If I Stay
By Gayle Forman
Mia, an extremely gifted cellist, had always thought the hardest choice she would ever have to make was between attending her dream school, Julliard, and choosing a different path to stay with her boyfriend, Adam. When a family drive to her grandparent's house ends badly, everything is changed. As Mia lays in the hospital in a medically induced coma she must make the ultimate choice. Mia must decide whether to die, or whether to live in a world without her mother, father, and younger brother who were all killed in the crash.
While Mia is in the ICU, a nurse comes in and starts talking about how Mia "runs the show." Because of what the nurse said Mia realizes that she's the one who decides her fate. "If I stay. If I live. It's up to me. All this business about medically induced comas is just doctor talk. It's not up to the doctors. It's not up to the absentee angels. It's not even up to God who, if He exists, is nowhere around right now. It's up to me." (Page 74)
If I Stay doesn't just focus on death, though. The book is mostly flashbacks, which emphasize how hard of a choice Mia has to make. The flashbacks show Mia's relationships with her best friend, boyfriend, and her family, and her love for classical music.
I chose to include a picture of Mia playing the cello because music seems to be the center of the novel. Mia is a musician, her parents were musicians, and even her boyfriend is a musician. Mia notices that the song playing in the car before the crash continues playing after. I think in this book music is a metaphor for life itself. Life, much like the song in Mia's car, goes on even after death and tragedy.
The plot of If I Stay has the potential to be good, but it the plot didn't really go anywhere. I felt like it was at such an easy reading level, and the writing seemed sort of amateur to me. Overall, the book was boring and I lost interest. I still haven't finished it to be honest, so I don't think I would recommend If I Stay.
While Mia is in the ICU, a nurse comes in and starts talking about how Mia "runs the show." Because of what the nurse said Mia realizes that she's the one who decides her fate. "If I stay. If I live. It's up to me. All this business about medically induced comas is just doctor talk. It's not up to the doctors. It's not up to the absentee angels. It's not even up to God who, if He exists, is nowhere around right now. It's up to me." (Page 74)
If I Stay doesn't just focus on death, though. The book is mostly flashbacks, which emphasize how hard of a choice Mia has to make. The flashbacks show Mia's relationships with her best friend, boyfriend, and her family, and her love for classical music.
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| Chloe Grace Moretz as Mia |
I chose to include a picture of Mia playing the cello because music seems to be the center of the novel. Mia is a musician, her parents were musicians, and even her boyfriend is a musician. Mia notices that the song playing in the car before the crash continues playing after. I think in this book music is a metaphor for life itself. Life, much like the song in Mia's car, goes on even after death and tragedy.
The plot of If I Stay has the potential to be good, but it the plot didn't really go anywhere. I felt like it was at such an easy reading level, and the writing seemed sort of amateur to me. Overall, the book was boring and I lost interest. I still haven't finished it to be honest, so I don't think I would recommend If I Stay.
I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WAS BORING TOOOOOO!! I still never finished it either!!
ReplyDeleteThe medically induced coma reminds me of this lady that is going to take a pill on November 1st given to her by doctors that will kill her because she has cancer or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI wish you thought this book was better because it does seem like it could be interesting if it was written well.
ReplyDeleteI loved the movie. I'm sad that the book wasn't as good.
ReplyDeleteI need to see the movie, because I read the book, and I liked it. so I hope that the movie is good too!
ReplyDeleteI want to read this book because I saw the movie trailer. It looks really good.
ReplyDeleteI never watch a movie before I read the book so I am going to have to push through and read it so I can eventually see the movie. I hope I like it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis of the song paying after, that's pretty deep.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I was considering reading this - and now I'm not so sure I will. Your summary was really well put together, and I feel comfortable that I understand the plot and the major impact her decision could have - but a slow story doesn't sound very appealing; in addition, I'm glad you mentioned the story was mostly flashbacks, because it sort of shows that the story doesn't have much to move forward on, and honestly I would want a story to have a destination outside of a single plot point.
ReplyDeleteAwesome review, thanks!
i picked up the book and read 10 pages and put it down. Not interesting to me but its all good, anyways good response even though you didnt care for it.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see that that this book is not just a pure focus on death so it seems more interesting, I feel like the movie ad made it feel so syrupy sweet about a love relation problem so I was not a fan at first.
ReplyDeleteTo be very honest, I actually loved the book and the film.
ReplyDelete