You Know Where to Find Me

Reader reviewed by Melyssa

Once upon a time two cousins grew up together.  But as they grow, they grow apart.  Laura, daughter of wealthy Jim and his partner, lives a life of privilege and attends a high society private school.  Miles, daughter of Mel, twin sister of Jims partners, lives an average life attends a charter high school in the DC suburbs.  Miles, once so similar to Laura people thought they were twins, hides behind junk food, dark baggy clothes, and blacked hair.  She is disillusioned with life, she is apathetic.  She believes in nothing except the depressants and pain killers she takes with her candy.  Soon Laura will go off to college and leave her behind.  But events take an unexpected twist when the family receives news that Laura has committed suicide via overdoes.  What are those left behind to do?  Miles faces her first summer without Laura.  She tries to lose herself in her pills and her friends try to stop her, but they cause her more hurt.  Her best friend, Jamal, hooks up with Lauras best friend, Bex, and they spend little time with her.  There are tenuous times when they reach out to each other, but for Miles, it always falls back on the drugs.  On her trips and highs, Miles thinks that Laura is the bright one, the brave one, to choose her own end.  Miles wonders should she try to be that brave.

 

You know where to find me is horrible, fascinating, heartbreaking, and amazing.  Once again Rachel Cohn does not disappoint.  What could be easily mistaken for the trials of a poor little rich girls suicide turns out to be so much more.  The main character, Miles, is a very deep character and her pain is very real to you as you read, even if you have never been in any of her situations you will find a connection with her.  She is brilliant and cunning in her whit and her attempt to be apathetic.  There is ton of reference to DC and DC politics, which makes Miles seem even more intelligent in her attempt at indifference   This story however is not for the faint of heart.  Miles is truly self-destructive and many of the chapters during her frequent tripping, making them all the more painful.  As you read, you have no idea how the story will end for her and that just makes you want to read faster!

Reader reviewed by the book muncher

Beautiful Laura and chubby Miles are sister-cousins, cousins by blood but as close as sisters. That is, until adolescence, when perfect Laura ditches Miles for more popular friends, and outcast Miles is dubbed 8 Mile. But during Lauras last year of high school, the cousins reconnected over a shared love of getting high. Miles thought she had gotten Laura back; she didnt know how far they really were until Laura commits suicide. Miles now finds herself lost, not knowing who to turn to or what to care about. You Know Where to Find Me follows a struggling Miles as she tries to figure out how life will go on.

I found You Know Where to Find Me a confusing novel at best. In all honesty, I liked the first and last chapters but pretty much nothing in between. Miles character was very confusing, and I didnt feel that the rest of the characters were developed enough, especially Miles parents. I also never really felt the connection between Laura and Miles that shouldve been there. The novel follows Miles life, but I often felt myself thinking, Well, so what? You Know Where to Find Me lacks a certain something that could make it a really great novel, and I regret to say that this book greatly disappointed me. I originally expected this novel to be similar to other spectacular novels dealing with death and suicide such as The Day I Killed James by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, and Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe, but You Know Where to Find Me unfortunately failed at this.

Im sorry to say that You Know Where to Find Me is probably the first book Ive read that I dont recommend at all (not including school-required novels). This book was just too disappointing.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com