If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a YA novel about having to make the ultimate choice after tragedy.
After a tragic car accident, Mia spends one day in an out-of-body experience telling her story through flashbacks to her past as she considers the choice she has to make: if she stays.
While it’s marketed a bit to Twilight fans on the cover, that’s not the impression I find fits with it. Looking at the other books inside the cover that are marketed as “other books you may like” to me the one that this fits best along with is Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, which is one of my favorite YA novels of all time because it grapples with identity, hope, family, and difficult situations.
I enjoyed this book because the pacing is well-done and I have a weakspot for flashback fiction, but what I like in this book, is the fact that between the flashbacks and the narration, there is the underlying theme of family of choice: that family doesn’t have to be your immediate family and it can include friends and other loved ones as well. The other thing that drew me was the role music plays throughout the storyline’s flashbacks from Mia’s passion for cello to different aspects of her life where music is central to her family and her relationships.
No comments:
Post a Comment