I Was Here, A Review

Holy macaroons. I can't remember the last time I devoured a book this quickly. It would've taken me only one day, but you see, the way my work schedule works out? It doesn't. So I had to wait nine more whole hours until I got home and relish the last few pages. Now Gayle Forman is relatively new to me; my first experience with her was with Just One Day and Just One Year (highly recommend! adventure, love, all-around-amazingness) and she shot up my Top Ten List, which is ridiculously exclusive, occupied by the likes of JK Rowling, Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han (these are THE homies). I like her writing style, her effortless ways of telling a story so good the book just lingers in your head days after you finished it, and just the overall adventures her characters take. I get jealous. Of characters. In a book. That's how you know you did a good job. When your readers want to meet a three headed dog and fly at 98 mph on an unsafe cleaning utensil or have a one night stand with a Shakespearean in Paris or go anywhere in Godforsaken Nevada that isn't Vegas. 

Suicide and depression and the aftermath it leaves behind is a rough topic to talk about, let alone write a three hundred-something book about. But I commend her for it. Because it was almost too real. When people take their own lives, it's not just theirs that they take; it's the life in others that they've touched that go with them. The struggle that Cody goes through to find some closure and help Meg in her own way, was almost too much to handle. It felt too personal and like I was reading a diary, or more fitting, filtering through someone's email trash and reading all their correspondences with others. I wanted to look away sometimes, like maybe Cody could feel my eyes watching her every move. 

And to find out in the Author's Note that Meg was based off a real person, Suzy Gonzales, was what made this book so much more than just a book. It was someone's story, many a someones, one that deserves to be heard by the masses, 

So don't just read it, listen to it. And on an even more somber note, if you or someone you know is going through a journey like Meg and thinking about ending your life, visit the Trevor Project's website. And they have a 24/7 hotline: 866-488-7386

You shouldn't have to keep it a secret, Talk about it with the right people.