Raw and emotional tale of loss and the healing power of friendship.
Raw and emotional, Gayle Forman’s latest YA novel confronts loss and grief and how to move forward and come to terms with Life After Loss. But at the center of this tale is the beauty of friendship and acceptance, making I Have Lost My Way equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful.
Three teens are brought together after an unlikely series of events, and through the course of this short narrative, each one slowly reveals what brought them to their current state of being lost. While each character’s life and background differs dramatically, it’s their shared feelings of grief and anguish that strongly connects them. One character has lost their singing voice, one has lost a boyfriend, another a father. While each loss seems incredibly different on the surface, it becomes apparent that these weren’t just things and people that have been taken from them, but instead part of their identities, deeply woven into the fabric of what makes these three people who they are.
This story is incredibly fast-paced and the entirety takes place over the course of one single day. Forman did a fantastic job slowly revealing each character’s history through alternating chapters and POV’s, and having the narrative switch from present to past and back again was a genius way to reveal just a little bit at a time, making the story seem longer than it ultimately was. My only complaint was the abruptness of the ending, as I really wasn’t ready to say goodbye to these wonderfully deep and complex characters, but alas - the story ended as quickly as it began.
Bottom line - I Have Lost My Way was a phenomenal tale of the beauty of friendship and the strength of the human spirit, and certainly one that will manage to tug on the strings of even the hardest hearts. Highly recommend and I’ll certainly be looking forward to discovering more from this incredibly talented author.
*I received a free copy courtesy of BookishFirst in exchange for my honest opinion.
Three teens are brought together after an unlikely series of events, and through the course of this short narrative, each one slowly reveals what brought them to their current state of being lost. While each character’s life and background differs dramatically, it’s their shared feelings of grief and anguish that strongly connects them. One character has lost their singing voice, one has lost a boyfriend, another a father. While each loss seems incredibly different on the surface, it becomes apparent that these weren’t just things and people that have been taken from them, but instead part of their identities, deeply woven into the fabric of what makes these three people who they are.
This story is incredibly fast-paced and the entirety takes place over the course of one single day. Forman did a fantastic job slowly revealing each character’s history through alternating chapters and POV’s, and having the narrative switch from present to past and back again was a genius way to reveal just a little bit at a time, making the story seem longer than it ultimately was. My only complaint was the abruptness of the ending, as I really wasn’t ready to say goodbye to these wonderfully deep and complex characters, but alas - the story ended as quickly as it began.
Bottom line - I Have Lost My Way was a phenomenal tale of the beauty of friendship and the strength of the human spirit, and certainly one that will manage to tug on the strings of even the hardest hearts. Highly recommend and I’ll certainly be looking forward to discovering more from this incredibly talented author.
*I received a free copy courtesy of BookishFirst in exchange for my honest opinion.