This week, the Boise Book Nook is featuring “I Was Here” by Gayle Forman. Forman is an incredible contemporary author. She has published multiple Young Adult novels revolving around mental health and identity; many of you may remember her recent accolades for “If I Stay,” which was released as a feature film in 2014 starring Chloe Grace Moretz.
While “If I Stay” was also a fantastic work of literature, “I Was Here” is an even harder hitting novel—something which I previously wasn’t sure existed. The novel centers around a young woman named Cody who has just found out that her best friend, Meg, had committed suicide while away for college. Cody’s world is turned completely upside down, and when Meg’s parents ask Cody to go pack their daughter’s things and bring them home from her dorm, Cody can’t turn them down.
As Cody goes through Meg’s things and discovers things about the woman Meg had become within just a few short months, she comes to doubt that she ever really knew Meg at all. With the help of some of Meg’s roommates and some other unexpected accomplices, Cody puts together more pieces of Meg’s life and discovers what really happened while she was away…and who may have driven her to her fate.
When reading this book, there is an unfortunate realization: there are support groups for everything, and not all of them are there to help make things better. While Cody goes through the process of grief and healing, readers will find themselves smiling, clenching the book in anger, trembling in shock and bawling right along with the protagonist.
The accessibility of “I Was Here” doubled with the gripping story will make for a quick and exciting (though emotionally trying) read. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Forman gives a shout-out to Boise along the way!