Module 7: If I Stay

Book Summary:
This book begins with Mia, the main character, getting into a terrible car accident with her family. At the scene of the accident, when she sees her own broken body inside the car, she realizes that she is now only an observer, watching what is going on around her comatose body but unable to participate. Her parents and brother have all been killed, and Mia has to decide whether she wants to stay alive or not. The book takes place both in the present, in the scenes at the hospital, and in the past through flashbacks in Mia’s memory. Mia spends her time going back over key points in her life while deciding what she wants to do.

APA Reference: Forman, G. (2009). If I Stay. New York: Dutton Books.

My Impressions:
This was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking book. The reader gets to know Mia and her family quite well through the flashbacks, as well as her boyfriend Adam. The author gives a very good sense of what kind of people they are through their interactions. By alternating between the flashbacks and the present, the reader gets to follow Mia as she makes her decision, getting to see the good things that have happened in her life as well as the tough choices she was facing even before the accident. Through the flashbacks, the reader realizes that even though Mia’s family is gone, she still has some very good things to live for and people who care about her very much. The author’s style of writing is very easy to read, and the book is difficult to put down. In the end Mia realizes that even though it might seem she has lost everything, she still has much to live for, and many people who love her. This made me think about my own life and all of the good things in it. A truly excellent story, very well-written and hard to put down.

Professional Review: Adams, L. (2009, July). If I Stay. [Review of the book If I Stay, by G. Forman]. Horn Book Magazine 85(4), p. 422-423. Retrieved from http://hbook.com/


What begins as the gift of a rare snow day in Portland, Oregon, turns suddenly into nightmare. Seventeen-year-old Mia drives off with her family on the unexpected holiday A sudden explosion of metal, and Mia is looking at her dead parents sprawled on the asphalt, her little brother nowhere to be found. An ambulance arrives to take Mia's body, bristling with tubes, to a trauma unit, and incorporeal Mia rides along. Distant kin to the dead narrators of The Lovely Bones et al., Mia hovers somewhere between life and death, watching surgeons bustle around her comatose body. An empathetic nurse clues Mia in that "she's running the show" -- that the choice to live or die belongs to Mia. Forman's one-sitting page-turner moves easily between the present vigil and Mia's past as she considers the ultimate choice. A talented classical cellist, Mia is deeply in love with punk-rock singer Adam, who has more in common musically with Mia's formerly punk, effortlessly cool parents. As Mia holds out for Adam's arrival at the hospital and considers the unbearable pain of living with so much loss, her best friend Kim reminds her that she does have family -- all the relatives and friends out there pulling for her. Apart from a heavy-handed clunk or two ("I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard"), the stakes are poignantly conveyed through Mia's vivid memories of a rich, rewarding life.

Library Uses:
This book would work well in a display of realistic fiction books for young adults. As well as being a great book to read, it has a lovely cover that would catch the eye in a display. I think it is an excellent book to feature; it has such an intriguing beginning that once started the reader is immediately drawn in. Perhaps this book would lead readers to other realistic fiction after they experience it.