A review by ashleykwbooks
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
2.0
“In a way they have never left me. And that’s just it, isn’t it? That’s how we manage to survive loss. Because love, it never dies, it never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it.”
I think I got more emotion out of the endnotes than anything... hearing this was based on a family of four the author knew who had suffered a car crash... a tragedy years prior made me boost this from a one star book to a two star.
That being said... I’m not giving this a two star because I didn’t enjoy it or because it wasn’t well written. It was a good story with a very very interesting and deep question:
What would you do if you had to choose?
I love that she was unafraid to tackle this hard subject and I love even more that she was able to do it in a way that didn’t feel like the notion of God or a higher being, being shoved down your throat. It was based on a pure, honest question.
Now there are two main reasons why this book didn’t live up to my standards.
The book felt more like a recounting of her life than a decision to stay. I understand to some extent we had to see what she would be missing (her family) what she would be gaining (extended family, friends, Juilliard, etc.) but it felt like I was reading a teenage girls life in a brief flash with a lot of emphasis on her boyfriend and in only 240ish pages it felt like 200 were dedicated to this and only 40 to the whole point of the book.
This brings me to my other issue I feel the author wrote this book to an audience that she believed would want “the cool parents” the “hipster, music, party vibe” I didn’t mind the characters appearance, or the way they talked or things like that but the parents not caring if their 17 yr old drank or had sex with her boyfriend in their home this just unsettled me. I had very chill relaxed parents I would stay out so late and get into trouble but my parents always worried when I did something wrong I was still confronted. Mia’s parents didn’t seem to care she was a good kid so they didn’t care if she did those things, this to me was wrong and speaks to kids in a way that says “this is ok” and honestly it’s not.
The fact that she was torn between a high school crush and Juilliard irked me too. I firmly believe in making decisions for yourself and this was another thing that I felt the author was telling young kids “hey it’s ok to give up your future for love”... well it’s not... because one day you may resent that person or yourself for that decision and if they love you they will let you go.
Also Mia obviously loves her brother a ton he means a lot to her but it didn’t feel like she really ever seemed him out until she realized that he was gone. Had it been me, I would have searched for my brother first thing. Even if I knew he wasn’t in the same hospital.
One thing I loved was gramps telling Mia it was okay to leave that he would miss her he would be sad but he understood it was her choice.
I think I got more emotion out of the endnotes than anything... hearing this was based on a family of four the author knew who had suffered a car crash... a tragedy years prior made me boost this from a one star book to a two star.
That being said... I’m not giving this a two star because I didn’t enjoy it or because it wasn’t well written. It was a good story with a very very interesting and deep question:
What would you do if you had to choose?
I love that she was unafraid to tackle this hard subject and I love even more that she was able to do it in a way that didn’t feel like the notion of God or a higher being, being shoved down your throat. It was based on a pure, honest question.
Now there are two main reasons why this book didn’t live up to my standards.
The book felt more like a recounting of her life than a decision to stay. I understand to some extent we had to see what she would be missing (her family) what she would be gaining (extended family, friends, Juilliard, etc.) but it felt like I was reading a teenage girls life in a brief flash with a lot of emphasis on her boyfriend and in only 240ish pages it felt like 200 were dedicated to this and only 40 to the whole point of the book.
This brings me to my other issue I feel the author wrote this book to an audience that she believed would want “the cool parents” the “hipster, music, party vibe” I didn’t mind the characters appearance, or the way they talked or things like that but the parents not caring if their 17 yr old drank or had sex with her boyfriend in their home this just unsettled me. I had very chill relaxed parents I would stay out so late and get into trouble but my parents always worried when I did something wrong I was still confronted. Mia’s parents didn’t seem to care she was a good kid so they didn’t care if she did those things, this to me was wrong and speaks to kids in a way that says “this is ok” and honestly it’s not.
The fact that she was torn between a high school crush and Juilliard irked me too. I firmly believe in making decisions for yourself and this was another thing that I felt the author was telling young kids “hey it’s ok to give up your future for love”... well it’s not... because one day you may resent that person or yourself for that decision and if they love you they will let you go.
Also Mia obviously loves her brother a ton he means a lot to her but it didn’t feel like she really ever seemed him out until she realized that he was gone. Had it been me, I would have searched for my brother first thing. Even if I knew he wasn’t in the same hospital.
One thing I loved was gramps telling Mia it was okay to leave that he would miss her he would be sad but he understood it was her choice.