Book Club: If I Stay

Our first official YA Book Club met last week at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Legacy Village. The book we chose was If I Stay by Gayle Forman:

From Publishers Weekly:

The last normal moment that Mia, a talented cellist, can remember is being in the car with her family.

Then she is standing outside her body beside their mangled Buick and her parents' corpses, watching herself and her little brother being tended by paramedics.

As she ponders her state (Am I dead? I actually have to ask myself this), Mia is whisked away to a hospital, where, her body in a coma, she reflects on the past and tries to decide whether to fight to live.

Via Mia's thoughts and flashbacks, Forman (Sisters in Sanity) expertly explores the teenager's life, her passion for classical music and her strong relationships with her family, friends and boyfriend, Adam.

Mia's singular perspective (which will recall Alice Sebold's adult novel, The Lovely Bones) also allows for powerful portraits of her friends and family as they cope: Please don't die. If you die, there's going to be one of those cheesy Princess Diana memorials at school, prays Mia's friend Kim. I know you'd hate that kind of thing.

Intensely moving, the novel will force readers to take stock of their lives and the people and things that make them worth living.


The space was able to be reserved monthly by the infamous LiLa, from Lisa and Laura Write, because, you know, everyone (including book store owners) falls all over themselves to get them what they want. Or something like that. ;-)

We all agreed that we liked the book and then debated the finer details:

*We appreciated how her relationship with Adam unfolded in the story.

*We scratched our heads and grinned over the "playing the guitar" bedroom scene--uh huh.

*We wished she had played up her grief about losing her parents and possible future physical ailments.

*We heard Summit bought the movie rights and that a sequel is planned. We discussed what the sequel might look like.

Here are some pics of us debating it all:



I was the picture taker so I'm not in any of them (yep, planned it that way).

The next meeting is June 10th and the book is LIAR.

Any fellow Clevelanders want to join us?

P.S. The winner of the signed copy of WAKE by Lisa McMann is CATRYNE! Congratulations! Email me your address!