IF I STAY by Gayle Forman

I would describe this book in two words: "chick lit" because is based on a relationship between not only Mia's family and friends, but her boyfriend also. If i stay is about Mia the main character and her family (Teddy, mom and dad). One normal day they are in their lovely home, a day without class, it was snowing. Were they decide to go out as a family, turns out that a terrible tragedy happens. Her parents sadly ended up passing away and she and her brother are in critical condition. Mia enters a state where she's not dead. but she's not alive either. While she goes around and watches over as her body is being operated on, until she ends up in ICU (Intensive Care Unit). She witnesses as people come and go visiting her and talking to her. All through out the rest of the book she just reflects on her life, on what she has achieved, on what she has completed and just to answer the main and ultimate question, "Should I stay?"

My favorite character has definitely to be Mia's dad because I love how he left his passion which was being a rock star, just to commit and comply with his children and wife. Making huge sacrifices for the ones that he loves the most. The characters felt really real to me, I could literally picture them in my mind. I know this is a little bit cheesy, but my favorite part was when she summoned all her love, feelings and all her energy just to hold and hear Adam. I thought that was really beautiful. The book teared me up a little, not just because of the tragedy, but because of the book being so well written that i could basically feel their emotions, I was empathizing with them. Any way I just really like the book and that's weird because that's not usually my genre of reading. I would really recommend this actually to guys, especially teenagers who think romance and love are overrated, this can really change your point of view.

Bryan Cordero

8th Grade