If I Stay

By: Gayle Forman

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck.

A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make - and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

©2009 Dutton Juvenile (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"A beautiful novel." (Los Angeles Times)

"A do-not-miss story of love, friendship, family, loss, control, and coping." (Justine Magazine)

"The brilliance of this book is the simplicity." (The Wall Street Journal)

Beautiful

Reading this, as an ICU nurse, moved me. It is powerful to think about the experiences patients might have while they are in the most vulnerable state of their lives❤️

Lovely narration

Kirsten Potter delivered an excellent narration of a very emotional story. Excellent vocal inflection and voice pace made it possible to hear the joy, pain, sorrow and confusion of the various characters.

The Ultimate Choice

STORY (fiction) - First let me vent about Audible's rating system. This book is suggested for kids age 8-10. What are they thinking? The main characters are in high school and beyond. There's the vocabulary, with words like churlish, ablution, frenetic and taciturn coming to my mind. Then there's the F-word thrown in a couple times for emphasis. And of course, anyone who's seen the movie trailer might guess the subject matter isn't for children. So I'll get off that soapbox for a while, until Audible screws up the recommendation for another book!

Mia, the main character, is a high school senior with a cute rock star boyfriend named Adam. She plays the cello and hopes to attend Julliard in the fall. Until the accident. Her parents and younger brother are killed and Mia is unconscious with multiple life-threatening injuries. She has an out-of-body experience beginning at the accident scene. She describes the horrific crash as if it's happening in slow motion, she describes the bodies of her family as she finds them, and she describes her own body laying motionless on the ground. As she's moved to the helicopter and finally the hospital, she continues to describe her treatments and the reactions of her loved ones as they arrive.

The book basically alternates between Mia's out-of-body viewpoint and flashbacks of her life, kind of like her life is flashing before her eyes. She realizes that the choice between life and death is in her hands. It's her choice, just like the title of the book, "If I Stay." I won't tell you how the book ends, but be sure to have some Kleenex handy.

PERFORMANCE - Good job. Sometimes I could "feel" the smile in her voice, and her emotional performance during the more serious scenes was convincing as well.

OVERALL - For mature teenagers and adults only, due primarily to the subject matter. There's no sex, but there is an unusual scene where Mia and Adam play each other like instruments. The descriptions at the accident scene are a bit graphic (complete with brain matter on the road), but they don't last long. Some of the flashbacks were a little slow, but I enjoyed the book and plan to see the movie.

Great story about life flashing before your eyes

This is the kind of book that leaves you in shambles when it’s over.

Mia is a gifted musician with plans to go to Julliard. She has wacky but lovable parents who are reformed hippies/musicians themselves and a hipster rocker boyfriend who is paving his way to stardom. She has everything going for her – until she doesn’t.

I spent a good portion of If I Stay waiting for the “good parts” e.g. the part where she wakes up and everyone hugs it out. What I didn’t realize is that it wasn’t necessarily about that. Oh, it was technically about that, but it was more about the means and not the ends.

If I Stay is told in befores and afters. There is no real sequential order to the events in the Befores and it took me some time (possibly because I’m slow like that) to realize, it wasn’t her remembering anything, but literally her life was flashing before her eyes. And that’s when I fell in love with this book. What we think can take moments before death or near-death took her a day, and it’s hard to believe this entire book only progresses over a day when we get to see Mia’s lifetime. We experience her acceptance into Julliard, her first kiss with Adam, her first time in a mosh pit even though she’s a classical musician, the day her baby brother Teddy was born. Meanwhile in the Nows, we experience her realization that her family may have been killed in the collision and she must come to terms while she is in her coma with whether or not she even wants to live. Her experience is truly spine-tingling.

All of the characters were great. I don’t know what else to say about them, except that I wish I had them in my life LOL. They made me laugh, they made me cry, and they felt real to me.

If I Stay is raw emotion. I ripped my heart out and stomped all over it, and left me wanting more. I can’t wait to read the next book in Mia’s story and have my heart broken all over again.

Kirsten Potter was a pretty good narrator. She was on point with voices and inflections and I enjoyed the book told from her perspective. I’ll definitely be looking for more audios by her.

Great Story

What made the experience of listening to If I Stay the most enjoyable?

The story was very nice - I listened to it straight through the day

Any additional comments?

This was a good story. I would possibly listen to it again. It was well written and wrapped up well. Very creative.

Wonderfully written, and an interesting backstory.

The strength of this book is the complexity and richness of the backstory. The life the character is living is rich and full. Her memories and the response of her friends and family tell a varied and complex story of a young girl maturing into womanhood surrounded by interesting people.

Push play when you can stay a few hours

Couldn't stop listening. Sorted through box after box of whatever I could put my hands on so it wouldn't look like I was wasting time. This was not a waste of time. This was a real joy. The reading, the language, the insights, the suspense, the outcome... My heart still aches when I think of it, months later. I know I'll end up listening again soon. I just don't want to push play until I have time to hear it all.

I stayed

It was amazing met expectations I saw the movie first and the book was way better by far!!!!!! Loved it

Interesting

Interesting story. This story is interesting. Interesting is this story. Is this story interesting? Yes.

Great!

This book kept me captivated until the very end, which is honestly not an easy feat. Narration was good too. Definitely recommend.