Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Random House
Page: 272

Goodreads synopsis:

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel. I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen. Stay, he says.

Everybody has to make choices. Some might break you. For seventeen-year-old Mia, surrounded by a wonderful family, friends and a gorgeous boyfriend decisions might seem tough, but they're all about a future full of music and love, a future that's brimming with hope.

But life can change in an instant.

A cold February morning ...a snowy road ...and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one. As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all.

Gripping, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be.

Review:

Mia has just gotten into a car crash with her family, her father, mother and younger brother. She was in the hospital when she had and an out of body experienced. There she realised that all of them had passed away. She was tempted to move on but her boyfriend Adam kept her anchored.

I don't know what happened but the story was over before I knew it. It guided us through her lost and the flashbacks of her happiness with her family and Adam. The reason why I love this book was the grief and the fact that the author managed to make me feel that it is not enough and wanting for more. There's not much to say because the plot was mostly of her indecisiveness of staying or leaving for good. 

To her, there was not much to go back to. Yes, she still has her grandparents, her boyfriend and a whole life in front of her. Unfortunately, her entire family has left. She is either felt guilty living as they are dead or she just don't want to live grieving for them.

Dumbledore once said, "pity the living not the dead". Besides, death is the easy way out. It is harder to face life and what doesn't kill you make you stronger. This book did not make me want to appreciate life more or anything. It just taught me that in life they are no wrong or right decision but you still have to live with the consequences and to Mia it's a literal meaning.