Review: If I Stay

Like I mentioned in my library haul, I wasn't quite sure what to think of this book when I first got it out of the library. I didn't even know what it was about, I had just heard it was a good book.

If I Stay starts on a typical snow day in Oregon. Because Mia and her little brother Teddy have off from school, as well as her father who is a middle school teacher, her mother decides to call out as well. The whole family having the day off, they decide to go visit friends, family, and maybe do a little shopping while they're at it.

Piling into the car, the family chooses their music choices and heads out onto the road.

Only to get into a horrific car crash not long after.

Their parents are dead on impact. Teddy is severely hurt and Mia is in critical as well as in a coma. Now Mia needs to decide whether she still wants to live, or whether she's going to give up and move on to be with her parents...

I admit, I almost didn't finish this book. After the violent car crash, I put the book down and didn't read it for a few days (it didn't help that, at the time, we were getting quite a bit of snow here, so then all I could think about was car crashes).

But after a little bit, I rallied my courage, and picked it up again. And I'm glad I did, because whole it is in a way an extremely heartbreaking book, it is also rather beautiful.

The format, mostly told from Mia's point of view as she lies comatose, is interesting as it switches between present day in the hospital and the past. The entire story takes place over a period of about 24 hours, but Gayle Forman brings in pieces of Mia's middle school years and well as earlier in high school.

As Mia is fighting her battle to decide whether to live or die, it made me think of all the decisions we have to make in our lives.

There is quite a bit of profanity in this book. It would have been just as good without it. There was also something about Mia's boyfriend which I didn't like. I felt like the author did a very good job portraying Mia and her feelings though. She was someone I was rooting for the entire book long.

I just learned there's a sequel as well! Another book for me to add to my list. 

If you prefer just to get your own copy, instead of borrowing from the library, you can get If I Stay *on Amazon in print, audiobook, or Kindle format.


 *This is an associate link, meaning if you purchase through it I get a referral fee but it costs the same as if you had just gone and ordered it through Amazon.