To Stay or To Go, That is the Question

SPOILER ALERT!!!! You might not want to read this unless you have read "If I Stay".

                Imagine if your life came crashing down. One moment, you were happy, just driving in a car with your family and listening to music that you like. The next, your car was in ruins and your family was dead. Imagine having to choose whether to live or die. To stay or to go.

That's exactly what happened to Mia in the book "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman. She had a great life. She was an aspiring musician with dreams of Julliard, and had a caring best friend and a boyfriend who loved her. Her family was supportive of her and her dreams. Even though they were rockers and she was a classical musician, they still thought it was amazing that she wanted to pursue music and were always there for her. Then she lost all of it. She even lost her will to live.

             I think that Mia is very strong. She cared about saving her family, especially her 8-year old brother, almost more than saving her own life. I think Mia is also an exceptionally good person because she cares so much about other family.  Also, there are a lot of flashbacks in this book where she talks about how her past influences her decision to live or to die, and in the flashbacks she is always doing nice things for people. And even though she was always the quiet, shy girl, she seemed very brave. For example, she cut her brother's umbilical cord when she was only ten. She never ran away from danger, she chose to face. I think that was why she hung onto life.

                 A big theme in this book is loving the little things in life, because they could all disappear like they did to Mia.  It's not like Mia had a perfect life. She wasn't mega popular, or rich, and sometimes she felt lonely and insecure. However, she had a lot of good things in her life. She had people who really cared about her, a good home, and she was mostly happy and secure. A lot of people complain because they don't have an iPhone or didn't get into Harvard or whatever, but imagine not having a family. It's the little things that count, the things that make you happy and convince you to stay, rather than go. It's the people that love you, the material goods that you have. Appreciate what you have in your life. After reading this book, I felt so lucky to not be in Mia's situation.