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
- Imprint Penguin USA
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 304
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780142420898
Reviews
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ammaarah
Written on Dec 2, 2015
"Quitting's not hard. Deciding to quit is hard. Once you make that mental leap, the rest is easy." (Mia Hall)
Where She Went is the sequel to If I Stay and is told from Adam's POV. I enjoyed the sequel much more than the first book. If I Stay was about loss, grief and sacrifice. It was about a girl struggling to survive after her entire family died in a car crash. However, Where She Went, a book about a celebrity with a broken heart and a lot of issues connected with me more.
This book is told from Adam's POV. He was the sweet, dependable perfect boyfriend who loved Mia deeply. However in this books, the Adam from If I Stay has been replaced by a chain-smoking, paranoid, anxious, broken and lonely celebrity who lashes at others. Mia dumped Adam three years ago and Adam has no idea why. I really wanted to know what made Adam become the person he was. What happened to him?!
From the outside, it seems that Adam has the life that anyone would be jealous of. He is a successful member in the Shooting Stars band and is living the dream. His band has won Grammy's, toured worldwide and is top on the iTunes charts. He has an actress for a girlfriend and everything in the palm of his hand. His life is supposed to be easy, but it is far from that. In fact, it is his celebrity status that makes Adam's life worse. Gayle Forman clearly showed the difficulty and stress that living under the public eye involves. Adam's whole entire life, his past and future, is put under the public eye for every Tom, Dick and Harry to scrutinize and it makes his life miserable.
However, it was Adam's "voice" that put me on the fence. Gayle Forman wrote convincingly about 21 year old broken guy, but I found Adam to be too angsty, whiny and irrational sometimes. His "voice" was convincing, fascinating and painful, but it was also a little annoying at times.
"Whoever said the past isn't dead had it backward. It's the future that's already dead, already played out. This whole night has been a mistake. It's not going to let me rewind. Or unmake the mistakes I made. Or the promises I've made. Or have her back. Or have me back." (Adam Wilde)
While the romance between Mia and Adam did play a central role in Where She Went, it never overshadowed the message of this book. I was never invested in Mia and Adam's relationship. Their relationship was too perfect and I was always unable to believe it, because I never "saw" it (the better word is read about it). Where She Went didn't even make Adam and Mia a shippable couple that I believed in. They were never shippable or believable as a romantic couple.
Where She Went is about heartbreak, pain, loss, grief, moving on, making mistakes, growing up and living life. It's about seizing the moment and finding yourself. If I Stay was about loss and sacrifice, but Where She Went was about life and living it.
Kim Deister
Written on Apr 16, 2015
Where She Went is told from the point of view of Adam and begins a few years after If I Stay ends. Mia and Adam have gone in totally different directions, living totally different and totally separate lives. From the very beginning of the novel, it is clear that Adam hasn't moved on very well. His personal and professional lives are suffering and he can't seem to get it together. Even his band mates, once his best friends, have been alienated by him and he doesn't know what to do to change anything. He is alone and lonely and suffering.
This is a story about the effect that grief has on people. Mia lost her family, a family that meant almost as much to Adam. And he lost Mia for reasons he doesn't truly know. In a way, watching Adam go through the things he did was even more heart breaking than Mia's pain in the first novel. Watching his transformation, and Mia's, throughout the book was emotional and beautiful. Like the first, it was Adam who owned my heart as a character. I just wanted things to change for him, for him to find happiness.
My Recommendation: This isn't always an easy read, but it is a beautiful one. It tells the story of two people torn apart by the worst of experiences. In my opinion, the aftermath of grief shown in this book was as important to the story as the initial tragedy itself.
pagingserenity
Written on Mar 22, 2015
I actually loved this book even more than If I Stay. Adam's POV is so cool to read from and I thought it was really interesting to see what happened to him (and Mia) after the accident and to see some of the flashbacks through his eyes. I liked how his character developed. It was so nice to read about Adam and Mia again.
Where She Went is a must read if you liked If I Stay.
Stephanie
Written on Mar 7, 2015
I started Where She Went by Gayle Forman back in January and just finished in March. It took me a little over two months to read and I couldn't even tell you why. I actually think it has to do with the fact that I found Adam really whiny in the first half of the book. I have a thing with whiny boys; Harry Potter in the Order of the Phoenix, Four in Allegiant, and now Adam in Where She Went.
The good news is that Adam redeems himself. There is no one moment for me that stands out. All of a sudden I just found that I really wanted to read this book. At that point I finished it rather quickly. We already know what happened to Mia and her family. Three years later, we pick back up. Almost everything has gone to shit for Adam and then fate steps in.
I do have to admit that Where She Went did not give me the same kind of feels that If I Stay did. I will say that by the end of it I was left with a nice fuzzy feeling and that's almost as good.
Berls
Written on Sep 15, 2014
4.5 stars.
My Initial Reaction...
I enjoyed Where She Went even more than If I Stay! The change in POV worked really well - even though it surprised me - and I ended up thankful for it.
