Mia's life was perfect--a great best friend, amazing boyfriend, adorable baby brother, and cool, rocker parents who understood her. Most of all, she had the cello, and the talent to make it to Julliard and beyond. Everything is changed, however, when a family drive one afternoon goes horribly wrong. Mia's entire family is killed, and Mia herself is stuck in a coma. Mia observes the aftermath from outside her body, and the story shifts from present to past, showing Mia's relationships and the choices she has to make, culminating in the present one--should she stay and try to rebuild her life? Or should she go?
Citation
Forman, G. (2009). If I stay. New York, NY: Dutton Juvenile.
Impression
I liked this book more than I thought I would, though it still ranks behind Before I Fall and 13 Reasons Why on my list of favorite YA with dead/dying protagonists. This book is a little slow, but it fits the overall contemplative mood of the book. Mia's passion for music is very well drawn and feels very real, as do her relationships with her family, friends, and boyfriend. I enjoyed the sequel (Where She Went) a bit more, but that book was, necessarily, much more active, since the narrator was not confined to a hospital bed.
Overall I enjoyed it, but it's not a book I would reread.
Review
The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family. Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents' corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics. As she ponders her state ("Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this"), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live. Via Mia's thoughts and flashbacks, Forman (Sisters in Sanity) expertly explores the teenager's life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam. Mia's singular perspective (which will recall Alice Sebold's adult novel, The Lovely Bones) also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: "Please don't die. If you die, there's going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school," prays Mia's friend Kim. "I know you'd hate that kind of thing." Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living. Ages 14-up.
(2009, March 2). [Review of the book If I Stay, by G. Forman]. Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved from www.publishersweekly.com.
*Starred Review* Forman (Sisters in Sanity, 2007) provides a compelling and highly textured account of the brutal 24 hours that may be 17-year-old Mia's last. Her day starts with a drive, with her loving and moderately punk parents and her effervescent little brother, to a bookstore. A collision with another vehicle leaves Mia's parents dead. The narrative is told in a robust first-person voice, with flashbacks, flash-forwards, and out-of-body reports on her immediate surroundings as Mia is transported, in grave condition, to the hospital. The story then follows the medical efforts to save her life, extended family and friends' efforts to provide emotional care, and Mia's coming to terms with what has happened and what might still await her. Mia, a gifted cellist, finds support from her alt-rock boyfriend and a best friend whose own mother is a hysteric. Mia's recounting of this critical day is laced with insight, good humor, and wonder, allowing the reader to enter the scene as fully as Mia herself seems to have, at least for now, left her broken body. More developed and satisfying than a Lurlene McDaniel drama, Mia's story will engage readers willing to suspend their disbelief that the future can be seen in the present.
Goldsmith, F. (2008, December 15). [Review of the book If I Stay, by G. Forman]. Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/.
Uses
There is such emphasis placed on music in this book, that it could be tied in with an open mic night. Teens could be invited to play music or read poetry, and there could be an emphasis on books about these subjects, in a display, or with sample chapters read.
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