Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson ~Contemporary September Day 8

Emily and Sloane have always been different, yet their mutual interests make them best friends. Emily and Sloane have gone through everything together, from disastrous haircuts to outlandish conspiracy theories. When Emily is with Sloane, she suddenly becomes another person, and feels secure only with her. Sloane knows Emily’s weaknesses and that she is dependant on her for lot of things. One day Emily wakes up to find her best friend gone. There’s no trace of her except for one last crazy list, that seems like a parting gift and a ridiculous last wish at the same time. It’s a check list full of things Sloane wants Emily to do, everything from dancing til dawn to skinny dipping.

Through reminiscing about Emily’s friendship with Sloane, we get to know about Sloane’s personality. Sloane is the complete opposite of Emily. She is fun, enigmatic, and a social butterfly. Emily has always remained under Sloane’s shadow. Emily is a fun character to read about and is very relatable if one is introverted or shy.  She can be awkward and is often unwilling to interact or approach with people, but with the help of the list she is able to break from her isolated life. As the story progresses, Emily, in the absence of her best friend, shows tremendous character growth. During this enthusiastic journey, she finds new friends as well, including Frank…

Frank is a supporting character who plays his part very well and helps Emily to complete her tasks. Frank is funny, charming, and adorable. Emily and Frank’s relationship starts on a very nice note as well. Matson has incorporated a number of playlists that they share with each other into the book very cleverly, which makes them even more prominent as a couple.  

Probably the best element in Since You’ve Been Gone is the friendship that Matson has projected so wonderfully and smartly. This book is not only about Emily discovering herself, but also focuses on friendship; instead of the plot surrounding relationship troubles, like a first glance at the title led us to believe, what really started everything was based on a wonderful friendship. Although Sloane is gone, it is fun to read Emily’s recounts of their friendship, and through these we feel the utter confusion and sadness she feels due to Sloane’s abandonment. We also learn through the stories of how Sloane and Emily compliment each other through their opposing personalities, bringing out the best in one and other. Their trust with each other sets a great example of true friendship.

The book is also filled with cute, creative, and original concepts that make the book so much more interesting and entertaining to read. The hardcover book jacket is beautiful to look at. At first glance it’s pretty normal, although nice looking. However, once opened the jacket has a whole enlarged picture on the entire inside, capturing the perfect summer moment. As mentioned before, there are also multiple playlists recorded at intervals in the book that the characters have created themselves. Through these, or listening to these, we really get a deeper understanding of the character. It’s also fun to compare your own music taste to the characters’. In addition, the tradition of Emily and Sloane leaving each other to-do lists is a wonderful concept itself. After seeing this, we as the readers were pushed into doing something similar, and living life to the fullest. It makes you want to make sure you complete everything on your bucket list as well. In fact, after reading this book I have my best friend a list of things to do when she went on a trip to New York.

Here are the playlists which are included in the book, we suggest listening to them whilst reading the book to enhance the experience.

http://8tracks.com/oficexndfire/run-emily-run

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/mix-4

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/mix-7

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/music-better-for-running-than-observational-comedy

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/pick-up-your-pace-porter-more-songs-about-trucks

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/mix-14

4/5

Tagged: Book, book review, contemporary, contemporary September, morgan matson, romance, since you've been gone, ya, young adult