If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Both of my previous posts have been positive. But, as you may know, not every book that I read, will I particularly like. If I Stay by Gayle Forman is one of those books that I read and kinda just went "...eh". Don't get me wrong, it's sweet and it's well-liked by many readers.. just not me.

If I Stay tells the story of young girl Mia, who is a musical prodigy. Mia undergoes some traumatic experiences and ends up in a coma. She has an out-of-body experience and ultimately has to make the decision between life or death.

Here's the Big Five:

1. Well, I can't really tell you much more in the synopsis without giving away the entire book. That's one of the main problems I had with the plot.. it was so narrow and micromanaged that most, if not all, of the book is about one specific thing/place/decision.
2. There's no variation. None. Whatsoever. The story is interesting and I didn't have a problem reading it all the way through. But Jesus, it's almost anti-climactic. It's one huge oh-my-gosh-this-is-crazy and there's never any suspense or wondering, and then at the end you're just kinda left like oh.. okay.
3. The ending.. well it wasn't very hard to predict. From page 1, I could pretty much guess exactly how the book was going to end. All of the details Forman put into the book, while they were good details, left absolutely no room for interpretation and left no other ending available. 
4. A lot of the concepts and plot lines that were introduced were left undeveloped. Characters that had a lot of potential were mentioned once, maybe twice, and never to be heard from again. There were so many ways that Forman could have taken the story to higher levels, and she just.. didn't.
5. Random elements were shoved into place that never tied into the rest of the story at all. For example, Forman made a huge deal out of Mia's parents being "hippies", but that never had any kind of bearing on the plot. She also made Mia's love interest a big deal, but he was only mentioned two or three times. The rest is about Mia's internal conflicts (which is probably how Forman intended it) but I just couldn't get into it.

So, while If I Stay is a decent story, I wouldn't ever consider reading it again or raving about it. And I know this isn't really relevant, but the movie = NOTHING like the book (just an FYI). I mean, if you like hopeless romanticism, then you'd probably enjoy it, but I really, truly didn't. 

I would recommend 3/10.