Inquiry Paper - Re:"Where She Went"
In the book Where She Went the story takes place 3 years after the accident. How would the story have been different if it took place directly after Mia had woken up?
I think that if the story had taken place right after Mia woke up, it wouldn’t have been as exciting. Adam talks about how for a couple of months after the accident he and Mia did talk while she was away at Julliard, but he was also in a very hard state because he had basically left his bandmates, and was so depressed from the rest of the Hall family being dead, but also that Mia was beginning to shut him out. This was definitely a very hard time for Adam, but it gave him the inspiration for his next album, Collateral Damage. After he had thought up of all of the songs, he showed them to his old band, and even though they were upset with him ditching them, they liked the songs and decided to start recording. Once they finished all of the songs, they became famous in the blink of an eye. As Adam was still trying to get over the break up with Mia, he was becoming a rockstar, but would look for pleasure and healing in all of the wrong places. In the words of Mia, he had become a guy opposed to a man. Even though Mia was still on his mind, he would try to ignore it.
If the book would’ve started directly after the accident, then we would’ve seen all of the pain that Adam went through, and we would’ve seen the moments where he became a guy. It would’ve been harder to spot that exact time though, because in the book he directly states the time where he believes that took place. It would be a good book if there was one that was right after the accident happened, but I like how in Where She Went it showed how much Adam thought of Mia even though he had another girlfriend; he knew Mia was the one for him. However, when she was near death, he told her that he would do anything if she would choose to stay alive, even if that meant them not being together. Even though Adam understood he said that, he didn’t want it to be true, but that was how it worked for Mia. When they met up again by chance he tries to use this opportunity to ask Mia why he left her because all this time he was so confused.
In a way, I wish that I could’ve known more about what all Mia was doing during those 3 years, because there is no way Adam could’ve known. I wonder if she thought about Adam as much as he did her, and if maybe she would try to push that away as well. Mia talks about how she will talk to her parents and brother still, and how they help her get through the day. But also, she must think about Adam at some points. But, I think she was also trying to push out the thoughts of him considering she had no pictures of him anywhere. She definitely did still think about him, because she bought his guitar that he auctioned off, and kept it because she knew she wanted to give it back to him, almost as a way of apologizing.
I like how the book starts 3 years later, because it gives you a chance to see how much someone can change within 3 years, and how a big event can change the lives of many forever.
