Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay, based her story off of a real life event. According to her website, GayleForman.com, there was once a car crash in new york with a family of four.  By the time the news got to her, the last member, a young boy, had died, confirming that all of the family died. Although they all died, the little boy lasted a little longer than the rest. Forman thought that maybe the little boy had the choice to live or die and, knowing that the rest of his family died, that little boy  chose to die too.

If I Stay is a book, and now movie, illustrates the story of  a 17 year old girl named Mia Hall. She plays the cello, which makes her feel left out in her family because all her other family members are into punk and classic rock music. Her dad actually used to play in a band before her brother Teddy, was born. However, he quit because he saw that Mia was in love with the cello and wanted to be there for his family and his daughter. He did this by getting his act together and quit the band. Including herself, Mia lives with her family of four, her mom, dad, and little brother. Her best friend is Kim and her boyfriend is Adam, whom also loves classic rock. They live in Portland, Oregon, where even if it snows by just a little bit, it would become a snow day. This was one of those days. Mia and her family decide to drive to her grandparents house for dinner when a big truck suddenly interrupts their car drive. When Mia woke up again, she saw herself lying on the floor and froze in her tracks.The last thing she remembered was that it was her turn to listen to music and Beethoven’s cello sonata no. 3 was playing in the car. The sonata continues to play until their car’s battery dies and the ambulance was already on the scene. She follows the paramedics as they carry her body to the vehicle and drive her to the hospital. This book is in first person point of view.

While staring at her  unconscious body, one of the nurses in the hospital tells her to hold on and gives her the chance to decide whether she wants to stay or go. Listening to this,  Mia tries everything to get back into her body but nothing is working. Then she notices a light but does she want to go to it?  She has to make her choice now but how and what will she choose to do? With both parents already dead and her little brother in the hospital, it will be a very tough decision to make. But she has to stay, to take care of Teddy, right? Plus, if she decides to go now, she would never see Adams or her best friend Kim again, or find out if she got accepted into the college she applied for, Julliard. Adam and he Gramps help her make her decision, sort of. One of them wants her to stay and the other one says its okay to let go if she wants to. The decision would definitely be her hardest one yet.

There was a lot of mistakes or differences in the book and movie. For starters, Mia’s boyfriend’s band was not specifically mentioned in the book, however in the movie its called Willamette Stone. Another difference can be found at the crash scene; Mia’s dad’s brains were scattered all over the floor, so both parents died on impact, however in the movie, Mia’s dad held on a little longer and died during surgery.  During Mia and Adam’s first date, they kiss during the cello concert, not after, like the movie. There may be more differences,  however, these were the most obvious ones.

The producers of the movie are Adam Lasus, Alison Greenspan, and Denise Di Novi. The main characters are Chloe Grace Moretz (Mia Hall), Jamie Blackley (Adam), Stacy Keach (Gramps), Liana Liberato (Kim), Gabrielle Rose (Grams), and Jakob Davies (Teddy).