Book Review,  Books

Book Review :: If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

3 Stars
Book Review :: If I Stay, by Gayle FormanIf I Stay by Gayle Forman
ISBN: 0147514533
Series: If I Stay #1
Published by Speak
on July 8th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 259
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The critically acclaimed, bestselling novel from Gayle Forman, author of Where She Went, Just One Day, and Just One Year.

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.

Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. '


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What is If I Stay about?

If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, is the story of Mia, an incredibly talented cellist who lives in a family of rock and punk lovers, and who is dating a boy in a not-very-classical band. She’s just auditioned to Juilliard, and everything is looking up. And then comes the car crash. When she comes to, she can still hear the music playing. She can see her family in the car wreck…and she can see herself.

“Imagine if all your choices were gone. Except one. And it’s the only one that really matters.”

The story is told from Mia’s perspective, in an out-of-body experience sort of way. She watches as she is rushed to the hospital, she is given surgery, and her grandparents and friends come to visit her dying body.

Throughout the book it changes between Mia in the ‘now’, watching herself in a hospital bed, and the ‘then’, when she was fully alive and conscious and living life. We, as readers, learn about her life, and her love of music, her love of Adam, and her family. We learn about her audition, her school, her friends, and who she is. The whole time, however, Mia is making the biggest decision: whether to stay, knowing life will never be the same again…or to simply take one last breath, and let it all go.

It’s beautifully told, and I found myself rooting for Mia the whole time. I wasn’t sure, and couldn’t tell, if she would stay or not (something I shant be spoiling for you). I enjoyed the writing style, and liked how it was split between ‘now’ and ‘then’. It made the ‘now’ parts easier to take, as they were pretty darn depressing at times.

The one thing I didn’t really enjoy was the abrupt ending, though once you find out whether she stays or not, it kinda had to end, so I understand. It might be a book I pick up again in the future, but for now, I’m just glad that I can now see the film.

Have you read If I Stay? What did you think?