REVIEW: IF I STAY BY GAYLE FORMAN.

Title: If I Stay (If I Stay #1)
Author: Gayle Forman
Edition: Paperback
Published: April 6, 2010
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 262
Source: Bought from Fully Booked
Category: Contemporary, Paranormal
Trailer: Here.

Synopsis:

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

If I Stay is irrevocably painful.

Being a fan of dystopia, sci-fi and paranomal genres could be quite tiring at times. I haven't had much of contemporary reads and when I saw Gayle Forman's promising If I Stay, I just grabbed a copy without having any second thoughts at all.

Mia is a regular teenager living an ideal life with her ideal family. What makes her special is that she is passionate being Cellist. One snowy morning however, when classes are suspended, she and her family agreed to go out and visit her grand parents. On their way, she wakes up seeing her family dead on a horrible car crash. And she sees herself in a coma.

This novel is not for the faint of hearts. It sure did leave me panting and catching my breathe. I honestly don't know whether to cry or sit for a moment to let the plot sync in. It tore my heart into pieces. And all of my fears for my family resurfaced with such strong emotions that I don't want to ever feel again no matter how inevitable it is.

Forman presented the novel in such a light way being an easy read. If I Stay is one of the novels I finished in one sitting. There were no sugar coating or any unnecessary elaborations of some sort. It is direct to the point, direct to the heart. I loved how she managed to collaborate paranormal and true to life story without compromising the plot. The way she uses different analogies for different facial reactions made it even more easy to picture. And what's interesting is how she incorporated different genres of music in a paranormal slash contemporary novel that didn't jeopardize the essence as a whole.

Whenever I think back on what happened to Mia's family, I deeply engrossed the fact that this is what happens in real life. Life is too short to waste and we will never know when our numbers be up. Forman's way of expressing what could possibly be going on in a patient's mind gave me reasons to be more thankful towards family and friends. I can bravely say that I encountered another eye-opener book. And I am so glad I did read it.

If I Stay digs deeper in one's heart. If you didn't cry or feel shaken my this novel, I don't know what would. It leaves something in one's heart that no one could simply erase and it will leave you in awe. Thank you Gayle for writing such novel. It truly warmed my almost cold heart.

VERDICT:

“Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.”