If I Stay by Gayle Forman

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Bibliographic Information:

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

ISBN: 978-0142415436

2009 Dutton Books, New York, NY

Plot Summary:

Mia is a seventeen year old cellist facing tough choices about where to go to college. She is close with her family and has a devoted boyfriend near her family in Oregon, but she has the opportunity to go to Julliard in New York.

One day school is cancelled due to a storm. Mia and her family hop in their car and head in the direction of her grandparents to enjoy the day off. On the way there, they are in a devastating accident.

Mia suddenly sees herself from the outside. She sees that her parents have been killed in the accident and she is being transported to a well-equipped hospital. Mia does not know what she is supposed to do, so she observes.

Mia sees her grandmother and grandfather at her bedside. Her grandfather tells her he understands if she leaves. Mia watches as her best friend and her boyfriend battle to get to see her in the ICU. Mia’s family friend, Willow, manages to get them access after their juvenile attempts fail.

Mia spends the night thinking about her life. She has had happy times with family and friends. She has enjoyed music. She is exhausted and doesn’t know if she will choose to stay.

Critical Evaluation:

This book is told in a series of present day moments and flashbacks. That regular back and forth diluted the narrative to me. I found the characters to be cliché, rather than in depth, developed people.

Mia’s father had been a slacker rock star, but fatherhood straightened him out. He seems like a prototype for a hipster parent and lacked depth. Mia’s mother is a rocker hanger on who supported her husband’s dreams through their first child with a square job, but she always wore leather.

Mia, the daughter of these two rebels, in turn rebels by picking up a classical instrument. While her parents are these rocking characters, she’s the mousy, quiet cellist. She has this tight knit, conflict free home life, complete with doting grandparents, so there is not a lot of tension expressed in the flashbacks.

Mia’s best friend, Kim, asks her to stay so that Mia doesn’t end up with a cheesy Princess Di-like tribute at school. Mia’s boyfriend wants her to stay because he’s so in love that he doesn’t want to live in a world without her.

The clichés are just overwhelming. They overshadow the raw emotion of a scene where a young woman is comatose in a hospital ICU. The book is a bestseller and it has been turned into a movie. It tugs at heartstrings and gives us some sort of view inside the mind of someone dangling between life and death, but none of the feelings are enough to convince the reader of what the character should do.

Reader’s Annotation:

Follow Mia as she decides to take control of her destiny.

Author Information:

Gayle Forman was born in 1970 in Los Angeles. Now she lives in New York. She began writing novels at 34, after a career in journalism.

Retrieved from http://gayleforman.com/bio/ on 8/4/2015

Genre(s):

Fiction

Curriculum Ties: Literature

Booktalk Ideas: 

If I Stay would be a great inclusion in a booktalk about future plans for high schoolers.

Reading level: grade 7+

Interest age: 14+

Challenge Issues: I do not foresee challenge issues with the content. Challenge Defense File

Why I chose this book:

I chose this book because it not only is a bestselling novel, but it has recently been turned into a movie. It is a good addition to our collection for readers who prefer reading the book before seeing the movie adaptation.