Book Details & Major Themes

Where She Went is a work of young adult fiction by Gayle Forman. The novel was published in 2011 and is the sequel to Froman’s earlier work If I Stay.

In If I Stay, Mia Hall is 17 years old and involved in a fatal car crash that kills both her parents and younger brother. The novel unfolds over a 24-hour period where Mia is in a critical condition and has the power to decide whether to live despite loss or die and move on to the afterlife. Adam Wilde is Mia’s boyfriend at the time and urges her to live. The book finishes with Mia choosing life and walking from her coma.

Where She Went next picks up the thread of Mia and Adam’s relationship, with the pair having eventually separated after Mia’s difficult recovery; Mia blames Adam for making her choose life and not joining her parents in the afterlife. Told in sparse prose from Adam’s point of view, the novel considers the themes of Closure, The Healing Power of Art, and The Hollowness of Fame.

Author Highlights

Gayle Forman is a bestselling American author and journalist who is best known for her young adult fiction. Her most acclaimed book, If I Stay (2009), became a global sensation and received the NAIBA Book of the Year Award and a nomination for the Indies Choice Book Awards. Its sequel, Where She Went (2011), also garnered critical acclaim. Forman's other notable young adult works include I Was Here (2015), Just One Day (2013), and Just One Year (2013).

Film Adaptation

If I Stay was adapted into a film of the same name directed by R.J. Cutler. The film closely follows the book's narrative, capturing Mia's out-of-body experiences and flashbacks that influence her ultimate choice between life and death. Chloë Grace Moretz, whose breakout role was as Hit-Girl in the film Kick-Ass (2010), played Mia Hall, and Jamie Blackley, who rose to prominence in the thriller The Fifth Estate (2013), played Adam Wilde. The film received mixed reviews.

Plot Summary

As the novel begins, Adam’s band Shooting Star is one of the biggest rock acts in the world. However, on the eve of their new tour, Adam, the star of the group, is overcome with dread. He is alienated from his bandmates, who resent his self-imposed isolation from them. They also struggle with the fact that the media publicity has increasingly focused on Adam, not on the entire group. Adam is also dependent on drugs and alcohol just to get through his days.

His greatest torment is the result of being left by Mia Hall, his high school girlfriend. An accomplished high school cellist, she is now a lauded professional musician. After she was in a car crash that killed her parents and younger brother, Mia slipped into a coma. After emerging from it and enduring through a painful, lengthy recovery, she leaves for Juilliard School of Music. And when she goes, she abandons Adam, despite her prior promises that they would always be together. Three years later, when the novel opens, Adam still has no idea why she left him.

The night before his tour begins, Adam happens to see that she is performing at a venue in the city. Although he tries to hide in the crowd, he is noticed. Mia is alerted to his presence and asks to see him backstage. They spend the night walking through Manhattan and avoiding the many questions surrounding their breakup.

Finally, Mia reveals her reason for leaving Adam. While she was in her coma, Adam begged her to stay alive. He promised that he would let her go, as long as she didn’t let herself die. She heard him and chose to come out of her coma. However, rather than being grateful for her life, she was overcome with anger, blaming him for the fact that she didn’t join her family in death.

As the novel ends, she shares this revelation with Adam and they reconcile. Where She Went has been critically acclaimed and is highly recommended for readers of young adult fiction.