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If I Stay by Gayle Forman
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If I Stay (edition 2010)

by Gayle Forman

Series: If I Stay (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
9,345554842 (3.87)229
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.
Member:Debodot
Title:If I Stay
Authors:Gayle Forman
Info:Speak (2010), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:young adult fiction, romance, death

Work Information

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

  1. 71
    Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (foggidawn)
  2. 71
    Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (kaledrina)
  3. 72
    Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (sduff222)
  4. 51
    Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (meggers12)
  5. 30
    Where She Went (If I Stay, 2) by Gayle Forman (kaledrina)
  6. 20
    Every Day by David Levithan (melissarochelle)
  7. 54
    The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (tina1969)
  8. 10
    Love Story by Erich Segal (Cecrow)
  9. 11
    The Afterlife by Gary Soto (weener)
    weener: Another book from the point of view a young person who is having an out-of-body experience.
  10. 11
    Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Aerrin99)
    Aerrin99: A really great book that explores tragedy through a strong female teen voice in first person.
  11. 01
    Hopeless Savages Volume 2: Ground Zero by Jen Van Meter (weener)
    weener: I was reading If I Stay, and I thought, "I recognize those grown-up punker parents. It's just like the Hopeless-Savages!"
  12. 12
    How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford (weener)
  13. 01
    Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks (weener)
    weener: About young women who are interested in music and family.
  14. 02
    How It Ends by Laura Wiess (weener)
    weener: Riveting and heartbreaking teen fiction.
  15. 02
    The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (tina1969)
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» See also 229 mentions

English (549)  Spanish (2)  Swedish (1)  Danish (1)  German (1)  All languages (554)
Showing 1-5 of 549 (next | show all)
This novel takes place mostly in the head of the protagonist, Mia. Well, I guess it's in her head. She and the rest of her family (mom, dad, little brother) have all been in a terrible car accident and Mia is hanging onto life at the hospital. But she's having an out-of-body experience where she can see everyone visiting her, or trying to see her, talking about her, talking to her - she can even see her own body in the hospital bed. She can wander around in the hospital, so she can see even who is in the waiting area. She has some memories - flashbacks - while she's in this state so the reader can get some backstory. And her main conflict is that she has to decide whether she wants to live (stay) or die. The story takes place in the span of just a couple of days, but you still get to know Mia and learn about what has been going on in her life - who is important to her and what matters to her. The most well-drawn relationships in the novel are between Mia and her best friend and Mia and her boyfriend. I don't want to give any more away than that - it's a pretty interesting story and I enjoyed it - in fact, I finished it in just a couple of days... but I didn't like some of the things that were suggested about people who believe in God and angels or what was suggested about Heaven and the afterlife. But those things were very minor in the book. Mostly it was about Mia, her friend, her boyfriend, her family, and her decision about staying. ( )
  clamagna | Apr 4, 2024 |
I just finished this last night a very sad but quick read... if you had to choose between living alone and dieing with your family would You stay
  b00kdarling87 | Jan 7, 2024 |
If i stay review: This is one of the few books that I think the movie may actually be better. This book had such a cool storyline and narrative that I think will be very lovely when shown on film. The book told a fun story but many times I felt mia was emotionless and i get the she was a ghost but it almost felt like her personality was gone or still with her body. 
 
I loved her being on her own and not having any guides because It really felt like the book was in her head and also created by her. I also enjoyed the back and forth and seeing the Adam and Mia fall in love. The only thing I wish was that story was told more in earliest to latest order cause at points it really did confuse me. 
 
I also thought the book was so short! I felt like right when it was getting good the book ended. I know that there is a next book but I felt like this book could have been a little bit longer.
 
I do think the I will pick up the next novel and will like the one a little bit better as well.
http://youtu.be/x1w4CdA02gY
 
 
 
 
 
 
  ( )
  lmauro123 | Dec 28, 2023 |
If i stay review: This is one of the few books that I think the movie may actually be better. This book had such a cool storyline and narrative that I think will be very lovely when shown on film. The book told a fun story but many times I felt mia was emotionless and i get the she was a ghost but it almost felt like her personality was gone or still with her body. 
 
I loved her being on her own and not having any guides because It really felt like the book was in her head and also created by her. I also enjoyed the back and forth and seeing the Adam and Mia fall in love. The only thing I wish was that story was told more in earliest to latest order cause at points it really did confuse me. 
 
I also thought the book was so short! I felt like right when it was getting good the book ended. I know that there is a next book but I felt like this book could have been a little bit longer.
 
I do think the I will pick up the next novel and will like the one a little bit better as well.
http://youtu.be/x1w4CdA02gY
 
 
 
 
 
 
  ( )
  lmauro123 | Dec 28, 2023 |
Sadly I did not like this book. Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SOGt0xwtec ( )
  VanessaMarieBooks | Dec 10, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 549 (next | show all)
If you want a story that really grabs at your heart this is perfect. Mia is a teenager who plays cello which comes almost natural to her. She even auditioned for Julliard . I really should have read this one at a better time than on a road trip. Considering the first chapter puts you right into a horrific car crash after a great morning with her family trying to decide what to do on their snow day. When I grabed this book I kind of just scimmed through it not really knowing what I was really in store for. During the car crash scene I had to stop several times because of the gore and pain I felt reading this. Of course I don't think it help stoping either for a while because every time my husband had to change lanes i was cringing inside, I'm just glad it wasn't snowing. I had to get back into the story because I just had to know what was going to happen to Mia.
The parnormal effect in this book was perfect, She was an apparition standing in the whole time looking over her life from the outside looking in. She was in a coma and heard everything but was unable to do anything. She had to decide whether to go with her family she lost or stay with the ones left be hide. Every character in this story I loved from the quite grandfather to the punk rocker boyfriend. I loved the flash backs of her family they made the book even more enjoyable. This story had me on the verge of tears several times. I was begging Mia to just stay the whole time. If this happen to me I think I would have a really hard time choosing. I will be reading this one over and over again!
 
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.
added by sduff222 | editPublishers Weekly
 

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Finally . . . Always
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Everyone thinks it was because of the snow.
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While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.

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On a day that started like any other… Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the one decision she has left—the most important decision she’ll ever make. Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.
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