The Bell reviews this emotionally intense novel that will soon be made into a movie.

This past week I read If I Stay, by Gayle Forman. The protagonist, Mia, is a 17-year-old-senior in high school. As the book starts out, Mia has the picture perfect life. She is a Juliard-bound cello player with two loving parents, an adorable curly-haired little brother and a boyfriend who would jump off a cliff for her. An unexpected car accident instantly rips all of her future plans to shreds. Both her parents are killed instantly, while Mia and her brother end up in critical condition in the hospital. Throughout the book Mia has an out-of-body experience. She wakes up to find herself in a coma, being rushed to the hospital. She spends the rest of the book deciding whether she will stay or pass with her parents.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I do not take time out of my day to read a book unless it is truly worth the time. This book was absolutely worth the time. Mia flashes back and forth, reliving memories and keeping readers up-to-date with her medical condition. If you are not someone who enjoys flashbacks or wants a book to remain firmly in the present, this book may not be for you. The flashbacks, however, are quite graceful and did not cause me to stumble or require any rereading.

Obviously a book about a girl and her family getting into a fatal car accident will cause tears to flow. I will admit that I caught myself starting to tear up in one instance, but I won’t give away any of the juicy details of the plot. It is pretty easy to pin-point exactly where my emotions got the better of me if you have read the book.

If I Stay was not an overly sad or depressing book. Yes, she is dying, but the majority of the book goes into how her friends/family are affected by the accident and all of the reasons she has to stay or go.

If I Stay is also being made into a movie, which I will definitely be going to see. So if the fact that this book i

s incredible and I loved it doesn’t convince you it’s worth reading, read the book so you can go see the movie without spending the entire time trying to figure out if she stays.

Ahart: “I read The Smartest Kids in the World, about how American students are sent to the world’s top ranking countries. At first I thought I would hate it and they would just trash America’s schooling system. But at the end I think American kids are more well rounded.