A piercing, magical story about?a life-altering friendship
Toward the end of his life, H looks back on the relationship that has sh... read full description
Toward the end of his life, H looks back on the relationship that has sh... read full description
reviews
Apr 04, 2008
E
rated it: 
I think I'm losing faith in Meg Rosoff.
I LOVED How I Live Now, so much so that I even consider it one of my favourite books of all time, and when Just In Case came out, I snapped it up immediately. It too was a bit of a let down. This novel was well-written and immersive but ultimately I didn't come away from the book feeling like I'd been changed or learned something significant having read it. As a matter of fact, it didn't even feel like Rosoff was trying to tell me anything at al More...
I LOVED How I Live Now, so much so that I even consider it one of my favourite books of all time, and when Just In Case came out, I snapped it up immediately. It too was a bit of a let down. This novel was well-written and immersive but ultimately I didn't come away from the book feeling like I'd been changed or learned something significant having read it. As a matter of fact, it didn't even feel like Rosoff was trying to tell me anything at al More...
Feb 02, 2008
Suzanne
rated it: 
I don't know what to rate this book... I don't know what to make of it. I would prefer to give it a 3.5 but since halvsies aren't allowed I rounded up. This book immediately drew me in and I could not put it down (would spellbinding be too strong?). I was absolutey captivated, and Rosoff threw in a unexpected twist totally throwing my predictions out the window (and I was happy to do so). But I don't know if I had closure... I just don't know.
Mar 15, 2008
Anna
rated it:
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Apr 11, 2008
Jack
rated it: 
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May 29, 2010
Meaghan
rated it:
My favorite Meg Rosoff book so far. How I Live Now was good, but I was stunned by this one. From the dust jacket annotation I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to buy the plot, but once I started the story I found it perfectly plausible. The twist ending is something I hadn't seen coming, which is unusual -- usually I guess surprise endings ahead of time, which is kind of a drag. Best of all is the atmosphere of the story. From Rosoff's descriptions I could practically see the North Sea fog
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Mar 01, 2009
April
rated it:
I miss books like this. It’s been so long since I’ve come across one. What I Was found me today at Chapters. I can’t even tell you where. Was it on a table (20 books to read before you’re 20? Maybe New & Hot Teen Fiction?), or maybe just there on the shelf. I have no idea now. But anyway. I picked it up and read the back and got chills up my spine. This was a book I had to read, even if it tore my guts out (which it did, mostly).
What I Was is the story of H. 16 years old and More...
What I Was is the story of H. 16 years old and More...
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Aug 16, 2011
Zarah
rated it:
I definitely recognized this as having been by the author of How I Live Now. The title, something about the tone, the writing style, maybe even the set-in-the-future-but-not-really-ness of it. And, like HILN, What I Was could just as easily be YA as adult fiction. (The library shelves this one with the adults’.)
I thought it was really good, if not as unexpectedly excellent as HILN. The last pages sort of spun out, and left me a bit confused and disappointed. To be fair, I’ve never like More...
I thought it was really good, if not as unexpectedly excellent as HILN. The last pages sort of spun out, and left me a bit confused and disappointed. To be fair, I’ve never like More...
Jan 22, 2011
WHAT I WAS was an impulse buy off of the $2 table at a Books-A-Million in Roanoke. The back-cover copy pulled me in (which is what back cover copy is supposed to do on trade paperbacks, after all). The book is narrated by H., nearing the end of a long and seemingly fulfilling life. He reflects on the teenage "relationship that has shaped and obsessed him for nearly a century." That relationship was with a "beautiful boy named Finn, who lives alone in a fisherman's hut by the sea.
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Aug 06, 2010
Liberty
rated it: 
What’s Good About It
Meg Rosoff does write beautifully. Her prose is haunting and perfectly captures the intensity of the relationship between the main character and Finn, and the backdrop against which the story is played. There’s a particularly beautiful bit in which a storm is described that left me feeling like I was right there in the heart of it.
What’s Not So Good
It should probably be said at this point that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Rosoff’ More...
Meg Rosoff does write beautifully. Her prose is haunting and perfectly captures the intensity of the relationship between the main character and Finn, and the backdrop against which the story is played. There’s a particularly beautiful bit in which a storm is described that left me feeling like I was right there in the heart of it.
What’s Not So Good
It should probably be said at this point that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Rosoff’ More...
Aug 05, 2009
Jessica
rated it:
Review published here: http://www.hipsterbookclub.com/reviews/c...
Meg Rosoff's novel What I Was will early on remind readers of John Knowles's classic coming of age tale, A Separate Peace. Both books feature an adult narrator reminiscing about his time as a 16-year-old in a boarding school and the dark events that changed his life forever. Though the similarities are undeniable, Rosoff manages to give her story a unique touch that will haunt the reader long after the final page.
