If I Stay

By Gayle Forman

Reviewed by Julia Wang

THE STORY:

Mia, a girl with a great family lives a very happy life. That was until one day when she looses it all. On a snowy day, Mia, her father, mother, and brother, Teddy, had the day off. With nothing to do, the family chooses to go on a road trip. The morning of that day starts out fine, but the loving family did not know of their tragic fate as they went into the car. As they were driving peacefully along
the highway, a “four-ton pickup truck going sixty miles an hour” rammed right into the passenger seat and through the driver’s side window, causing a nasty car crash. When Mia “gains conscious”, she finds herself overlooking the scene of the crash. With no scars and scratches, she frantically looks for Teddy but ends up finding herself, scratched, bruised, and covered in blood. For the rest of the story, Mia tells it in a patterned way. She would talk about her condition and her inner thoughts as she watches herself unconscious in a hospital bed, but then starts thinking about her past with her family and her boyfriend, Adam. Although Mia is lying in the hospital bed unconscious, she overlooks everything although no one notices her. She sees the effort Adam and Kim, her best friend, puts just to see a glimpse of her, but she also has to piece together many things to conclude that her family is dead. Throughout the whole story, Mia is going through an inner conflict, trying to decide whether she should live or die. With her own strength, Mia will find the courage and make the hardest decision she would ever have to make in her life. (285)

MY OPINION:

When I first started reading the book, I noticed that instead of separating the book into chapters, the author chose to separate it by the time. I found that very unique and as I read on, I began to understand why. In the beginning of the book, the author shows that it is 7:09 AM, and if you look near the end of the book, it says that it is 7:16 AM. Within those 24 hours, Mia managed to explain so much. If readers don’t closely analyze the story, instead of feeling like everything happen in a mere twenty four hours, it would feel like days. She managed “extend” that time by connecting her current situation to her past. Since the main setting is in a hospital, the author used a lot of vocabulary that doctors would normally use, making it quite hard to understand. Before I read the book, my dad did warn me of the mature language since the characters swear a lot, so I believe that this book is mainly for high schoolers and/or mature adults. Overall, I would rate this book ten out ten stars, and I would definitely re-read the book again if I ever encounter it again. (206)

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. Why doesn’t Mia go to school?

1a. Mia doesn’t go to school because it’s snowing. (pg.4)

2. What does Mia find instead of Teddy when she’s “dreaming”?

2a. Instead of finding Teddy when she’s “dreaming”, Mia finds herself covered in blood and with an askew leg. (pg.17)

3. Why did Mia start playing the cello?

3a. Mia started playing the cello, because there “was something so human and expressive about it” that made her interested. (pg.38)

4. Why didn’t Mia want to attend Adam’s (Mia’s boyfriend) rock concerts anymore?

4a. Mia didn’t want to attend Adam’s rock concerts anymore, because she didn’t know how to “rock-talk”.

5. Who is Kim?

5a. Kim is a Jewish girl whose Mia’s best friend. (pg.64)

exuberant (pg.5)

eviscerated (pg.15)

aficionado (pg.42)

nondenominational (pg.66)

pantomimed (pg.84)

MIDDLE SECTION

6. Why did Mia nearly burst into tears after Adam’s Halloween concert?

6a. Mia nearly burst into tears after Adam’s Halloween concert, because for the first time, she felt like the personality her Halloween costume “gave” her made her “worthy” of Adam and her family. (pg.100)

7. When Mia wanted to quit playing cello, who convinced her to continue?

7a. When Mia wanted to quit playing cello, Kim, her best friend, was the one who convinced her to continue playing. (pg.127)

8. What piece did Mia plan to play at the concerto competition?

8a. The piece Mia planned to play at the concerto competition was Haydn’s Cello Concerto no.2. (pg.137)

9. How does Mia know that Teddy, her younger brother, has died?

9a. Mia knows that Teddy has died, because Willow, the nurse who was taking care of Teddy, came over to the hospital Mia is in. That shows that her job is done, and that they can’t help Teddy anymore. (pg.152)

10. Why can’t Mia concentrate and forget the fact that Teddy’s dead?

10a. Mia couldn’t concentrate and forget the fact that Teddy’s dead, because her monitors began blipping, signaling that her BP and pulse ox was dropping. (pg.161)

pastiche (pg.95)

irrevocably (pg.119)

invigorating (pg.129)

ricochets (pg.141)

neonatal (pg.159)

                               

LAST SECTION

11. What song does Mia want to be played at her funeral?

11a. The song Mia wants to be played at her funeral is Mozart’s Requiem. (pg.172)

12. What song did Mia sing to Teddy when she was rocking him to sleep?

12a. The song Mia sang to Teddy when she was rocking him to sleep was “Waiting for Vengeance”, a song written by her father. (pg.190)

13. Why couldn’t Adam celebrate with Mia after she aced her Juilliard audition?

13a. Adam couldn’t celebrate with Mia after she aced her Juilliard audition, because his rock band was on a mini tour. (pg.202)

14. What did Adam call the new song he played when Mia was spaced out?

14a. Adam called the new song “The Girlfriend’s-Going-to-Juilliard-Leaving-My-Punk-Heart-in-Shreds-Blues”. (pg.212)

15. What choice did Mia make at the end: to die or to live?

15a. The choice Mia made at the end was to live. Originally, she wanted to die but when Kim to visit her, she mentioned how she still had “family”. Even though her parents and brother both died in the car crash, there was still a lot of people out there that cared about her. (pg.234)

frenetic (pg.167)

unilaterally (pg.185)

peroxided (pg.191)

twangy (pg.212)

placated (pg.222)