The Decision of A Lifetime (If I Stay - Gayle Forman)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	If I Stay - Gayle Forman
Date:	06/11/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting idea for a story. Will appeal to teens.

Disadvantages: Protagonist is a typical, self-indulgent teen.

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 accompanies her own unconscious body to the hospital.

As Mia's corporal self struggles to survive the spirit Mia watches her family and friends attend her bedside and wander through the corridors of the hospital, talking about her or to her. The relationships between Mia and these people are then explored via flashbacks. Mia's grandparents, friend Kim and boyfriend Adam are those which she listens to as they deal with their emotions.

Unless you are a teenager you will find Mia's first person commentary very indulgent and typical of any self-obsessed teen. I found her attitude to be completely unrealistic at times however. The character frequently reminisces about what might seem like trivial issues when really faced with the bleak horror of her family lying dead in the morgue. Her relationship with the cooler than cool wannabe rockstar Adam is a huge part of her imaginings and I found her hormonal musings to be inappropriate and slightly unsettling. Perhaps to younger readers the romantic relationship here might take on greater significance but as an older reader I thought the emphasis on how Adam might be Mia's saviour to be a bit silly and saccharin and typical of an overblown teenage fantasy.

I found the lack of feeling expressed in the writing to be a major problem throughout the novel. I found Mia's lack of honesty and openness to be a barrier in my connection with her character. Whilst the details of her parent's death are covered in gory detail the description is totally physical. There is barely any reference to how Mia actually feels. There is also very little philosphy in the writing - it is often just very straightforward: this happened, that happened. This is a pattern of blandness that continues through the novel. The few references to heightened emotion come in the portions of text where she discusses her sexual relationship with Adam and these passages, whilst perhaps titilating to younger readers, felt a little uncomfortable and incongruous to me. Mia's blank senses are actually addressed in the very last part of the novel but by then I feel it is too late and I do not believe the idea the author attempts to relay when she says Mia has been holding all of her emotions inside.

The writing style is very simple but there is nothing that might indicate any originality in the author's style. Forman is good at writing speech and the conversations between our characters flows naturally. I did find that Mia's ten year old self was a little old beyond her years though and her steady, focused remarks were a little unconvincing. As mentioned above, this novel contains writing which is quite graphic in nature. There are some disturbing descriptions of Mia's car crash which never quite leave you. The descriptions of injury and of the hospital procedures are brave and interesting to read.

Overall, I think I liked the premise of this novel more than I actually liked the writing style, the story or the characters! It's a wonderful idea to have a character witnessing themselves on the brink of life and death - so wonderful, infact, that Hollwood execs already have eyed this up as a potential movie. However, I just couldn't bring myself to care for Mia when her observations and memories were so inwardly focused. I also felt she expressed far too little distress for me as a reader to be able to care whether she chose to live or die. When she does have these moments of awareness - my family are dead! - it comes across more like a teenage sulk rather than a well considered opinion or feeling.

I am sure this novel will appeal to fourteen and fifteen year olds as it reads like a teen romance for much of the novel, rather than it being a more serious drama about a girl losing her family and having to chose Heaven or Earth. The 2009 novel is available to buy now, published by DoubleDay for RandomHouse Children's Books.

Summary: A serious novel for older teens.