Review: If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: If I Stay
Genre: Contemporary, YA
Publisher: Speak
Publication date: April 6th 2010
Pages: 262 (paperback)
Source: own it





On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.

- Goodreads -

For many years I heard people say that If I Stay was such a great book. I never got around buying the book, that is until a few weeks ago. Since the movie is showing in the theaters I thought it was time to finally read the book. If I Stay is a powerful emotional read that explores the decision between life and death of a girl that has lost almost everything in her life.

After a big car accident Mia finds herself looking at her body on the road, barely alive. In that one moment you can see how much Mia’s family loves each other. Her loss, grief and desperation were tangible thanks to Gayle Forman’s writing style.

This novel is written in a unique way, it’s a chronicle of Mia’s life. When she’s in a coma she still notices everything that goes on around her but at the same time we get to relive her life up until the accident. We get to see the ups and downs of her past years. Little anecdotes, her relationships, her dreams and her fears. We get to see how one moment can change your life drastically. No matter what she decides her live or the lives of the ones surrounding her will never be the same again. Not Mia’s past or what has happened to her but the reactions of the others towards her was what touched me the most. There are a couple of scenes that will render you speechless. It are those scenes that show you Gayle’s talent the most. In just a couple of pages she has the ability to let you feel so much sympathy towards the characters you’ve only just met. If I Stay is not only Mia’s story, it’s the story of her friends and family as well.

This book was filled with both love and sorrow, life and death, happiness and sadness. If I Stay shows us the importance of friends and family, those combined are the people who make up our lives. It’s a must read for all fans of YA contemporary novels. 

El