The Setup:
Mia lives a perfectly normal life with her family: her former punk star father, a hardcore rocker mother, and adorable little brother Teddy. One day, while driving to her grandparent's house, they run into a truck. Her parents are killed, and the fate of her brother is unknown; but, for whatever reason, Mia is given the choice of whether she wants to die. Doesn't that sound like the potential to be the book of the year? The book to win the award of the best book I've read the entire year (or, at least get nominated)? Well, as I said before...it isn't.
The Characters:
This is without a doubt where the book falls flat. Wait, I need to reword that; the main character is the biggest problem with the book. She was extremely boring, to put it lightly. She's quiet, serious, likes playing the cello, has a passion for classical music...I don't find that very interesting. There was nothing that really made me care about her beyond the usual pity I feel towards the tragic events she went through. This is a major problem because the entire point of the book is to get you to connect with her character and feel her emotions so you can feel sorry for her. She also didn't develop, or whatever character development she would've had was lost because of the ending, which, by the way, wasn't bad, but could've been better. As for the side characters, well, that's where the book really shines. Besides Mia, I can't think of another character that I didn't like. Firstly, Mia's family is so fun to read about. I became attached to the little brother named Teddy, I found her father cool and interesting, and the mother is awesome and tough as nails. Mia's grandparents were kind and loving. Her boyfriend, Adam, is one of the most supportive boyfriend characters I've ever read about. It also helps that he loves music in the punk category (which is the type of music that I like). Her friend Kim was also very interesting and snarky, but just as supportive of Mia. Willow and Henry were also fun to read about. It really felt like a tight-knit family, which considering the strong theme of family within the novel, is a very good thing.
The Story:
The story of If I Stay is predictable, but still heartwarming to an extent. The main issue with it, however, is its structure. There isn't much of a solid progression; it talks about Mia in the hospital, then the book flashes back to Mia pre-tragedy, and it was always such a jolt jumping back and forth on the timeline. Not to say that the scenes themselves are bad...because, in all honesty, they're all written very well...but the transitions were nonexistent, making the story frustrating at points.
The Writing Style/Grammatical Errors:
The writing style is extremely standard. While the individual scenes were written rather well, the wording, the descriptions, the voice, and the dialogue are pretty average. There are no surprises, which is a shame. As for grammatical errors, sometimes the sentence structure is a little weird, but it's nothing too major.
Final Judgment:
Some might say that this book suffered from too high of expectations on my part. And, yeah, they'd be correct, for the most part. In some ways, this book did match my expectations, with a fantastic set of side characters and the book knows what it wants to accomplish; but, while I would like to give the book an A for Effort, I can't; it had too many issues. I give If I Stay a 3 out of 5, and a recommendation to read it if you wish. Like always, though it's up to you to decide your own opinions.
ScoreCard:
Further Recommendations:
Looking For Alaska
A book that deals with similar themes of grief and loss, this is one of my favorite novels of all time and if you haven't read it yet, you're missing out.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
This might be better for younger audiences, but it has similar ideas about the strength of family and friendship. Give it a shot, if you'd like.
The next review will be on an anime movie series. See you then!
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