Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Emily's life is shattered when she finds out that her best friend, Sloane, suddenly disappears. It's kinda freaky. Her house is empty and she doesn't answer her calls or texts. Emily's a bit of a recluse before Sloane comes along, so Sloane's disappearance shakes her pretty badly. She belatedly realizes that she has no friend whatsoever beside Sloane, which means she will have to spend the summer alone. However, a letter from Sloane arrives one day. It has no return address or a "hi", just a list of things that Emily should do. Somehow she manages to convince herself that if she does everything in the list, Sloane will magically come back like a genie. So she sets out to do so.

Since You've Been Gone is a typical YA coming-of-age story. Emily is a reclusive girl who finally gets to open up and acquire new friends while doing quirky things. At first I really hate this girl, because she acts like a 10-year-old child instead of a 17-year-old girl. I mean, I'm a recluse who only has like four friends in high school too, but this girl really grates my nerves. Her outlook in life is so child-like and she virtually can't do anything without Sloane telling her to do. She's also incredibly naive. I'm okay with an innocent, naive protagonist, since this is YA we're talking about and all their protagonists tend to be in the "good girls" category, but Emily's childlike-ness is so overtly childish. I feel like I'm reading a story about an elementary school child instead of a high school girl. Even the girls in Jacqueline Wilson's novels have more maturity and they're supposed to be in junior high.

But it gets better as the story progress, although Emily remains annoyingly innocent halfway into the book. Maybe because her initial childishness is so exaggerated, her character development is so satisfying to me. In fact, I grow to like, and even love Emily. I sympathize with her, and I get her fears of being left alone in the world. Though, I find it hard to understand why Emily, an American teenager who shops vintage clothes and goes upstate for flea markets, does not know who Lykke Li and Arcade Fire and Death Cab for Cutie are. "I Follow Rivers" is a pretty big hit for someone like Lykke Li's stature and Arcade Fire is a freaking superstar in terms of indie artists. Hell, even the mainstream knows who Arcade Fire is. I mean, she's into 80s music.

I like the female friendships in this novel. Too often the cool, popular girls like Sloane would be the Mean Girl (tm) but it's not the case in this book, which I find refreshing. The friendship between Sloane and Emily is very sweet and is not poisoned by an undercurrent of "frenemy-ness" that usually makes you wonder why these girls are friends in the first place.

I would've given this book a four star, if it were not for the INCREDIBLY stupid conflict in the end that feels tacked on. And by "incredibly" I mean not even letting the other party finish his sentence. I feel like we could've saved several pages if that freaking party is allowed to finish his sentence. It's stupid and unnecessary, so it gets a one star downgrade. Overall, I think Since You've Been Gone is good and refreshing, light enough for a quick read. Though not the best YA I've ever read, I'd recommend it for anyone that's looking for a good contemporary YA or a palate cleanser after a heavy read (I'm looking at you Lolita).