If I Stay by Gayle Forman Summary & Analysis

On a snowy day, Mia and her mother, her father, and her little brother, Teddy, decide to go for a morning drive. Another car crashes into theirs, causing serious injuries for the entire family. When Mia awakens, she finds herself detached from her body, which is barely holding on. She finds the bodies of her mother and father, who died from the crash. She also finds the body of herself, who is on the brink of death. Mia realizes that she is having an out of body experience, and follows her physical body to the hospital. She watches her extended family rush to take care of her, while her best friend Kim and her boyfriend Adam struggle to reach the hospital. Through her stay at the hospital, Mia reflects on her life, reminiscing about the development of her relationship with Adam, the development of her passion and talent for playing the cello, and the obstacles of being a teenager who feels out of place no matter where she goes. Mia goes back and forth between deciding whether to stay with her remaining family, as well as Adam, or whether to leave to be with her parents and Teddy, who have all passed on. Her decision is almost made up to leave, until Adam finally reaches the room where her body is being held. He begs her to stay, and in that moment, she sees how her whole future would go on if she was to stay. And in that moment, she makes her biggest decision. Will she stay or will she go?