“I now realize that dying is easy. Living is hard.” Gayle Forman, If I Stay

So I just read this one and I must say: I am a fan. I honestly loved the story and how it was told and how it would be to be in Mia’s situation. A non-spoiling summary: Mia is trying out for Julliard and wondering what to do about her boyfriend and simply living life as a teenager until she is in a fatal car wreck with her mother, father, and brother. She wakes up to find herself lying on the ground alive, but being frantically treated by paramedics. She spends the whole book in “limbo” trying to figure out what she is supposed to do (stay or go) and how. The story offers many flashbacks to her life that are directly related to people and events that are happening at this time.

SPOILER ALERT

I think that the hardest part about this book being turned into a movie is going to be the fact that we don’t get any real closing. I mean, she makes a decision in the end, but what happens next? Does she go to Juilliard? Do her and her boyfriend stay together? Is she okay? Like, can she walk? The book is awesome but I definitely think that there is some room on the end for follow-up questions to be answered and I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility for Hollywood to take that kind of a liberty.
SUMMARY

Again, I really liked this book. I wasn’t picturing Chloe Grace Moretz as the main character but I don’t necessarily dislike it either. I think that she fits a lot more than some other actors have fit characters in the past. I look forward to the movie and would recommend this book to many people for an easy summer read

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GRADE: B
Release Date: August 22, 2014