I Have Lost My Way is a little blue bundle of damaged characters, family angst, and emotional destruction.
Awww.
I had very little idea what this new Forman book was about but I really loved If I Stay (and the movie was also so good?! also #emotions…I do have feelings apparently) and I Have Lost My Way also tugged at those heart strings. So that was GREAT. However it wasn’t quite the perfect book for me, but we’ll get to all those reasonings soon. Patience.
Also SHOUT OUT to the Australian cover because it absolutely resembles my headphones when I put them in my pocket for two seconds.
+ It’s a Told Over One Day™ story!
Which is a trope I both love and hate. LOVE = how it’s short and powerful and I got so so attached to these characters after just seeing them over one day! HATE = how a romance over one day never works for me haha. Maybe that’s just me though considering I usually am not sure what someone’s name is after one day (names are hard to remember ok) so how the heck do you fall in love. However. There was no “WE’RE SOUL MATES” or romantic soliloquies here. So. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It was instalove (in my opinion) but not unbearable! And they were cute!
+ It also has 3 narrators: Freya, Harun, and Nathaniel.
It’s written so their backstory comes in 1st person chapters, but the bulk of the book (set in the present day) is written in 3rd. (Also 3rd person/present tense IS MY LIFE so I loved that!) Even though the book is really short, I felt we got to know these three characters so well. My only negative is that Harun’s narrative didn’t seem to really fit?? He had a great story with a full arc and everything…but you could’ve cut him out and it wouldn’t have affected the plot. #imSorryButISaidIt
- FREYA: She’s a rising-star singer who suddenly can’t sing. We’re never sure if it’s nerves or a medical condition, but just one day she couldn’t sing anymore. She feels SO lost and is terrified that she’ll be fired from her singing contract and forgotten and never loved again. She’s also biracial/Ethiopian and has a sister, Sabrina, who started singing with her but then…#yikes.
- HARUN: He’s from a strict Muslim family and very closely closeted and starts off the book planning to run away from his family due to something he’s agreed with that HE REALLY SHOULDN’T HAVE. He’s just broken his boyfriend’s heart and is totally lost and alone.
- NATHANIEL: He is a very smol sad cinnamon son (WHOM I LOVED THE MOST) who’s very depressed after his home-life falls apart and so lonely. And so soft™ and sweet and will eat anything you put in front of him bless him.
+ They have the best #meetcute ever.
Freya’s on her phone lamenting the loss of her career and she trips and falls off a low bridge and knocks out Nathaniel. He is super concussed. Pukes on her shoes. Harun is nearby and offers to help because he recognises Frey’s fammmmous and thinks hanging out with her might get his boyfriend back. I JUST LOVED THIS. The three end up spending the day together and facing all their devastating tear-filled pasts.
+ It’s definitely got the emotional slap you’re looking for.
I got caught up in the story quite fast and wanted to know where everyone would end up! The themes of loneliness and loss and love where just poured so heartfeltly (shh that is now a word) onto every page.
+ I do have a few problems, because I am a sad egg deep inside.
As much as I like Harun as a person, his story honestly didn’t fit to me. It was completely disposable to Freya/Nathaniel’s story?! And being queer, brown, Muslim, and having the only fully tragic storyline of the three felt…Well, I’m never going to point fingers and say “who gets to write what story” but I wasn’t comfortable with the telling. I think Muslim (especially just featuring the negative parts) and tragic/queer stories should be told by #ownvoices. And also Nathaniel/Freya’s romance was FAST. So fast, mate, so fast. And surely we didn’t need so many POV changes in the one chapter?! And, lastly lol lol, it didn’t feel YA. The characters are 19+ and in college or work and it didn’t have the feel or essence of YA in my opinion.
Overall I did like I Have Lost My Way! It’s a short punch about grief and loneliness and finding people to share your struggles with. It’ snot about “love cures” but more “hey if you’re struggling, people CAN and WILL be there for you”…which is so so important to say! And the ending is SO oPEN and I kind of love it for all the unanswered questions.