Note: This review could spoil If I Stay for you if you haven't read it.
The Narration...
With the change of POV they changed the narrator - which made sense since our voice is now Adam. Dan Bittner died a really good job and somehow it didn't bother me at all having new voices for the characters. The music integrated into Where She Went didn't work quite as well as If I Stay, but it still never felt awkward or dumb.
The Good...
Where If I Stay felt like a story about family and incredible loss, Where She Went was about picking up the pieces - and what I loved is that it focuses on Adam, rather than Mia.
There's a line in Where She Went that I can't quote verbatim, but it's about how loss is a competition in a way - and Mia won (in that she lost the most), because it was her family. But Adam felt the loss too and, as the loser, he had to pick up the pieces on his own. So I loved this angle and the decision to change perspectives.
I also liked the decision to move forward in time a few years. It made the emotion about Adam and Mia as a couple work better than if we were just after the accident, where the loss of her parents and little brother would have been the dominant emotions. Now, Mia's life has moved forward and while that loss still matters (always will), their relationship and emotions about that loss/potential is what's at the fore.
The Bad...
I was just a wee-bit frustrated with the beating around the bush. When there's an elephant in the room, just how long can you ignore it? Mia and Adam definitely pushed that time limit. Not enough to make me bored, but enough to make me yell at them a bit!
Concluding Sentiments...
I really recommended reading/listening to these two stories - If I Stay and Where She Went are very quick reads and yet both carry quite the emotional kick!
Sam@WLABB
Written on Jul 12, 2014
We get to share in this story as Adam does his soul searching (through flashbacks and present day events), and he finally gets to confront Mia about the end of their relationship, his closure. Once again, Gayle Forman presents us with a beautifully, intense story that will have you smiling and crying and sometimes doing both at the same time.
catiebug
Written on Jul 8, 2014
boghunden
Written on Jul 6, 2014
Despite my irritation towards the characters at the beginning of the book, I really liked it. It wasn't as good as the first, but it was close. I was a bit sad to see that it was a "three years later" kind of book, but it made sense. It gave a more honest and realistic look at things. And you also avoided the sad story you would've otherwised gotten.
To see Mia and Adam developing like they do is perhaps a little over the top, but I think it was the only way to really show how they were coping. The development of the characters are amazing.
Like in the first book, this is told in just a day or so, and with a lot of flashbacks and talks about the past. It worked really well, and I'm happy to see that Forman stayed true to the writing and her "voice" of the first book. These two books are sad, but yet somehow they are optimistic and makes you appreciate life.
Jo
Written on May 15, 2014
After recently reading Just One Day and Just One Year, I knew I had to catch up and read the sequel to If I Stay. Now I wish I hadn't taken so long to read it.
It's been three years since Mia survived her car accident, and left Adam behind. Adam is still suffering from the loss of the girl he loves, and it's affecting everything; his relationship with his band and his girlfriend, his love for music, his health. When alone in New York for a day and wandering the streets, he notices that Mia has a recital across the road. Amazed, he goes to watch her, and discovers all the feelings are still there. Mia invites him backstage and so begins a night of reliving the past, rediscovering who they are, and learning if love can survive grief.
This is such a beautiful story! In almost alternating chapters, we'll have present day, and then flashbacks of some point in the past, before and after the accident, but not chronologically. Each memory chapter relates to something that happened in the previous present day chapter, a memory sparked for Adam, that we then get to see. Not only is it awesome to see Adam's view of their relationship, and see just how much he loves her, but it's great to see what happened once Mia woke up, even if it's summarised in a few pages rather than as it happened.
Adam's pain at losing Mia is such that every day is a struggle. He regularly has panic attacks and is on anti-anxiety pills. He's become distant from the band, and is disillusioned with the whole rock star way of life. The idea of going on a sixty-seven date tour has him near losing it. He's in his own little bubble of suffering, with unanswered questions about why Mia left him... and then suddenly there she is. Adam gets caught up in the flow of things from there; he doesn't think it's a good idea to be around Mia, but she's there, right in front of him, and he can't bring himself to walk away. And she seems to want him around, so what can he do? It's beautiful yet sad, this pull, this hold she unconsciously has over him, and she can't really see how much he's hurting. But as the night goes on, no holds barred honesty, the brutal truth is finally spoken.
This really is a fantastic story; it's beautiful and sweet, melancholic and sad. It really is awesome! However, I think I would have loved it more if I had read it before Just One Day. With the exploring of New York at night, there were some similarities with Just One Day, which I completely adored, and couldn't help comparing, and Where She Went didn't really stack up. I know I'm doing this book a disservice by comparing, and I shouldn't have, but it was automatic. So I was left a little wanting. If I had read the books in the order they were written, I'm sure I would have loved Where She Went completely.
Still, Where She Went is a lovely story, a great follow up to If I Stay; so awesome to see where Mia and Adam's lives took them. Also, when setting up this review, I noticed that there's going to be an If I Stay movie in August, and it looks amazing! So looking forward to watching it! And the trailer made me love Adam a little more.