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Meg Rosoff's novel What I Was will early on remind readers of John Knowles's classic coming of age tale, A Separate Peace. Both books feature an adult narrator reminiscing about his time as a 16-year-old in a boarding school and the dark events that changed his life forever. Though the similarities are undeniable, Rosoff manages to give her story a unique touch that will haunt the reader long after the final page.
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Jun 07, 2009
Marigold
rated it:
This is a lovely book. “H”, the narrator, is an old man looking back, telling the story of his youth and first love. Beautifully written – even poetic – it takes you on a journey to a place you can clearly picture in your mind. (Of course, I once lived in East Anglia so maybe that helped!) The setting is wonderfully evoked including the all-boys boarding school where H lives, & the cottage by the sea where his friend Finn lives. This is one of those books that will make you think about simplicit
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Sep 23, 2011
Ira
rated it:
What I Was is a story about the teenage boy H's yearning to leap out the four corners of the box prescribed by society and quest for adventure and romantic lifestyle. Sick of the life in boarding school, he sought for an escapade. And in his pursuance he found friendship with beautiful orphan boy Finn who lives in a hut by the advancing shoreline in the east. Their friendship deepens. H's interest over his friendship with Finn is what the former defined as admiration to become that person, to b
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Jul 29, 2011
Laura
rated it: 
Had the off feeling that I was missing something in my final response to the book. The framing flashback portends some great event or action, but not much actually happened. We get very little information about our narrator, and I'm not talking about the lack of first name (and as a digression, the discovery that he doesn't like to say it because it sounds like a girl's name seemed just absurdly trivial after the build up). He says that his "behaviour was not deplorable if by deplorable you
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Aug 09, 2010
saadia k
rated it:
This book wasn't phenomenal, nor life-changing, nor radical in any way. Its themes weren't novel, and its characters weren't the most likable I've ever encountered. Not even close. But there was something about Rosoff's prose--something effortless, something that made me feel as though I was swimming, floating, in it--but that she could drown me at any moment, as well. (Perhaps owing to the fact that I read most of the book in the pool in my mother's backyard, or to the fact that water plays
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Mar 30, 2009
Rising star Meg Rosoff delivers a piercing and magical story about friendship and humanity.
In the not too distant future, a one-hundred-year-old man called H sails the eastern coast of England with his godson. H recalls when he himself was sixteen his godson's age as they search for the site of H's life-altering friendship with a boy named Finn. Finn lives alone on an isolated slip of land and follows no rules: he spends his days swimming, fishing, and collecting driftwood for hi More...
In the not too distant future, a one-hundred-year-old man called H sails the eastern coast of England with his godson. H recalls when he himself was sixteen his godson's age as they search for the site of H's life-altering friendship with a boy named Finn. Finn lives alone on an isolated slip of land and follows no rules: he spends his days swimming, fishing, and collecting driftwood for hi More...
Feb 04, 2009
Sean
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 17, 2010
Liza
rated it:
I picked this book up on sale as an impulse buy, and I actually really enjoyed it. Rosoff gives a quick, easy read. At first I felt pretty detached as a reader, but since I finished the book I have found myself re-imagining the scenes and action through Rosoff's subtly powerful descriptive language.
The story style of a mature man, H., reflecting on his naïve boyhood and on his desire to be someone he is not, proved very compelling to me. Plus, the character Finn is such an enigma that the
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Feb 27, 2010
Katie
rated it:
At the warning of a fellow goodreads guru, I skipped the last 2 pages of this book, so I can’t make a comment about how that may have altered my enjoyment of this story. What I Was has the same magical quality (without actually adhering to the fantasy genre) as a previous Rosoff work, Who I am Now. I much preferred the latter, but this, too, was a delight. Similar to Who I am Now, this character-driven story details a unique friendship between two people, with their adventures playing as back
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Feb 28, 2010
santina
rated it:
I started reading this book before Christmas and I just can't seem to finish it. I fell in love with Rosoff's writing with How I Live Now - what an amazing book that was - but this novel is missing something.
*EDIT* I don't know what happened, but yesterday I just felt like I couldn't abandon this book and I finished it. I'm glad I did. The second half of the book picks up and slides back into Rosoff's comfortable prose. She just has a way of creating a magic bubble around her c More...
*EDIT* I don't know what happened, but yesterday I just felt like I couldn't abandon this book and I finished it. I'm glad I did. The second half of the book picks up and slides back into Rosoff's comfortable prose. She just has a way of creating a magic bubble around her c More...
Sep 22, 2010
Mathilde
rated it:
An extraordinary account of an obsessive friendship between a prep-school misfit and a beautiful orphan. The narrator shows his disdain for the school rules with apathy rather than rebellion, until the day he meets Finn on a nearby beach. The narrator is immediately intrigued by the quiet boy with impossibly perfect, delicate features, particularly when he learns that since his grandmother died four years earlier, Finn lives alone. But the narrator's carefully constructed world crumbles when St.
