In the three years since the tragic accident Mia barely survived in If I Stay, she and high school ex-boyfriend Adam have lived separate lives on opposite coasts. But then Adam, now the dissatisfied front man of popular LA-based band Collateral Damage, stops over in New York City for one night before kicking off the European leg of his tour. It happens to be the same evening that Mia, now well on her way to becoming a renowned cellist, is performing at Carnegie Hall. Adam buys a ticket, planning to slip in and out, but Mia spots him and for the first time in years they’re face-to-face with each other and their shared past. Over the course of one evening, as Adam and Mia traverse the city's streets, they relive the four days Mia spent in the intensive care unit as well as her departure to Juilliard and from the life she knew. Emotionally raw and incredibly moving, Gayle Forman again showcases her considerable talent for drawing complex characters who face impossible decisions and then bear the consequences. Equally as compelling as If I Stay, Where She Went is powerful, heartbreaking, and everything fans of Mia, Adam, and Forman could hope for.
Author: Gayle Forman
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (April 5, 2011)
Media type: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio Book
Pages: 208 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0525422945
Preceded by: If I Stay
Reader Review
Three years ago, Mia Hall was in a serious car accident that killed her family and left her struggling to decide whether there was enough here on earth to keep her here. But that was Mia's story, Where She Went, is Adam's story. Adam was Mia's boyfriend who was there through it all and begging her to stay. But now, she is gone. Off to Julliard to study the cello, while Adam is now a full-fledged rock God.
And with all rock stars comes baggage. Adam is suffering from anxiety, has a temper that would shame the Gallagher brothers and smokes like a chimney stack. He has the typical California movie star girlfriend, but he's not happy.
A chance encounter brings Adam face to face with Mia and what happens to the both of them since she left will leave most readers breathless and in tears.
If I Stay ended with the reader not knowing what decision Mia made, but you know how and why she did what she did. Leaving Adam was probably the hardest thing she could do, and it all but destroyed him. He locked himself away, he wrote music that became the biggest album of his career, but it still wasn't enough to help he get over Mia.
The lyrics that open each chapter made me wish that there really was an album called Collateral Damage. Which is exactly what Adam is feeling. He's become collateral damage to Mia's desire to stay alive. Watching him navigate the roads of NYC and realize how much he didn't know was brilliant. When it comes to Mia, Adam doesn't seem know a lot.
Gayle Forman really made me feel and want to help Adam, and reading the lyrics made me realize how I've felt like that in my lifetime. How sometimes we get so caught up in other people's lives that what eventually happens is we all become collateral damage. I bawled like a baby with the first book, but I was ready for this one. And I still cried. I fell in love with Adam all over again.
- by Laura's Review Bookshelf
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