THANK YOU SIMON & SCHUSTER FOR THE REVIEW COPY. I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman was published April 2018.
Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from home to find the boy that he loves, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City after a family tragedy leaves him isolated on the outskirts of Washington state. After the three of them collide in Central Park, they slowly reveal the parts of their past that they haven’t been able to confront, and together, they find their way back to who they’re supposed to be.
Told over the course of a single day from three different perspectives, this is a story about the power of friendship and being true to who you are.
I like one-day stories because they’re so condensed but they have to be done elegantly to work imo. I ADORED The Sun is Also a Star because it was so clever and so powerful. I also quite liked Gayle Forman’s Just One Day when I read it several years ago. but while most of a the story is centred around one day, it’s really about a whole year. (I wrote a whole discussion post about this a year ago https://weavingwaveswords.wordpress.com/2017/02/04/discussion-books-with-a-short-timespan/)
I prefer single narrators, but dual and triple narration can be really effective at times too. I haven’t read this, though I’ve seen it around, and I think I’ll give it a miss tbh because it doesn’t sound like my thing anymore. But I liked your review!
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That’s fair! I know sometimes we grow out of styles of books right?! But it did give me huge The Sun is Also A Star vibes if that changes your mind haha.😂 (Although this one is slightly less about the universe and more introspective.😂)
I feel like one day stories can be pretty good unless they try building things like romance that should take a long time but I also feel like an experienced author can pull that off!? Idk haven’t read many tbh. I do love some good multiple POVs when done well, but I also feel like most of them end up having at least one character who’s chapters you can’t stand and you just want one the good characters. I think I’ll give this one a pass it just doesn’t really peak my interest. But hey is that ATPN in your book rainbow? 😏
Yes for sure! I think it can be often done believably, although I just struggle with it because if you don’t even KNOW a person, how can you be in love with them?!😂Although I liked that this one didn’t have them declare they were destined soulmates or anything. It was more like attraction. Hahah.
AGREED. I always have one narrator I hate in multiple-POV books.😂
(And yes yes I am squeezing ATPN into all the photos now. I’m so so subtle right?!)
I enjoyed this one so much! It’s been years since I’ve read a Gayle Forman novel even though she was one of my favorite contemporary authors when I was younger. I 100% agree with the romance between Nathaniel and Freya. It was kind of weird and I was like… Do we really need this? The answer is no. It was just a weird excuse for Nathaniel to make references to his boner being a baseball bat. LOL Anyway, I wouldn’t classify this as YA. It’s more NA. It focuses adults who are struggling with their lives post-high school and a lot of the content just feels more generated towards new adults or older teens about to leave high school.
Exactly! The book could’ve been just as awesome and strong if they’d just been friends. And omg the baseball scene was SO awkward and weird?! I almost felt it was this “slam we must remember we’re all romantic” (not that that was romantic bleh) and yeah…not a fan.😂 But yes, more NA than YA I thought too. They were all out of school and it’s more like “oh no I have to be an adult” whereas I feel like YA is more discovering how to be a teen?!
I’m a biiiit wary of this since it kind of has all of those things I USUALLY don’t like in books: the one-day story, the multiple POVs, and a fast romance? Errrrrm. It definitely does sound cute, but I think these stuff will bother me more than entertain me. Yikes.
Aimee (Aimee, Always) recently posted…Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: 5 Things This Epic YA Fantasy Made Me Do
Haha yes same though.😂 The fast romance is always where it falls apart for me. Like it can be cute but I can’t really ship it?! Like you don’t even KNOW the person if you’ve just hung out one day!! How can you be in love with someone you don’t know?!
I’ve (kind of) read The Sun is Also a Star, but I had to DNF it because one day stories make me feel so…strange? Like I’m sure many people love them, and they’re great, but just not for me. Like everything happening in literally hours is just so weird to me.
As for narrators, I’d say as many as the author can make work. I’m currently starting Six of Crows (finally! I’ve been saying I’ll read it for actually ever but I’m just getting around to it) and from the three POVs I’ve read, they’re all pretty great to read from. So I guess as long as the POV adds to the story and I can tell that the voices are unique I don’t really mind. I do adore dual narrated stories though, those are always fun (unless one of the narrators is boring haha).
