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85 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bittersweet Memory, April 2, 2009
This review is from: If I Stay (Hardcover)
If I Stay is a bittersweet memory of a family and their loved ones. It's told through the eyes of Mia, who watches herself being treated in the hospital as her loved ones surround her. And she has to make the toughest choice of all...
I really love the way the story was told, while Mia is watching over her own body in the hospital she is reminded of memories of her family and friends and through that we got to know them better. It was beautiful how the story of her life unfolds. I absolutely adored her family and friends, everyone was their own character with specific traits and quirks, and what a loving family as well! That made me that much more emotionally invested in the story, they seemed so real.
For as much as this book falls into the heartbreaking and sad category it was actually rather funny at times! It made the book so much easier for me to read. I also loved how much music played a part of the story, Mia with her cello, her boyfriend Adam with his band and her father's days in a band as well. Music was a beautiful background for this story.
All in all a bittersweet and rewarding book! I'm not always one for sad books but recently I've been finding out that there are some I actually really love and this is definitely one of them!
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58 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply amazing., April 2, 2009
This review is from: If I Stay (Hardcover)
I have a feeling that If I Stay may be one of those books that sells millions of copies, wins numerous awards, and inspires people to pick up a pen and tell a story of their own.
It starts off with a lighthearted chapter that showcases the close relationship Mia shares with her Mum, Dad and younger brother Teddy. I instantly fell in love with these four characters, as they reminded me very much of my own parents and sister: happy, fun, and more like friends than family. However, by page eleven, the tone of the book shifts, and everything has changed.
Mia is left staring at her broken body, while her family lie sprawled around her. She finds herself in a kind of limbo, a limbo where she can see, hear and touch, but can't feel anything. From here she must make the difficult decision of staying on Earth and living, or dying and hopefully seeing her family again. This has to be one of the most difficult decisions anyone could ever be faced with, and I applaud Gayle Forman for writing about it so eloquently and vividly.
I loved how the past was interweaved with the present, as this allowed us to get a glimpse into Mia's life before the accident, and to really get to know her. Mia is a strong and appealing character, and one which I think a lot of people will identify with. I also have to mention Adam, Mia's boyfriend. He's caring, thoughtful and the kind of person that we should all get to meet at some point or another. In fact, I think he might be my favourite part of the whole book.
'Just Listen', Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.
The above sentence is one of my favourites. To imagine that anyone's voice could sound like shrapnel has to be one of the most effective ways to describe someone dealing with unimaginable grief and fear. If that doesn't make you want to read more, I don't know what will.
If I Stay is moving, touching and beautifully written. It's so gripping that you have to read all two hundred and seven pages in one go, and is sure to be one of the year's most talked about releases. With brilliant characters that easily come to life, as well as a story so memorable and meaningful, I'd say that Gayle Forman is well on her way to Alice Sebold-like superstardom.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not all it's cracked up to be., May 15, 2010
Mia has a wonderful life: extraordinary and loving family, a genuine boyfriend who loves her, an extreme talent at playing the cello, and a loyal best friend. But during a snowy morning, all that changes. She and her family experience a tragic car crash, and Mia is the only one left alive - just barely. Machines at the hospital are keeping her alive, but it will be her decision whether to keep or let go of life. In the course of exactly one day, Mia relives past memories with her loved ones, while hearing what they have to say to her while she's in a coma. It's a decision she'll have to make on her own.
Hmm...interesting book. It was told mostly in flashbacks, to show the significance of the friends and family that visited Mia in the hospital. The writing was alright - had difficulty sometimes visualizing what was going on. I liked the overall storyline, it was cool reading about Mia being stuck between life and death, but it wasn't screaming creativity. There were a couple funny statements in the book, but it felt out of place since the setting of the book was really depressing.
The basic theme of the story was well portrayed and it was interesting seeing how Mia changed through the course of one day. Her boyfriend goes to extreme measures in order to see her, which I thought was unrealistically sweet. However, even though the story is told in first person, the characters seemed sort of detached. I didn't fall in love with any particular character, or despise another; they seemed to mix in with one another, no one really leaving a mark on me.
I think there was a lot of missing substance in the book, it needed more "meat". Mia's whole family is DEAD...she's a freakin orphan - yet she barely even lets that faze her. She's too concerned with other thoughts involving her boyfriend or bestfriend, etc. I think the story would have been more realistic and heart-wrenching if the author had actually spent time showing Mia's heartache or breakdown of her terrible loss. There was almost no emotion.
One thing I did love about the book though, was how the author incorporated music in it. Mia's punk-rock and quirky parents were what I enjoyed reading about, and I recognized some of the classical pieces that Mia plays on her cello. Overall, it was a quick and semi-enjoyable read. It wasn't dreadful, but definitely not a favorite either.
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