The First Impression of If I Stay by Gayle Forman

                I have currently started the novel If I Stay by Gayle Forman, and as of right now, I am nowhere near as impressed as I thought I would be. I get a pang in my chest for saying it, but so far, the author has developed absolutely no plot and no back round on any of the characters except to explain that it is a snow day for the protagonist or main character Mia, and her brother Teddy. And right after the family is introduced, the car wreck comes immediately afterwards, which ends her parents' lives, and leaves chances for Teddy to live very slim. But Mia is in the form of a spirit when she awakens and sees her family laying dead in the perfectly white snow. This was when I got desperately confused because I know almost nothing about the family, and now they are all dead from the very beginning of the book. I dearly hope that the author maneuvers around this confusion because I believe that this will be very hard to read without the proper information prior to the accident.

               Although I believe that there could be many improvements to the start of this novel, I truly believe that the characters sound very interesting and more complex than the plot itself! Mia seems to be an ordinary girl when you take a first glance, but when you look even closer than that, you see that she plays the cello, and that music and her boyfriend Adam, may be the only two things that make her happy anymore. I do not know much more about Mia or Adam, but I can tell that their relationship may be the only hope and suspense that builds the story attached to the car crash. My favorite part of the novel so far seems to be the car wreck scene because the author is so detailed and descriptive about the death of the family and what the paramedics do to attempt to save the two children. "I edge closer and now I know that it's not Teddy lying there. It's me. The blood from my chest has seeped through my shirt, skirt, and sweater, and is now pooling like paint drops on the virgin snow. One of my legs is askew, the skin and muscle peeled away so that I can see white streaks of bone. My eyes are closed, and my dark brown hair is wet and rusty with blood" (Forman, 17-18). This quote shows how detailed the author was to really help the reader visualize one of the most important scenes in the book.
              I would like to take a moment to talk about this new popular author named Gayle Forman. So far I can see that she is a very unique author, because she mixes up the order of events in If I Stay so that the reader is temporarily confused. I am not so sure that I like this kind of writing, but it does intrigue me to find out how she will incorporate this kind of writing into such a complex set of characters in an unusual plot. I have never read another book by her before, but I have a feeling that she will be publishing more novels soon, based on all the publicity she has for just a two book series. I hope that I can trust her to move the story along with ease and to keep me on my toes, because I am determined to finish this series with a smile on my face and suspense in my mind.

http://www.amazon.com/If-I-Stay-Gayle-Forman/dp/014241543X