If I Stay is a novel written by Gayle Forman, who is known for young adult novels. I thought this would be a very intriguing book because young adult literature has always interested me. Having no insight to what this book was about, I dove right in not knowing what I was getting myself into.

Mia is a typical every day teenager with a boyfriend named Adam, and they share the same interest in life: music. Her perfect life is suddenly torn apart when she and her family are involved in a serious car accident killing everyone but Mia. Mia, now in Acoma, is in a disembodied state, which completely escaped from real life normality. This state of life really challenged my beliefs because I do not find that possible at all. Although this may sound interesting, I thought it was a terrible read for a multiple number of reasons.

If I Stay definitely has a certain audience it is focused on. This book fits very well into the category of clarity because it’s appropriate reader is someone who does not want to challenge his or her reading capabilities at all. There was no internal consistency within this book because it did not have sense of direction the entire time, and it just kept switching from past to present. At first, I thought this novel would progress into a more interesting read, but that was not the case. Changing from past to present throughout a book can be very interesting, but If I Stay did not contain any substance or literary artistry while doing this. Literary artistry was also lacking in the characters, mainly the protagonist, because they weren’t described well enough to get the feel of who they really are and what characteristics they possess. There were no climaxes or turning points within the book or the characters, which made it very boring, and just your average read. This book is not significant to the real world since it does not incorporate any valuable information for everyday life, and I would consider it non beneficial to read.