Sometimes you come across a book whose subject matter forces you to open your eyes and examine your life and the people around you and one that stays with you way long after you have read it. Gayle Forman's If I Stay was one of those books. If you haven't read the book before, you might have heard of If I Stay as Chloë Grace Moretz's latest film.
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This book is about making choices. And we all know how some choices are very hard to make because whichever one we choose will have a profound impact on our lives. I have found myself many a time struggling to make a couple of choices in a world where everyone wants you to choose, choose, choose!
In this book 17-year-old Mia has it all; she is a budding cellist with dreams of fame and she has a very supportive family comprised of two parents and a little brother, who all possess very colorful personalities that make you fall in love with them as characters and they supply the humour in the story (which has made me laugh out loud while reading the book), she has a supportive boyfriend who shares her love for music. Mia is faced with the choice of following her love for music and attend the prestigious prestigious Julliard or she can stay with her family and the love of her life. A hard choice to make either way.
One morning Mia goes on a drive with her family and in one instant everything changes. Mia finds herself having to make one very important choice, a choice she has been asking herself for months but one vastly different. Should she go or should she stay?
This book...this book right here, examines the very essence of what life is. By reading it, you understand that life is full of parallels that together, make what we know as life. Forman also makes use of parallels in her writing, switching between the past and the present almost simultaneously. I liked this, it offered a comprehensive look into the situation and allow you to experience it all in Mia's point of view.
I laughed, was horrified and I cried. Matter of fact, it's the kind of book that makes you turn the page and you do not notice that tears are running down our face in torrents and you're absentmindedly wiping snot away until you finish the book and close it. That being said, it is humourous, hopeful, heartwarming and most of all, heartbreaking.
You can read an excerpt of the book from Gayle Forman's website HERE.
I really recommend this book if you want to read something a little more 'real', something that will probably change your life. According to Bella (haha I love saying that) this book gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. So make the choice to read it if you haven't already haha.
There is a sequel to this book called Where She Went that I haven't read yet but will start on it soon as I have it in my eBook library. (Oooh new book! Excited to read it.) If you have read this book already, please comment and tell me how it made you feel.
'Til next time.
-Bella
