If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title                      : If I Stay
Writer                     : Gayle Forman

Edition Language           : Bahasa 
Series                     : If I Stay #1
Characters                 : Mia Hall, Adam Wilde, Kim Schein

Translator                 :  Poppy D. Chusfani

Editor                     : Dini Pandia
Publisher                  : Gramedia Pustaka Utama (January, 2012)

Paperback                  : 200 pages

ISBN                       : 978-979-22-6660-3
Rate                       : 4/5

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If I Stay is a young adult novel by Gayle Forman published in 2009 (United States). The story follows 17-year-old Mia Hall as she deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic car accident involving her family. In a coma, Mia has an out-of-body experience, and watches as friends and family gather at the hospital where she is being treated. Mia watches as her memories flash before her eyes as she comes to realize that she must decide if she should wake up and lead a life far more difficult than she ever anticipated, or slip away and die. It has received positive reviews. A sequel hit shelves in April 2011, entitled Where She Went.

The writing was great and Gayle Forman did a spectacular job with this 200-pages-book, not too long and not too short.
The best part about the book for me was that Mia thinks about her past to try to figure out whether she should live or die. And also that Gayle Forman explored this subject and I think what she wrote could be true to an extent. For example, if you were on a car crash like Mia was, and your injuries are really severe. Your lying limb and semi unconscious in a hospital bed. Your mind is still thinking, you can hear and feel everything around you, but you can't move. Don't you think its YOUR choice whether to live or die?

Then, there is a lot of language in the book that I don't really think was needed, but it showed the parents personality a little so that's why I tolerated it.

Again, If I Stay, Gayle Forman’s outstanding debut novel, is an emotionally gripping story. As readers follow Mia's life after the accident, we also learn via plentiful flashbacks about her life before tragedy struck. Her colorful, vibrant family members are recalled so vividly that they could step off the page --- and break our hearts. Her remembrances highlight Mia's romance with her boyfriend (Adam Wilde) and her passion for her music. Readers will find her predicament absorbing, and the book’s climax poignant and satisfying. So, I recommend to younger readers and fans of relationship drama to read this novel.

“If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I’ll do that, too. I was talking to Liz and she said maybe coming back to your old life would be too painful, that maybe it’d be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I’d do it. I can lose you like that if I don’t lose you today. I’ll let you go. If you stay.” (Adam Wilde to Mia Hall, page 192, If I Stay)

Oh yeah, FYI, it adapted into a movie (with same title) and it is still coming soon in Indonesia (starring by Chloë Grace Moretz, Mireille Enos, Jamie Blackley).