Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Hardcover

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Published: April 9th 2009 by Dutton Juvenile

Paperback

Synopsis from Good Reads: In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

Why I picked it up: This book was always on my radar to eventually pick up and read.  What finally got me to read it was I received the ARC for the sequel Where She Went (due out in April of 2011) in the mail.   So of course I had to read If I Stay.

My Thoughts on the Book:
I loved this book!!  My only complaint about the book was it had me crying like a little baby.  In fact just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

Mia has a huge decision to make as she lays in a coma, to live or to die.  The whole story is told through Mia as she is having an out of body experience.  This allows her to see how extended family,her boyfriend Adam, and her best friend Kim are handling the aftermath of the accident. These moments in the present were the ones that had me bawling and also laughing.  I found great amusement of ways Adam tried to get into the ICU to see Mia. 

As Mia is making her decision she also recalls memories of her family, of her best friend, and how she started dating Adam.  These memories give a strong foundation of the development of the novel and gives glimpses of how Mia might make her ultimate decision. The characters are more fully developed in these glimpses of the past.  


This book is so great a must read!!!  Just be prepared to cry and then want the sequel desperately. 


Link to a great review from NPR