Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is probably the book I have been looking forward to the most this year because there has been so much hype! I have heard so many people say how good it is and it's already got a movie deal so when my copy came I somewhat prioritized it and read it really quickly :) I wasn't really sure what to expect because after I decide that I want to read a book I don't really want to find out more about it because I'm going to read it anyway! It's like if I've already decided I want to see a movie I don't want to watch trailers for it because they're just going to give things away! Getting back on track, my point is that for me a lot of reading If I Stay was balancing what I actually thought of the book with this super-best-book-ever-ever-ever idea I had framed in my mind. And did it live up to the hype?

It was a good book, I was definitely absorbed in it because I read it very quickly which is always a good sign with me. The story is about Mia who is in a coma but sort of outside her body and able to see what is going on in a kind of spirit-way. She has to make a choice, 'to stay' - to fight and try to survive - or else die! W(hich is actually quite morbid.) I didn't find myself as emotionally involved as I thought I might have been, I didn't cry for one and I got the impression that I should have! (Thought I might be getting cold-hearted in my old age as I watched Titanic the other day and I didn't shed a tear!) The book is told in a combination of the present with Mia seeing what's going on when people come visit her at the hospital and in flash-backs as Mia remembers things about her family and the people that are coming to see her.

As a bit of a side note, If I Stay is going to be made into a film. I'm really interested to see how they will do this as it wasn't the sort of book I read and could really envision as a film because a lot of the action is really just going with Mia's thoughts I guess. I suppose there will be a lot of flash-backs?! I will definitely go see it at any rate.

If I Stay was the sort of book that raises a lots of questions and hopefully will make you think about yourself and the sort of decisions you would make in these kind of impossible situations. While I may not have been entirely taken in with the characters, the story itself was an extremely thought-provoking one and I am glad to have read it.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is published by Random House in Australia and is out now. You can find out more here.