If I Stay
BY: Gayle Forman
LEVEL: YA
PAGES: 272 – PUBLISHER: Speak; Reprint Edition (April 6th, 2010)
SUMMARY
A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make, and the ultimate choice one teenage girl commands, this emotionally arresting novel is sure to captivate readers.In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces – to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia’s story will stay with you for a long, long time.
MY REVIEW
I absolutely LOVED If I Stay! After hearing so many great things about it, I just had to see for myself. I have to say, I did find it to be a pretty easy read. Although, there was still a lot of depth within the story itself as well as the main character Mia. Mia has just lost her family in a tragic car accident, (that isn’t a spoiler). The whole time Mia is in the hospital in a coma, she is reflecting back on her life and she can see what’s happening around her in the hospital. They say that sometimes when you’re in the hospital you have an out of body experience, well that’s basically what happened in If I Stay. The story flips back and forth to how her life was before the accident, and how it has changed since the accident with her being in the hospital and actually being able to look down on her body lying on the hospital bed, and being able to hear everything that’s being said. I enjoyed learning about Mia’s life before the accident. Her relationship with her parents, her younger brother Teddy, and especially her boyfriend Adam. Also, how she became a cellist, how her parents met, were all details that made the story interesting. I’m glad that Gayle chose not to have Mia black out at any point in the story, after the accident. I personally, liked the idea of Mia being able to see everything that was happening in the hospital and get her thoughts on it, as well as being able to feel her emotions. For anyone who doesn’t typically pick up a book about any kind of tragedy, If I Stay might be the book for you. The emotions throughout were obviously really sad at times, and happier at others(when she was reflecting on her memories with her family), although the majority of the book wasn’t just this depressing story about a girl who loses her family in a tragic car accident. It is, or was so much more than that. Mia was a character I easily felt pulled to, mainly because of what happened. But because of the love that she had for her family and those memories that they shared together. As well as ones she shared with her best friend , boyfriend Adam and her grandparents. It is definately a book not to be missed!
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Stay Tuned For My Review Of Where She Went, The Sequel To If I Stay
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