If I Stay Review

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Genre: Contemporary

Blurb: On a day that started like any other, Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, admiring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. In an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left. It is the most important decision she'll ever make.

Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.



Me: The movie came out a few days ago and I really wanted to watch it and see what all the reaction was about, so I decided to buy it. Regret it, too.

The Ups: It's a very fresh concept. We human beings, as a race, are constantly questioning what will happen to us when we die, and whether or not we get a say in it. This was a very nice take on that concept, and the idea of having a perfect life helped even more.
The thing is, all characters in books we read these days have deep flaws with their personal, home, or school life. And although this sounds very stupid and snobby, there are people with seemingly perfect lives, and this book shows that anything, even something that seems that strong can shatter in a second.
I really liked the decision that Mia had to make, and how in the end, love saved her. 

The Downs: Setting that aside, this was not sad. At all. I don't now if I'm just a completely insensitive human being or what, but the descriptions were not enough. The emotion was just not there. I feel like there wasn't enough connection between the reader and Mia and Mia and her family for me to feel the immense emotional pain she was enduring, and the difficulty of the decision she was trying to make. 
The romance was confusing, too. I think that the connections between the characters were not built enough. The love for Adam or whatever didn't seem like this beautiful, understanding love, but more like just another high school romance. Nothing worth living for, you know?
The parents were all too perfect. No parents are that perfect. No matter how cool, no matter how understanding, parents are bound to have flaws, and they didn't. 
Overall: Lacked connection and emotion. Hopefully the movie will be better. 

Rating: 2 kisses! 


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