I was here:/ Gayle Forman- eng

The young adult novel I Was Here (2015) by bestselling author Gayle Forman tells the story of a young woman grieving the suicide of her best friend by trying to solve the apparent mystery of why a seemingly happy person would kill herself. During the course of the novel, various possible motivations are presented and explored – but none offers a complete answer to this “mystery” because, in the end, there is no mystery to solve, but just a death to mourn. As a quick warning: the novel has been described as too graphic in its descriptions of suicidal ideation for some readers.

Eighteen-year-old Cody is suffering through yet another memorial service for her best friend, Meg Garcia. Meg killed herself by checking into a motel, leaving a large tip for the maid, and then drinking an industrial poison. Since then, Cody, Meg’s parents, and the police have been receiving time-delayed emails from Meg that try to explain her decision to end her life.

Although Meg and Cody had been close since their childhood in a small poor town in the Pacific Northwest, Meg’s academic talent allowed her to get a scholarship to a college in Seattle – a move that necessarily put some distance into the relationship. Now, Cody is dealing not only with the death of her best friend, but also with her feelings of hopelessness about still being stuck in a town she can’t escape because she can’t afford college. Her emotional state also opens up unhealed wounds about her absent father and her less than ideal mother.