If I Stay by Gayle Forman - Book Review #46

If I Stay

by Gayle Forman

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen¬ year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make.

From barnesandnoble.com

“Sometimes you make choices, sometimes choices make you.” If I Stay is a beautiful, soul touching book, written in one of my favorite formats – all events takes place in twenty four hours. There is also a large amount of back story, which is not told chronologically, but with a connection to the events that are happening during these twenty four hours.

Gayle Forman’s writing style is superb, flawless, and perfect. It’s… no, I won’t say anything beyond that. There is truly nothing else to say, plus I don’t think I will be able to make a justice to that anyway.

However, what actually makes this book a great one is honesty. Gayle Forman is honest to the reader in her writing. Characters’ feelings are honest. Their reactions are honest. Nothing is overblown or undervalued, everything just right – honest.

Music plays big part in this story. There are references on some great classical pieces. And if you are going to read this book, my advice to you – listen to these pieces while you read. When you will come across the reference – find it on youtube.com, put it on and keep reading. In my opinion, these references are not just randomly thrown into the story, but carefully chosen by Forman and they enchant the story a great deal.

If I Stay is a moving story about love – love to the family, romantic love, love to the music and love to life. It is a story about choices that we constantly facing on our route of life and also about the most important and the most difficult choice. It is a story about immortality, in a way, about family connections, about who we actually consider a family. If I Stay is a reach and multi-layered story, but also it is beautifully simple.