Thursday, July 24, 2014

Review: If I Stay

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Dutton, a member of Penguin 2009; SPEAK, imprint of Penguin 2010. Review copy from publisher. Edited to add a link to my review of the companion book, Where She Went.

The Plot: Mia is in a coma.

There was a car accident.

She can see what is happening around her, but she cannot interact. She is not dead but she is not alive.

Her family is dead.

It's all her choice, whether to stay with the living. But what will her life be like, if her family is gone?

The Good: Confession: I did not read this when it first came out, in 2009. I skipped to the end of the book to find out her choice, then read other things.

Then I saw the trailer. And Chloe Grace Moretz's performance as Mia. And just from the trailer, I cried more than I cried in The Fault in Our Stars. Even though I have a pretty firm rule to not read books before movies, I broke the rule. In part because the trailer already seduced me into wanting to see the film version, and in part because even though that "read the end" moment had told me the ending, I wanted to know more about Mia and how how she got to that moment.

Looking for a book to make you cry buckets? Then this is the book for you. Yes, from the start you know there's been a car accident and her family is dead. You'd think that would mean, no tears because you already know the worst. So, why cry? Because If I Stay proceeds to flashback to Mia's family and OHMYGOD I love her parents. I want them to be MY parents. Mia is a teen who had a great, supportive family. Page after page just shows you the depth of what she has lost.

Page after page of If I Stay is also showing the depth of what Mia has to keep going: her best friend, her boyfriend, her music, her other family members. Her boyfriend! Adam, like Mia, is a musician, but entirely different music so that music isn't necessarily something they share. What they do share is respect and love and fun, and wow, Adam. I just loved him.

Seriously, Mia before the accident had a great life.

Reinvention and starting over is often the subject of novels, and there is something curiously appealing about suddenly having a clean slate. Typically, though, this is a fairly positive process in that it's a character's choice and what they are leaving is a place and people that they can return to. Vacations, holidays, changes in mind, all that means that what is left isn't really gone.

Mia is faced with a choice: does go back to a world where her life and the people in it will always be "behind" her? She was worried about the impact and changes leaving for college was going to be, and suddenly she has to face a life where those she thought she was leaving have left her.

Mia's going to be facing a life where no one shares her childhood memories. Or family jokes. Without the love and support of her parents.

Is that a life she wants? Is what she has left enough reason to stay?

I LOVED this book. Love, love, love. Who cares if its a 2009 title? It's a Favorite Book Read in 2014. Also -- I can't wait for the movie.



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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

5 comments:

Jessica @ Strung Out On Books said...

I want to read this! I'm waiting for a copy to become available at my library but I'm like #14 on the hold list! Ahh! Awesome review!

Paige Y. said...

I read this one when it first came out and adored it. I also loved the sequel, told from the boyfriend's point of view. I haven't read Forman's Just One Day and its sequel yet -- just two of the books on my huge to-read pile.

Liz B said...

Jessica, and that hold list will only get longer when the movie comes out.

Paige, I think I like the sequel better. Because it's more about the aftermath of loss and dealing with it.

Brandy said...

This book is such an emotional roller coaster, because Mia did have a great life. Her parents are awesome. It was so heartbreaking to watch her. I kept wanting to yell: YOUR PARENTS WOULD WANT YOU TO LIVE!!! My one hesitation about this was the emphasis on it being her choice to wake up or not, because that's a hard idea for me to get behind.

I did like the sequel better for the reason you said in the common above. Even though it was so hard to see Adam hit bottom like that.

Liz B said...

With Adam, I liked how it was about him and not about him. It was hard to see, but real.

While I don't think a sequel is needed, I do wonder if he'll one day find himself back to the band and his music.