The book “You Were Here” by Cori McCarthy is a story of a grieving teenage girl, Jaycee Strangelove, who finds solace in remembering her dead brother Jake by literally standing where he stood- which often happens to be in some of the most dangerous places. Along with Bishop, a heartbroken artist, Natalie, a nervous know it all, Zach, a guy finally growing up, and Mik, a selective mute, the band comes together to follow Jaycee’s brother’s legacy of dares and finally find closure for each of their own emotional scars.

The book has probably had some of the most character development I have ever seen. The characters are flawed- extremely flawed- yet still manage to stay within the bounds of reality. The story switches between the point of view of each of the characters, with Jaycee in first person, Natalie and Zach in third person, Bishop through one shots of the art he creates along their journey, and Mik through a comic book format depicting the action. Each character, despite being created by the same author, has a unique voice and a unique set of problems. Seeing the story unfold and their various reactions to other characters and situations gave a deeper insight to each individual and their relationships with each other rather than the bias of only seeing the story through the eyes of the main character. Not only that, the author also diversifies each character’s grieving process. Jaycee grieves by wearing her brother’s old clothes and attempting to recreate several of his famous dares in order to keep from forgetting him. Natalie secretly suffers mentally from the aftermath of Jake’s death and has an uncontrollable desire to recreate her life and who she is. Mik has retreated further into silence since the accident and only appears to Jaycee once a year when they commemorate the anniversary of Jake’s death together. Even the characters who weren’t directly affected by the accident are grieving through their own problems. Zach escapes the hurt of a divorced family by retreating to childhood games and Bishop handles his emotions over a bad breakup through his art. The flaws and issues inherent in each character is unique and powerful, following a more realistic vein and showcasing a variety of perspectives and experiences, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions about the story and the people that inhabit it.

That being said, the story was far from perfect. The characters were heavily flawed sometimes, which was necessary yet at times made it hard to find the redeeming qualities they had that could make them relatable. Jaycee’s wild tendencies and lashing out to those around her is understandable, yet sometimes grows tiring. Also, Bishop’s story and personality was hardly explored at all in the story, either through his perspective or the others’. The only importance he had was an instigator for the conflict in Natalie and Zach’s relationship, and even then I felt he could have easily been written out without impacting the story. The plot is a little helter skelter as well- I didn’t have a very easy time seeing the logical progression of the story and character decisions and it took some time to look past the characterization and the fleshing out of backstories to see the action that was actually happening in the moment. I wanted to be able to absorb the plot easily and focus my concentration on the deeper layers of the characters.

Overall the book was masterful in the development and intrigue of its characters, though I thought certain character flaws were over exaggerated and the plot took an unnecessary amount of brainpower to follow. Overall the book was an enjoyable read with complex conflicts and satisfying characters, challenging the way I thought in some of the wrong ways but all of the right ones.