If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Pages: 272
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Source: Glenwood Spring Library







Back of Book Summary:

After traveling down a snow covered road in Oregon with her family, seventeen-year-old Mia is in a terrible auto accident. With the blink of an eye, she is suddenly watching her mangled body being taken from the wreck and experiences a life-changing out of body experience.

 My Review:
Characters:
    I liked the characters in If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Forman does an excellent job creating a fun, kind of eccentric, family. Each member unique in their own way, but also similar. All of them are a little rebellious and linked to music. Mia and her brother Teddy remind me a little of my brother and I- only our situation is switched. He was the protective older brother, and I the younger more vulnerable little sister. This connection with the characters is what kept me reading.
   For the most part I found the family and the characters to be authentic and three dimensional. However, there were some inconsistencies that I found out of place, throwing the story out of whack for me, but maybe I have a skewed perspective on what parents are really like/should be like.
1) I don't think that it is realistic that a parent of a high school girl would allow his/her child to stay out all night with a college student and not be remotely upset about it.
2) Along the same lines, a parent wouldn't be terrible supportive of their High School student drinking. 3) Again- there seemed to be little true 'adult supervision' or intervention when Mia made decisions that were not positive for a typical 17 year old high school student.

Plot/Conflict/Theme:
   The conflict- Mia being separated from her body in a horrible car accident fell flat. The author spent much of the time recalling past events in Mia's life. While interesting, it wasn't directly attached to the main question- Should I fight to stay alive or not? There didn't seem to be very much deliberation about staying or passing on.
   Like the conflict, there were some pieces of the plot that seemed flat when compared to the characters that Forman created. There was little tension built after the inciting incident that left the reader wanting.
  Theme- well, I'm not really sure about this one. Most of the ties that bound Mia to her life were severed, but the one or two remaining didn't seem reason enough to stay. I had a difficult time sorting out the message that the author was trying to convey in this story.
   
Quality of Writing:
   The author crafted the story well- in that Gayle Forman's writing had a flow to it that allowed the reader to move rhythmically from past events in Mia's life to her current predicament in the hospital.

Rating:
Book:  L for Lacking
Cover: B for Basically Brilliant- The cover is has an eerie and mysterious effect.