If I Stay, Reading Response

 In the story, If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, contains many emotional scenes that shape a girl’s life. Mia Hall, a teenage girl who had everything, a family, a loving boyfriend, and an assured future in music. Yet all of that is taken away right after a massive car crash that left her in a deep coma. Her brother, sister, and mother immediately die and the outcome is destructive. Throughout the whole story, Mia is in a coma but writes the story through her own eyes as a ghost. In the beginning of the book Mia feels as though there isn't anyone who can give her a reason to stay or not, but at the end she realizes a deeper meaning that family isn't just blood.

In the beginning of the book, Mia’s close family dies in the book and she doesn't care about anything else and just wants to die. She believed that nobody cared about her and that life wasn’t worth living. For example, in the book it says, “I’m staring at myself, at the “live” Mia now, lying in her hospital bed. I feel a burst of fury. If I could slap my own lifeless face, I would. Instead, I sit down in the chair and close my eyes wishing it all away.” In this quote, Mia doesn’t care about her own life and just wants it to go away. This relates to many people who also want life to go away. She is in a coma and she’s completely oblivious to herself and her life. Also, in the book when Mia was watching her grandparents, boyfriend, and her best friend, she completely ignored and told herself that life wasn’t worth living. She didn’t care that all of those people appeared for her, she just ignored them and stopped thinking about how her life might end if she doesn’t stop caring. As the story progressed Mia changed and realized many new things.

At the end of the book, Mia had changed her feelings and attitude towards others. She realizes that having a family doesn’t just consist of blood relatives but of other people as well. For instance, in the book, Mia watches her boyfriend, Adam, and her best friend sit by her side, reassuring her. The sat by her and kept on talking about their love for her. Mia had watched them the whole time and felt welcome and for once, she thought that her life might be just bearable even though her parents and little brother died in a car crash. I thought that Mia was really strong in this part of the book because even though she felt like her whole world was falling apart, she came out strong and realized who part of her family was too. Also, in the book, after her grandfather told her it was ok to let go, she says, “This is the first time that anyone had acknowledged what I have lost.” I think that this shows how Mia is finally realizing that if she decides to wake up, somebody will be there to take care of her and actually take in the fact that she had lost a lot. This part also explains how Mia believes again in her other family, the ones that she hadn’t lost.

Overall, this book, by Gayle Forman, represented the way a person can see that there will always be a person there for you and how family isn’t just blood relatives but also friends that keep you close. In the beginning, Mia believed that dying was the better option because nobody cared for her, but towards the end she finally realized that there are people who will stick by her side and people who truly care for her in time of need. This book really relates to other kids who have gone through this and have also realized that there may be a lot of people who will stick by them the way Mia’s family did. This book, was a representative of the meaning of true family and how Mia realized that friends are family too and will always love you.

                                                                                          Julia Nowak 811