If I Stay - Gayle Forman

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...
A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

 Okay, I know I'm a little late on the If I Stay train (considering the sequel just came out a few days ago), but seriously, this was one of the most heartbreakingly lovely books I've ever read.  All those amazing reviews floating around out there are true.

This is basically about a teenage girl named Mia who's stuck in what I can only call limbo after she and her family get in a devastating car accident.  Her parents and younger brother all die, and she's laying in the hospital bed in grave condition.  No one, not the doctors, the nurses, or her extended family know whether she's going to live or die.  Mia doesn't know either.  She's overheard the nurses tell her grandparents that, more than anything that they or the doctors do, it's up to Mia whether she stays or goes.

The story is told through Mia's eyes, alternating between flashbacks of her life before the accident--of her family, of falling in love, of pursuing her music--and the current day, as her spirit wanders about the hospital and she gets to see and hear the reactions of everyone who comes to visit her.


This was completely heartbreaking and so incredibly beautiful that I can't do it justice. 

This book almost made me cry during my break at work.  And that would have been really hard to explain.  But I kept reading anyway.  I couldn't stop.

The only (nitpicky) bone of contention I have with this book, is nothing to do with the story or the writing.  It's the blurb on the front cover saying "Will appeal to fans of ... Twilight".  If that's the only thing you have to say about this book, then you didn't read it at all.  Twilight has it's (very major) place in YA fiction.  But this is something different.  This is literature.

Amazing read.  I cannot wait to get my hands on Where She Went.

-geekgirl

Comments

  1. Great, great review! I was teased a number of times by this one on Tuesday, so I put it up on my to-read list and I have to say that this just made me want to read it even more!

    Rebecca @ kindle fever

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know! I'm totally behind too. I'm so back and forth, I want to read it, I don't...since you liked it so much I need to just get it and read it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is certainly an emotional book, though I didn't find myself very attached to any of the characters. At times, though, I find myself tired after reading it - it's tough subject matter. The crux of the plot centers around Mia's choice to either continue living or to die and hopefully join her family.
    I wish I had had strong feelings about wanting her to live, but I just didn't. Towards the end of the story, I was getting a little bored with the am-I-going-to-give-up-or-not? debate, but the last few pages did me in. This book has an incredible ending!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment