EDU 330- Book 5

The fifth book I choose to read was entitled “If I Stay” by Gayle Forman. This interesting and thought-provoking book makes you question not only the life of the characters in the book but your own life as well. This book is centered on Mia, who is a cello player with the hopes of going to Julliard. However, the hopes and dreams for her future are shattered when she is in a horrible car accident. In this accident her entire family is killed however after much medical attention Mia has “survived” but is in a coma fighting or better yet pondering between life and death. The story now takes a really interesting turn with Mia being able to have this “experience” where she can “see” the world around her, walking through the hospital. This story is the “road” down which Mia and her family embark from the morning of the accident to the actual tragedy as well as the aftermath. It is a combination of Mia’s thoughts, memories, and flashbacks where we can really see the life she led as well as her family’s life. We learn of her parents, often at times weird, her brother, her friends, and her boyfriend Adam. It is through this middle ground of life and death that Mia confronts the realization of where she is and the hard decision of whether to stay and hold on to life where her family is gone where she would have horrible injuries or she could let go of her life and die, joining her family in another world. Wondering what to do and where to go the reader follows Mia in her journey through life and death.

Although this seemingly interesting book projects many memories that bring uplifting thoughts, there are moments in which the author becomes very morbid and real. Gayle Forman does a great job at making the reader feel the sadness of the characters and the uncomfortable feelings of dealing with those situations and emotions which we so often want to push aside or ignore. This book deals with making choices between our past and our future. Realizing what we have that matters and what we have that does not. Mia’s perceptions of her life and relationships are forever changed after she finds herself in the current situation. How she and how we, the reader, live our lives can be reassessed through the reading of this novel. We see Mia second guessing herself, her life and her relationships. But the emotional journey Mia takes is important not only for the novel but for the reader as well.

This would be a great book to use in illustrating not only narrative styles but techniques such as timelines, flashbacks, point of view, and voice as well as tone. The way this book is written, bordering two lives, the here and now and the “after”, allows the reader to transcend ordinary thinking of life. This book would be great to illustrate how the speaker of the text can control the flow and feeling of a text. (character or author) I think that it would be great as a literary tool. However, there are many pieces in the novel that are written with such a reality as to make them gruesome and I wonder if some may be affected by the material. Also with sexual references and scenes this book may be deemed inappropriate by some. There is also some swearing involved in this novel, and although I would be willing to look past the language for the greater literary purpose, other teachers and parents may not. Being able to use this text to generate questions not only about issues within the novel but with life decisions would be very educational academically and personally. Discussing Mia’s choice, what would students do in her place? What were the most important pieces of her life she remembers, or students remember and why? This could generate into quite a lesson with much “journaling” and discussion.

One favorite quote from me and many others was:
“Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this. Am I dead? At first it seemed obvious that I am. That the standing-here-watching part was temporary, an intermission before the bright light and the life-flashing-before-me business that would transport me to wherever I’m going next.” (pg. 19)