If I Stay - Gayle Forman

Gayle Forman's novel is aimed at older teenagers from around fourteen years upwards although this is the kind of story and writing that transcends the children's literature barrier and can appeal to adults too. The story is definately not for the faint hearted or for immature readers and there are lots of issues and events detailed which are adult in nature. The protagonist of the novel is Mia, a seventeen year old girl who is in a car crash with her parents and younger brother. After the car crash she is critically injured and enters an out of body experience. In this ghostly state she wanders around, seeing the butchered bodies of her parents, and then ...  Read the complete review

I had never heard of Gayle Forman prior to reading this book. She is a journalist whose first book was a travelogue about travelling the world. As a journalist, one of her first jobs was writing for a magazine for teenagers, so by writing teen fiction she states she feels she has came full circle. Already on track for a film adaptation, this teen drama captures one day in the life of 17 year old talented cellist Mia, in the aftermath of a car crash which kills both her parents and her younger brother. What makes this book unusual is that it is narrated by Mia from an out-of-body perspective. She watches as her relations come to visit her in the ...  Read the complete review