Booktalk
“I see Dad first…as I walk toward him, the pavement grows slick and there are gray chunks of what looks like cauliflower. I know what I’m seeing right away but it somehow does not immediately connect back to my father. What springs into my mind are those news reports about tornadoes or fires, how they’ll ravage one house but leave the one next door intact. Pieces of my father’s brain are on the asphalt…I find Mom next. There’s almost no blood on her, but her lips are already blue and the whites of her eyes are completely red, like a ghoul from a low-budget monster movie…I run back toward the ditch where I came from and I see a hand sticking out. ‘Teddy! I’m right here!’…’Reach up. I’ll pull you out.’ But when I get closer…It’s my hand.”
The county over-reacted, it wasn’t snowy enough for a snow day, but once a snow day is called, there’s no turning back. Mia and her family take advantage of the free day by going to visit friends and instead find themselves in a head-on collision, with Mia as the only survivor…barely. You see, Mia is trapped in a coma somewhere between life and death. Over the next few hours Mia will view the aftermath of this tragedy. She’ll watch and listen to all of her friends and family pray for her, talk to her, and give her permission to move on. On the verge of death Mia must find if she’s strong enough to Stay.
Review
There seem to be a lot of YA books about death. As morbid as they sound I find that instead of being depressing they tend to focus on how we live our lives. Nothing makes you look closer at how you live your life than pondering your death. If I Stay follows in this theme, making the reader look closer at their own life and how they live it.
I thought that this was an interesting subject and I liked that the author stuck to just the coma. Forman doesn’t go into what happens at the end of the coma or how Mia’s family and friends react to the outcome. This is purely about the struggle between whether Mia stays or goes. There’s not a ton of religious discussion about what happens after death, or the ramifications of Mia choosing death when she could very well have chosen life. This is really more about a girl dealing with a life altering tragedy. She’s lost her entire nuclear family and sustained physical injuries that are not going to be easy to overcome. Mia’s debate is about whether she can live her life in such an altered state or not.
I think that this is something a lot of readers can relate to. An unexpected change in our lives forcing us to live in a way we never expected. The question of taking the easy road of not dealing with the change, hiding from it, or running away versus meeting it head on and trying to find the good in the situation. Don’t get me wrong, Mia’s situation is grave but it’s one the reader is always sure she has control over.
Forman takes us through Mia’s memories of the friends and family who are at the hospital with her as well as the family that she’s lost. By the end of the book you know Mia pretty well. The telling of this tale is purely from Mia’s perspective. Between the bedside confessions of her loved ones and the stories Mia relates, it’s obvious that until this point in her life, life had been easy. Her family and friends supportive and loving. And, her ability as well as desire to play the cello are unique and special. It’s heartbreaking to see what she’s lost and what she stands to lose in death.
My one complaint was that I didn’t really feel the love between the boyfriend and Mia. I was told it was a deep love, very mature and serious for their ages (18 and 19) but I didn’t really feel it. This becomes a problem in the last part of the novel, if you read the book you’ll see why. It’s what kept me from rave reviews of the title. This book is interesting, but not as touching as I had expected. I didn’t shed a tear.
Rating: 7/10
Sara O
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