I’ll add it to my TBR and hopefully get around to it (I hardly read contemporary buttt I’m trying to read some so I can be more familiar with the genre for ATPN!).
Haha, I actually didn’t like The Sun Is Also A Star either.😂 It was too pretentious for me and SO full of coincidences. At least with this one the only coincidence is they all met, but even then it felt random enough to be plausible?
Ahhh YES! Six of Crows is one of my favourite multiple-narrator books! usually I don’t like more than 4 but I think it did it soooo well.
I’ve never actually read one-day stories, but they sound very intriguing and interesting! I’ll have to try one out and see what I think. I love multiple narrators, and I love that cover. *heart eyes* Thanks s’much for the review, Cait! 🙂
They’re kind of fun right?! Seeing how a day can totally change your life! 😂
I wasn’t the BIGGEST fan of If I Stay, and I have never read another Forman book, haha. I was getting excited about this one because I am a little intrigued by these ‘book in a day’ stories and then you mentioned ‘tragic’ and ‘queer’ and now it’s a big nope from me. WHY is this still a thing? So much sighing.
I’m glad you enjoyed this one overall, though, Cait! Even if the romance moved a little too fast for the time length. That’s one of the reasons I liked They Both Die at the End so much. I feel like Silvera never pushed the romance between Mateo and Rufus. MY BOYS. *sobbing*
Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity recently posted…First Quarter Faves of 2018
Agh I just felt the negative aspect of the queer rep in here was so UNNECESSARY?!? I mean, those stories are important and obviously relatable and there wasn’t any tragic deaths (at least) but like…I don’t know?? I feel like we’re at the point where there are tons of queer authors who are better suited to tell the sad/dark/tragic side since it’s their story. Not that I believe in policing who-should-write-what, but just for this particularly book I think it was unnecessary (especially when everyone else found love, but the queer guy).
And YES. Silvera writes so perfectly (AND MEANLY TO MY FEELS) ❤️💔but I feel like he has much more ability to write sad queer stories??!
I think all of her books have taken place over a period of a day now haven’t they, maybe with the exception of one or two books. I have a Netgalley copy.of this one and absolutely can’t wait to pick it up. I was worried about there being instant love as well but it sounds more like a companionship and lust at nineteen. Still really excited and ready for my emotions to be torn out. Brilliant review Cait, really loved it <3 <3
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Omggg they HAVE TO. HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT BEFORE NOW.😂😂*facepalm* If I Stay and Where She Went definitely was too! Like with the backflashes and all that too.😂 And yes I think it *feels* like instalove but really truly it’s just a first-spark-of-lust-romance kinda thing happening. They didn’t solve all each other’s life problems in a day so I’m happy with that.😂
I’ve never read a one day story (I don’t think). Any recommendations?
I tend to like two narrators in stories. That way when the story gets slow with one narrator, you can switch and freshen things up.
And this book is *definitely* on my TBR now!
Well this one!😂 And oh oh Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. It’s actually told a whole book told in about the space of 5 minutes IT’S CRAZY AND SO GOOD.
Can’t wait to read it! (If I can get to it through my endless TBR lol)
Ummm yeah I’m so glad you mentioned this about a story that is better being told by #ownvoices…when there are so many of them trying to be published right? Also this cover looks like Still Life of a Tornado by AS King.
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Yeah I mean I feel REALLY weird for saying it because I don’t think it’s my place to be pointing fingers and I don’t like policing culture but…yet. I feel there are a lot of #ownvoices authors who deserve to tell the sad/tragic parts of their narrative instead of white/straight authors?? That’s what I believe anyway. 😔😔 It’d be different if the queer dude had a better arc, but it felt queer = tragedy. Straight = it’ll work out. That’s not…right?!?
this looks quite good, should i check it out? (i mostly want to read it cause my name is freya lol)
Well, I mean…I wrote a whole review to answer your question.😂