Title of Book

If I Stay

Author

Gayle Forman

Genre

Realistic Fiction

Setting

In the beginning of the story, the setting takes place in a house and on a road in Oregon and then shifts to a hospital in Oregon.

Characters

Mia Hall - The main character and the protagonist of the story who struggles between life and death after a car crash. She falls into a coma-like state and her ghostly presence while in her coma allows her to see what is going outside of the hospital room.

Teddy Hall - Mia's little brother who survives from the crash but dies shortly after in another hospital.

Adam - Mia's boyfriend who does whatever he can to help Mia survive. He breaks hospital laws to see Mia when he is not allowed to and even brings a famous singer, Brooke Vega, into the hospital to distract the doctors and nurses to visit Mia.

Kim - Mia's best friend who also helps Mia survive. She helps Adam sneak inside Mia's hospital room.

Willow - One of Mia's family's best friends. She works in the hospital as a nurse and also helps Mia to survive and allows Adam to see Mia.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall - Mia's parents who DOA from the car crash before the paramedics arrive.

Conflict

The main conflict of the story is when Mia has to make the choice of either living or dying after the terrible injuries she obtained from the car crash which put her in a coma and killed her family and her younger brother.

Climax

The climax of this novel is basically in the end of the novel. The climax is when Adam puts headphones on Mia's head and turns up a classical song for her, Mia makes up her mind to stay and squeezes Adam's hands to show that she has made up her mind. She describes that this choice was as a result of "all the strength that Gran and Gramps and Kim and the nurses and Widow have given" her. The novel then ends with a shocked Adam asking "Mia?"

Themes

• Power of Love - The power of love plays a strong part in this novel. It is because of the love that Mia received from her grandparents, friends, and her boyfriend that she is able to keep on reviving.
• Choice - Choice is another great theme that is put in play in the novel. As Mia is in her coma, telling her story in the eyes of her "ghost", she is basically making a choice whether to live or die. Throughout the novel, she struggles with this conflict she has with herself.

If I Stay Movie Trailer

An upcoming movie trailer for the book If I Stay. The movie's release date is August 22nd, 2014

Blogger Rating/Recommendation

My rating for this book is a 9 out of a 10. This is because the book does have some qualities that make the story a bit boring such as when the author talks about Mia's flashbacks. Even with these boring parts, this book can move many people's hearts including mine and it fully develops the theme of choice and the power of love. This book creates an event that could happen to anyone at any time. In addition, the technique that the author uses to describe what was going on with Mia's consciousness made me feel like I was part of the book. I totally recommend all to read this book and watch the movie.