From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

I Was Here

Gayle Forman

Start date: October 1, 2015

Finish date: October 31, 2015

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: It won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] It won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 156 topics — 4,062 comments total

Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
By Bailey · 8 posts · 42 views

last updated Oct 04, 2025 06:25PM

* Stand Alone- Better Than Revenge
By Bailey · 2 posts · 30 views

last updated Sep 15, 2025 07:03AM

showing 3 of 3 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 10, 2015 Desa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, young-adult, contemporary, read-in-2016

Tengo un conflicto muy grande. El libro me ha gustado, sí, pero se ha quedado ahí. No estoy segura de lo que me ha faltado, pero definitivamente me ha faltado ALGO para conectar del todo con los personajes, sus relaciones y con la forma en que la trama se ha ido construyendo.

Después de leer la bilogía de Just One Day de Forman, creo que esperaba volver a sentir esa atadura emocional que sentí con esos libros (sobre todo con la protagonista, Allyson), pero esta vez no ha sido así. De todas forma ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2014 Michael rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-in-2015, winter-reading-2015, young-adult

Looks like I'm 0-2 when it comes to Gayle Forman's novels. And it's looking less and less likely that I'm willing to give her a third strike to try and turn things around.

The problem is that both of Forman's books I've read have had interesting hooks. The first chapter of I Was Here, where we get the devastating news that Cody's best friend killed herself using an industrial cleaner but had a time-triggered e-mail that gave friends and family instructions on where to find her is haunting, tragic Looks like I'm 0-2 when it comes to Gayle Forman's novels. And it's looking less and less likely that I'm willing to give her a third strike to try and turn things around.

The problem is that both of Forman's books I've read have had interesting hooks. The first chapter of I Was Here, where we get the devastating news that Cody's best friend killed herself using an industrial cleaner but had a time-triggered e-mail that gave friends and family instructions on where to find her is haunting, tragic and the kind of thing you wouldn't wish on anyone.

The problem is that it's all downhill from there. A lot of my issues from this book come from how truly unlikeable Cody becomes over the course of the next hundred or so pages. Despite claims about being best friends with Meg (the girl who dies) and her family, Cody comes across as self-absorbed, petty and a person who has extreme issues with her mother. (Mom isn't going to win mother of the year by any stretch of the imagination but it feels like Cody is far too disrespectful and dismissive of her mother at several points in the novel).

Cody and Meg had plans to go to college together, but those went awry for Cody, who now cleans houses to make ends meet and is flunking out of her local community college. Meg's family asks Cody to head up to Meg's college and pack up her dorm room for them, sending all of her personal effects back home. At this point, Cody meets some of Meg's roommates and college friends as well as snooping into Meg's life to see what might have led her down the path to suicide.

Turns out there was this guy, who Meg was really into until things went awry. Cody is quick to assume that it must be all the guys' fault (because it always is!) and blames him. But then she starts to get to know him a bit and the two begin to be attracted to each other. Cody also finds out that Meg spent a lot of time on forums for people looking for the courage to commit suicide and that one particular poster was particularly influential in Meg's decision to finally go through with her decision. Cody decides the best thing to do is to track this guy down and confront him.

Luckily, one of Meg's housemates is a super hacker who can find this stuff out and before you know it she's on a road trip to Las Vegas with Meg's ex to find and confront this person.

The sheer number of selfish, self-absorbed decisions that Cody makes in the course of this novel is staggering. I'm not quite sure if we're ever supposed to root for her (I suppose we are), but I couldn't find myself feeling anything more than that Cody was a selfish girl who was so caught up in herself that she couldn't see that her (alleged) best friend was crying out for help and had been suffering from depression for three plus years. I also had some huge issues with Cody and Meg's ex not only getting together but also the completely over the top melodramatic and cliched way they finally declare their love for each other. Honestly, it reminded me of the final conversation from Speed where Sandra Bullock tells Keanu Reeves that relationships started because of stress don't last, so they'd better base theirs on sex.

I believe the scene in the book was supposed to be a culmination of the entire character arc, but by this point I was so tired of Cody's petulant, self-righteousness that it felt like yet another terrible decision in a novel full of terrible decisions and characters.

And while maybe that is the point that Forman is trying to make, I still can't help but walk away from this novel feeling like it was a profound waste of potential. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 01, 2018 ijul (yuliyono) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: terjemahan, young-adult, romance

saya pikir bakal ada muatan rohani yang begitu mendalam, ternyata masih lumayan wajar, jadi saya tetap enjoy bacanya. isu yang begitu emosional, tentang remaja yang rentan bunuh diri. selalu suka gaya nulis Gayle Forman, sih.

3 likes · Like · see review

May 08, 2015 Christine rated it really liked it

It's another one of those stories that will stick with me for a long time. Gayle Forman once again, knows how to create characters and storylines that make a lasting impact on the reader. I found the romance part to be a little awkward and out of place, but I felt Cody's pain. Mental illness needs to have a better emphasis in our current culture. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 06, 2014 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-library, 2016, gayle-forman

When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar an ...more

Like · see review

Dec 29, 2014 Jeanine rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, suicide

"Life can be hard and beautiful and messy, but hopefully, it will be long. If it is, you will see that its unpredictable and that the dark periods come, but they abate --sometimes with a lot of support -- and the tunnel widens, allowing the sun back in. If you are in the dark, it might feel like you will always be in there. Fumbling. Alone. But you won't -- and you're not. There are people out there to help you find the light." Such truth…written by the author in her epilogue, this is not part o ...more

Like · see review

Jan 11, 2015 Courtney rated it liked it

Shelves: teens

This book was a lot grittier than her others. This book follows the aftermath of suicide from the surviving best friend's POV. I enjoyed watching Cody work through and deal with losing her other half. She reluctantly goes to clean out Meg's apartment and gets caught up in learning as much as she can about Meg's last few months of life. She meets Meg's roommates, ex and starts reading her email. She soon discovers more than she expected and finds herself turning to the last person she wants to in ...more

Like · see review