If I Stay ~ Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 208 pages.
Copyright: 2009

VOYA Review:

Beginning with the idyllic chocolate-chip-pancake morning, seventeen-year-old Mia recounts the twenty-four hours surrounding the tragic car accident that kills her parents and leaves her comatose in an ICU ward. In a manner that is not stilted, Mia becomes the invisible observer and narrator of her roadside rescue, emergency surgery, and the waiting room vigil of family and friends. Expertly woven into the detail of medical procedures and heart-wrenching visits by loved ones is the story of Mia, her parents, and ten-year-younger brother Teddy; her passion for the cello; and the unlikely but true boyfriend Adam. And although Forman's novel is about what might go through the lucid mind of a teen who finds herself in Mia's horrific spot, it offers even more. It is a story about the difficult choices facing teens everyday - even those who, like Mia, are part of a supportive family and have everything going for them. Mia's retelling of her own history is not a lament. At times, the reader will forget the narrator's present circumstance and get completely lost in the description of her first date with Adam at a Yo Yo Ma concert. Still the accident and Mia's condition provides a powerful backdrop that brings the history into frighteningly sharp focus - especially at the novel's conclusion. Forman's characters are smart and solid. There is little wasted prose, and not a single event rings false. Music lovers will appreciate the passions of Mia, Adam, and her family, who adopt an eclectic mix of favorites. 

Summary: 

Plot: Seventeen year old Mia is a musical genius, namely an aspiring celloist. She barely survives a fatal car accident and lays in the hospital in a deep coma, though her spirit lingers elsewhere... 

Major characters: Mia and Adam.

Major Subjects: Supernatural, Fantasy, Death & Dying

Booktrailer for If I Stay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrpMNXdEl3Q

Review: 

A car accident kills 17-year-old Mia's parents and sends her into a coma. While her body is in a vegetative state, her consciousness is somehow inexplicably awake and able to follow other people (such as her grandparents, best friend, and boyfriend) around the hospital where she's being treated for life-threatening injuries. In this strange twilight existence, Mia has to decide: will she join her parents in death or fight to stay alive?

I appreciated Mia's clear, down-to-earth voice and the lack of histronics around what could have easily become a weepy, maudlin melodrama. The book is definitely a tearjerker, but it's not manipulative. I can see a lot of teens, especially teen girls who enjoy books with suspense, a dreamy romance, and a least a hint of the supernatural, loving this book. A good readalike for Lovely Bones & Elsewhere fans. 

Reading Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Notes about Audience:

This book is intended for readers ages 14 and up. 

Opening lines: Everyone thinks it was because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that's true. ~ pg. 3

Favorite line(s): And there was so much noise. A symphony of grinding, a chorus of popping, an aria of exploding, and, finally, the sad clapping of hard metal cutting into soft trees. Then it went quiet, except for this: Beethoven's Cello Sonata no. 3, still playing. The car radio is somehow still attached to a battery and so Beethoven is broadcasting into the once-again tranquil February morning.  ~ pg. 13

Other Books by Gayle Forman:

http://www.gayleforman.com/books/sistersinsanity

http://www.gayleforman.com/books/youcantgetthere/

Upcoming Sequel to If I Stay:

Where She Went ~ Coming in April, 2011

You might also enjoy:

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold