Just finished diving into If He Had Been With Me and I'm absolutely blown away by the unpacking symbolism in ya fiction throughout the narrative - the autumn imagery is incredibly meaningful and symbolizes Autumn's character development perfectly, while the crown moment hit so hard because it represents her unrealized potential and the alternate reality with Finny, plus the way Laura Nowlin uses autumn elements to foreshadow the devastating conclusion is genius-level writing that makes this from a basic love story into a meaningful examination of fate and missed opportunities - has anyone else picked up on how the recurring motifs of patterns throughout the book tie into the concept that we're stuck by our circumstances and cannot break free from the roads we choose?
