Anyway, I also want to point out two new blogs on the scene! Reggie with The Undercover Book Lover and Scarlett with Scarlett From the Heart- go check them both out and follow their great blogs!
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeenyear- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...
Yes, another book it has taken way too long to get around to. Everyone's reviews about this book are right- this is an amazing book. Forman does an excellent job writing about how Mia deals with her death and having to choose between staying or moving on. It's a powerful story that pulls you along and keeps you turning pages. I really enjoyed how Forman went back and forth between the present day and flashbacks where we learn about Mia's family, boyfriend, and friends and of course more about Mia herself. One of the things that bugged me about the book had more to do with a real-life policy than anything Forman did. I got so PO'd reading about how only immediate family are let in to see the patient; that has got to be the stupidest policy in the world. Is your immediate family the only people in the world who love you? Certainly not- you've got friends, a partner, etc. and they should be allowed to see you as well. It makes no sense to keep them out. Anyway, rant over, lol. This is a highly recommended book that deserves all the praise it gets.
From Gayle Forman: "About hospital policy...it's an ICU thing. Many hospitals--not all, but definitely the ones I've visited-- restrict who can visit the ICU, in particular. And obviously, for the sake of this narrative, Mia's hospital had to be one of the hardass hospitals. It sort of makes sense. ICUs are pretty intense places and they don't want crowds in there. Of course, in MIa's case, it doesn't make sense at all."
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I agree with you in every way. LOVED the book. Hate that hospitals would have that policy...I assume that's factual...? Anyway, this one was a total tear-jerker.
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly sure that it's factual cuz I've seen it happen in other books too. And of course there's the whole homosexual man/woman can't see his/her partner in the hospital cuz they aren't married. I think maybe if immediate family says it's ok, the rule is waived but not entirely sure. Maybe it just depends on who's on duty? *shrugs*
ReplyDeleteMoney is overrated. Right? Well, I tell myself this every day anyway.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people are thinking this has a chance at the Printz this year. What do you think?
I just got done listening to the audiobook of this and thought it was a great listen. The whole hospital rule is just plain stupid.
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