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Mar 19, 2010
Your_Granny
rated it:
Dat was me er ééntje!
Toen ik de eerste bladzijden van dit boek las, dacht ik:
'Oh nee, weer het onderwerp kostscholen en kostschooljongetjes?!'
Gelukkig waren de teksten helemaal niet zwaar
geschreven en las ik dus dapper verder.
Dit boek zit echt vol verrassingen.
Het is lang geleden dat ik bij een verhaal
een 'fout voorgevoel' had over wat er zou gebeuren.
Ik dacht eigenlijk dat het verhaal over de eerste
homorelaties in de jaren stillekes ging More...
Toen ik de eerste bladzijden van dit boek las, dacht ik:
'Oh nee, weer het onderwerp kostscholen en kostschooljongetjes?!'
Gelukkig waren de teksten helemaal niet zwaar
geschreven en las ik dus dapper verder.
Dit boek zit echt vol verrassingen.
Het is lang geleden dat ik bij een verhaal
een 'fout voorgevoel' had over wat er zou gebeuren.
Ik dacht eigenlijk dat het verhaal over de eerste
homorelaties in de jaren stillekes ging More...
Jun 25, 2011
Jen
rated it:
This book is really hard to rate. I didn't love it or hate it. Rosoff has a beautiful writing style that perfectly captures the setting and relationship between her characters, so I can't fault the way the story was written. But, the story itself kind of left me with a "what's the point of this story" feeling. Rosoff has a tendency to explore odd relationships and create characters that aren't really likeable, but the writing is so well done, you keep reading.
In this bo More...
In this bo More...
Jul 06, 2009
Casandria
rated it:
The main character of What I Was is a 16-year-old student at a boy's school in England. He has already been kicked out of 2 schools, for bad behavior and grades. But even this is due to a blandness about him. He narrates the story beginning the year at a new place, St. Oswald's school, where he eventually meets an enigmatic orphan named Finn who lives alone in a house by the sea. Finn is everything the narrator wishes he could be: independent, straightforward, quiet, and extremely competent.
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Apr 27, 2010
Tara
rated it:
I got to the end of the second disc and just could not get myself to move on. The language seemed excessively wordy and even though she excessively uses language to try and describe the surroundings and characters, I was not able to fully picture them. I cared less about the characters and their relationship. The story was bland and uneventful and I really could not decipher what the point of the story was.
It had a similar flow to How I Live Now, but the voice was not as interesting. More...
It had a similar flow to How I Live Now, but the voice was not as interesting. More...
Aug 07, 2011
Mike
rated it:
The voice of the character narrating the story is quite brilliantly crafted. Believable, sensitive, a character you can really empathise with. I read the first few chapters and was enraptured with the style.
However, now I've finished the book I can't help but feel dissatisfied that it didn't live up to what I'd hope it would be. The subject matter is certainly challenging for the intended age group and this is why I feel Rosoff leaves a vagueness to the love between the characters. I can accept More...
However, now I've finished the book I can't help but feel dissatisfied that it didn't live up to what I'd hope it would be. The subject matter is certainly challenging for the intended age group and this is why I feel Rosoff leaves a vagueness to the love between the characters. I can accept More...
Dec 28, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 25, 2009
NZBook
rated it:
Loved 'How I live now' so looked forward to this. The female character in HILN was so embedded in my mind it took a while to get used to the male lead. Wonderful job of portraying the teen agonies of trying to create yourself, particularly trying to see yourself through someone you admire's eyes, and to create yourself in their image. My daughter had told me definitely NOT to look ahead to the end as it would spoil the main thing about the book, so I didn't, but it made me look for the twist and
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Jun 18, 2011
Vivian
rated it:
I found this a very enjoyable read. Rosoff writes beautifully, and I was pulled in to find out how it would all turn out, but was ultimately left unsatisfied. I don't need a novel to end with all the loose ends tied up, but this story somehow just missed the mark for me. Her descriptions were lovely, and I felt that she was able to get into the head of the 16 year-old boy at the center of this book, especially his unrequited longing for his friend on the beach, but the outcome of their relation
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Jun 09, 2009
Dean
rated it:
This chick sure knows how to mess up a pretty good book. Meg Rosoff has once again ruined a compelling narrative with a lame twist ending. I have the same problems with this book that i had with Just In Case, the story starts off strong and ends weakly. This story is about this british boy enrolled in boarding school who thinks he's falling in love with this other boy he met who lives alone on the coast of town. The story isn't something I'd usually read and I really didn't know what I was g
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Dec 27, 2010
Amy
rated it:
This book really surprised me. I picked it up from the Library just because the cover caught my eye and it was a shorter book. I started it and could not put it down. It was so different than other books I've read. I had a feeling there would be a twist at the end and I wasn't really surprised. You could see it coming but it didn't matter. I was still just as invested in the characters and the story and had to see how it all played out. Very memorable read and I think I stumbled upon a
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