A gorgeous boyfriend who was madly in love with you?Quirky hip parents who totally got you?
A musical talent that could take you anywhere?
What if your biggest problem in life was choosing which path to take?
Follow your first love--music-- to New York City?
Or stay with your boyfriend, friends, and family?
What if one day, you went out for a drive...
And in an instant everything changed?
What if suddenly all the other choices were gone?
Except for one--the only one that truly mattered?
What would you do?
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...
This was a good book, technically. Well written, with a good, realistic love relationship between two characters and a dramatic subject to break everything apart. It was a quick, enjoyable and easy read, but this book lacked one thing. It didn't stir enough emotions in me.
I can't say it was... badly written or something, but it didn't have the WOW factor. Usually, when a book is amazing and has swept me off my feet, I hug it and let out a long sigh. Then I rethink of all the great passages and my mind is in a state of awe for the next 12 hours. Here, I acknowledged the fact it was sad, true, hard, yada and yada, and then I put it back onto my shelf.
Don't get me wrong. It's a great book, with great, strong characters. The story is divided with Mia's memories of happy, sad, decisive moments in her life and the next 48 hours after her accident where she watches everything happen in a ghost-like state.
I just can't say it blew me away.
Now I'd like to analyze a part of the book. This is what most of my reviews consist of; it's a lot of opinions and thinking mainly.
Mia has lost all her family. Her brother, her mother, her father. When she recalls her memories, we see how much of a happy family they were, how supportive, understanding and awesome her parents were (It might sound cliche to say that her family was almost perfect, but I think the author did that just to underline how much Mia lost after the accident, so I won't get into that). I agree that loosing her entire family is no little deal, and that perhaps one wouldn't want to stay alive because of that, but I felt as if the big question of the book; "Would you stay if you lost everything?" isn't much of a challenge.
Personally, I think that if Mia would have come out from all this paralyzed, somehow handicapped, if there would have been something hindering her life except the loss of her family the question could have had more pressure. I'd say that even if her family survived, but she woke up to not be able to play cello anymore, or walk, there would have been more of an issue. "Should I keep on living even if I can't walk/play/whatever anymore?" I mean, for me, becoming blind due to an accident would be a huge deal, and I would really have to think about staying or not, and so there would be a dilemma. I didn't feel any dilemma in If I Stay.
I think that the theme of "all the reasons you have to live for" weren't really explored too deeply. Sure, friends, boyfriend, other family, celo, but I still feel as if something was missing. So, really, I would have liked there to be more to the big question. Of course, there is no indication of Mia getting out 100% fine afterward, but neither any indication of something else coming her way.
I can't say it was... badly written or something, but it didn't have the WOW factor. Usually, when a book is amazing and has swept me off my feet, I hug it and let out a long sigh. Then I rethink of all the great passages and my mind is in a state of awe for the next 12 hours. Here, I acknowledged the fact it was sad, true, hard, yada and yada, and then I put it back onto my shelf.
Don't get me wrong. It's a great book, with great, strong characters. The story is divided with Mia's memories of happy, sad, decisive moments in her life and the next 48 hours after her accident where she watches everything happen in a ghost-like state.
I just can't say it blew me away.
Now I'd like to analyze a part of the book. This is what most of my reviews consist of; it's a lot of opinions and thinking mainly.
Mia has lost all her family. Her brother, her mother, her father. When she recalls her memories, we see how much of a happy family they were, how supportive, understanding and awesome her parents were (It might sound cliche to say that her family was almost perfect, but I think the author did that just to underline how much Mia lost after the accident, so I won't get into that). I agree that loosing her entire family is no little deal, and that perhaps one wouldn't want to stay alive because of that, but I felt as if the big question of the book; "Would you stay if you lost everything?" isn't much of a challenge.
Personally, I think that if Mia would have come out from all this paralyzed, somehow handicapped, if there would have been something hindering her life except the loss of her family the question could have had more pressure. I'd say that even if her family survived, but she woke up to not be able to play cello anymore, or walk, there would have been more of an issue. "Should I keep on living even if I can't walk/play/whatever anymore?" I mean, for me, becoming blind due to an accident would be a huge deal, and I would really have to think about staying or not, and so there would be a dilemma. I didn't feel any dilemma in If I Stay.
I think that the theme of "all the reasons you have to live for" weren't really explored too deeply. Sure, friends, boyfriend, other family, celo, but I still feel as if something was missing. So, really, I would have liked there to be more to the big question. Of course, there is no indication of Mia getting out 100% fine afterward, but neither any indication of something else coming her way.
One, last thing. This is the major rant part, but not about the book. On the cover it said 'Will appeal to fans of Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT".
I am OUTRAGED and sincerely DISGUSTED that there had to be this label. Because this is a love story that will appeal to teenagers DOESN'T mean it is IN ANY WAY similar to Twilight. If publishers need to label their products "REMINISCENT OF TWILIGHT" just to sell, then I tell them to go to hell and see if they have Twicrap there. If I Stay has nothing to do with Twilight, and I will rephrase that label. It will appeal to fans of "The Lovely Bones", seeing as it is similar in concept of a girl watching people deal with her loss and shares the theme of death and such. Gosh, the world can be so idiotic sometimes.
That is all. Go search for If I Stay, it's a fun and good book to read. (But The Lovely Bones is better, ha ha. It has the WOW factor)
I am OUTRAGED and sincerely DISGUSTED that there had to be this label. Because this is a love story that will appeal to teenagers DOESN'T mean it is IN ANY WAY similar to Twilight. If publishers need to label their products "REMINISCENT OF TWILIGHT" just to sell, then I tell them to go to hell and see if they have Twicrap there. If I Stay has nothing to do with Twilight, and I will rephrase that label. It will appeal to fans of "The Lovely Bones", seeing as it is similar in concept of a girl watching people deal with her loss and shares the theme of death and such. Gosh, the world can be so idiotic sometimes.
That is all. Go search for If I Stay, it's a fun and good book to read. (But The Lovely Bones is better, ha ha. It has the WOW factor)
-Beryl
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Rating: 8,3/10
*grumble* I HATE it when Meyer's comments about a book are on the front cover or when it says "This book will appeal to ---" even when the book itself has NOTHING to do with Twilight.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like If I Stay is a bit obvious. I could guess that there was an accident from just reading the summary at the beginning of the post.