by Gayle Forman
If I Stay #1
Young Adult Contemporary.
Published April 2nd 2009 by Dutton Juvenile.
PremiseA critically acclaimed novel that will change the way you look at life, love, and family.
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, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.
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My thoughts
If I Stay is beautiful, heartbreaking story that will make you stop for a minute and appreciate what you have, because now that you have read this book, you realize that all of that could be taken from you in a blink.
This book tells the story of Mia, a seventeen-year-old cello player who's been in a car accident with all her family and now she's in a comma while her parents and little brother are dead. She can see herself like in a out of body experience, and soon she'll realize that the choice is hers to make. If she wants to stay and live and put up with all the loss or if she would rather just let go and leave behind everything else to be with her immediate family.
The narration shifts between the present and the past. Mia tells us everything that's happening since she wakes up out of her body at the accident scene until she is taken to the hospital, where she wanders around her comatose body and sees everything that's happening around her. And that is intermingled with memories of the happy times and the not-so-happy ones, like she's having one of those moments when you can remember all the important events in your life which really allows you to get to know her and feel related to her.
The feelings and the emotion the story delivers are so real, the characters are so authentic that everything in the story makes it easy for you to experience it like it's something that might happen to you.
I loved the relationship between Mia and her family, because in so many YA novels the protagonist has such a bad relationship with the people around her/him, like it's the only resource to make a story interesting. Well, Gayle Forman slap them in the face with a fantastic family relationship, a good and caring boyfriend and a great best friend AND a much more than interesting story.
The other thing I truly loved about this book is how music is a huge part of the story and how it plays a part even at the end. Mia is a cello player, her boyfriend is in a punk band and her parents are musicians too. So it's like the music is what's connect the characters in a completely new level and what makes the story so emotional.
The writing was beautiful, really touching and powerful. Mia's voice was likeable and it managed to grab my attention from the first page. The book ends leaving you kind of uncertain about what really went down, so I will definitely be reading Where She Went to find out what was Mia's choice in the end.
This book tells the story of Mia, a seventeen-year-old cello player who's been in a car accident with all her family and now she's in a comma while her parents and little brother are dead. She can see herself like in a out of body experience, and soon she'll realize that the choice is hers to make. If she wants to stay and live and put up with all the loss or if she would rather just let go and leave behind everything else to be with her immediate family.
The narration shifts between the present and the past. Mia tells us everything that's happening since she wakes up out of her body at the accident scene until she is taken to the hospital, where she wanders around her comatose body and sees everything that's happening around her. And that is intermingled with memories of the happy times and the not-so-happy ones, like she's having one of those moments when you can remember all the important events in your life which really allows you to get to know her and feel related to her.
The feelings and the emotion the story delivers are so real, the characters are so authentic that everything in the story makes it easy for you to experience it like it's something that might happen to you.
I loved the relationship between Mia and her family, because in so many YA novels the protagonist has such a bad relationship with the people around her/him, like it's the only resource to make a story interesting. Well, Gayle Forman slap them in the face with a fantastic family relationship, a good and caring boyfriend and a great best friend AND a much more than interesting story.
The other thing I truly loved about this book is how music is a huge part of the story and how it plays a part even at the end. Mia is a cello player, her boyfriend is in a punk band and her parents are musicians too. So it's like the music is what's connect the characters in a completely new level and what makes the story so emotional.
The writing was beautiful, really touching and powerful. Mia's voice was likeable and it managed to grab my attention from the first page. The book ends leaving you kind of uncertain about what really went down, so I will definitely be reading Where She Went to find out what was Mia's choice in the end.
Rating
I bawled my eyes out reading this book. I loved everything about it. I know what you mean about YA and parental figures. They are either not there or they suck bananas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review,
Sara @ Just Another Story