If I Stay
Gayle Forman’s writing has really impressed many, starting from If I Stay to Where She Went, which is the continuation of If I Stay, but with a twist, Where She Went is from Adam’s point of view. The way Gayle describes every moment really helps the reader feel as if they are in the book watching over the characters. Her writing opens up the readers’ imagination and allows them to picture every moment in their heads perfectly. Every action and position portrayed is specifically set up in the readers’ mind and they have a little movie playing in their heads. This isn’t like most books with regular chapters, the entire story is set by times and has constant flashbacks from Mia’s memories with her boyfriend, Adam, her best friend, Kim, and her family. Almost half of the book consists of her memories randomly approaching into the mix.
Starting with 7:09am If I Stay starts off introducing Mia, the main character, a devoted cellist, and her family. She has a little brother, Teddy, and not so average parents due to their rock n’ roll past. A snow day starts off the setting and school is cancelled which means her father is home as well because he dropped his crazy life style for his family and became a teacher. Mia’s mother decides to stay home too and they plan to visit old friends and have dinner with their grandparents. At, 8:17am the family gets on the road and the only thought is what music should be playing. Of course her parents want some rock n’ roll while Mia wants Beethoven and Teddy, well he wants Spongebob. Completely unexpected, a huge truck crashes into the family car.
I feel that after the crash everything has changed and Mia is now simply running around and chasing her body and her family’s bodies around. When you begin reading, you will believe that this book is going to be happy with a few issues here and there, but that is obviously not the case. The accident along with the memories with her boyfriend, Adam, give off a sad vibe.
It may be weird, but this book can relate to many, not in the sense where there was a car accident and we have a choice whether to stay or leave, but we make choices everyday. This choice is just a matter of life and death and on an everyday basis, we can’t really choose to stay or leave our lives unless you believe suicide is the way to go with your life. We make hard decisions every second, whether it is how to help someone or whether to help them at all.
Difficult situations could be like choosing to end a relationship. I can relate this book to a relationship because although you have troubles and many things have occurred, many will still try to make it work even though there have been so many troubles that have hurt the both of them. Leaving can seem like an easy choice but there is more pain in leaving if you do not want to actually do it or you will miss too much. Leaving can affect your life more intensely than imagined and hurt more than what the original problem was.
I feel that she would want to die and leave with her family. Staying and dealing with the losses is more difficult than leaving with them. They can be together in the after life instead of her staying behind while her poor family has left the world. She believes she will be alone if she chooses to stay, but does not realize she has her grandparents, aunt, uncle, Kim, and Adam all by her side.
There are more decisions that Mia has to make in the book; it is not only about life and death. She must decide whether she wants to leave for Juilliard, an amazing school that her grandfather told her to audition for even though she wanted to stay local to be with Adam and her family. If she does get expected, she has to decide whether she actually goes, if she can actually leave everyone behind for this amazing offer to be apart of one of the greatest musical schools that could open up millions of opportunities for her.
Overall, I believe that If I Stay is great but has flaws that could have been improved. It is extremely sad for me but can also relate to many lives when they are put into a difficult situation and need to make a decision. I recommend this book to mostly teen readers because they are in the same age group as Mia and Adam.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
