Not bad for my first Gayle Forman book...

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harasnicole Avatar

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As far as books go, I'm glad that this one was my first foray into Gayle Forman as a writer. Was I impressed with the book overall? Not necessarily, but this book does have heart, and the writing is pretty lyrical at times, even though the book is a little short.

I do love how diverse 'I Have Lost My Way' is, and I love even more that the diversity isn't there just to fit a quota. There are three main characters (Freya, who's biracial; Harun, who's a closeted gay Muslim; and Nathaniel, who has to relearn how to live and let go, while also living with one eye), with three separate points-of-view, and each one has their own tone which I can also appreciate. The book is also told in alternating timelines (first-person past, third-person present), and it was interesting to see when those timelines converged as the story continued.

Harun's story was interesting and sad and so many times I just wanted to wrap my arms around him in a hug because it felt like he needed one. Nathaniel's story was depressing, but it ending hopeful (Trigger Warning: mention of suicide). Freya's story started out good, but I feel like her arc ended kind of anticlimactically. I, personally, wanted more present-day interaction between her and her mother, and maybe an actual confrontation between Freya and the music producer who's shady AF, because it got hyped up but fizzled out, and now I'm disappointed in how her story ended.

So yeah, not a bad book, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of Gayle Forman's work, but I just wanted more conclusions in Freya's arc because I feel like, as much as I love Harun and Nathaniel, the book focused too much on fleshing out their stories than Freya's because I would have loved more present-day interactions regarding her questionable singing career.