25 pages • 50 minutes read
Gayle FormanWhere She Went
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Collateral Damage
Collateral Damage is the name of Shooting Star’s most popular album. In the world of the novel, it has been called “the angriest album of the decade.” Collateral damage refers to the unexpected casualties that result from a planned conflict. For instance, when civilians are killed during a military strike that targets enemy soldiers, their deaths are termed “collateral damage.”
In Where She Went, most of the damage suffered by Mia and Adam is unplanned, and therefore, more tragic in its life-altering consequences. Mia’s accident is not her fault, but it results in her leaving Adam for three years. Adam’s grief over being left is not his fault, but it leads to an increasing disillusionment with music, greater drug and alcohol use, and friction between him and his band. It als0 leads to his being singled out as the center of Shooting Star, which causes additional problems.
Adam’s Guitar
Mia bought Adam’s first Les Paul guitar at an auction, even though she was estranged from him at the time. She knew how much it meant to him, even if he had forgotten. The fact that she kept it for so long, not knowing if she would ever even see him again, is a clue that she had never really let him go. It shows him that she never forgot about him, even while she didn’t know how to reach out to him, or to explain why she left.
The Bridge
Gulfs can only be spanned by bridges. When Adam and Mia have their heated conversation on the bridge in New York, it is both literal and metaphorical. Much of their frustration in the novel arises from the fact that they are unable to find or build appropriate bridges to reach one another. All bridges go in two directions, and as such, present choices for both approaching or retreating.
Mia’s Cello
Mia’s instrument goes from being something she enjoys to something that gives her purpose. Her playing is unlike anyone else’s. It is not until a teacher says she is not reaching her potential as a cellist, however, that she dedicates herself entirely to her music. Playing the cello restores her body to its former shape and fitness level, but also revives pieces of herself that she thought were gone forever, or which she had forgotten. Like Adam’s guitars, it is always there, even though her motivations for playing change with her circumstances.
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By Gayle Forman
