Sarah Strohmeyer's Blog - Posts Tagged "if-i-stay"
Love The Ones You're With
There are a lot of songs I could do without, but the one I absolutely can't stand is Love the One You're With by Steven Stills. I blame a guy I was seeing in college who, after an intimate night, explained that he had a longstanding girlfriend in the Midwest at school X but since we were in New England and he wouldn't see her until Thanksgiving it was, ya know, "love the one you're with."
Fail!
I hadn't really thought about that until recently when I finished the superb IF I STAY by Gayle Forman. The book's been on my TBR for awhile and I'm sure everyone else here has read it, but I hadn't. I finished it in one sitting. Or, rather, lying. In bed. Crying.
IF I STAY is about love, all sorts of love. Love for a friend, a boyfriend, parents and a brother. Love for life. And here's the question: are these loves enough to make living worthwhile even if living means pain, both physical and emotional, and loss?
That's why I loved the book, because Forman asks this question with such calm and real insight using characters who make sense. But I also loved it because, unlike a lot of YA books, Forman proudly heralds the love her protagonist, Mia, shows for her quirky family. Even her little brother.
Teddy is not a "stinky little brother" and to that I say damn straight. I've found that many YA authors, especially YA authors who've written adult before, start off with a middle-school character who hates or is annoyed by a younger sibling.
Really?
Sure, siblings fight. Husbands and wives, girlfriends and boyfriends do, too. But how many books begin with "I hate my stupid boyfriend" as though it's supposed to be cute.
Worse, we all know what's going to happen. The older sibling will come to realize his love for his "stinky little brother" and, voila!, instant character growth. Just add tears!
Nah. Forman's right. We love those whom we're with otherwise, in most cases, we wouldn't be with them. Unless you're talking about a crappy abusive family in which your character had the tough luck to be born.
But that's another story and, fortunately, not mine to tell.
Fail!
I hadn't really thought about that until recently when I finished the superb IF I STAY by Gayle Forman. The book's been on my TBR for awhile and I'm sure everyone else here has read it, but I hadn't. I finished it in one sitting. Or, rather, lying. In bed. Crying.
IF I STAY is about love, all sorts of love. Love for a friend, a boyfriend, parents and a brother. Love for life. And here's the question: are these loves enough to make living worthwhile even if living means pain, both physical and emotional, and loss?
That's why I loved the book, because Forman asks this question with such calm and real insight using characters who make sense. But I also loved it because, unlike a lot of YA books, Forman proudly heralds the love her protagonist, Mia, shows for her quirky family. Even her little brother.
Teddy is not a "stinky little brother" and to that I say damn straight. I've found that many YA authors, especially YA authors who've written adult before, start off with a middle-school character who hates or is annoyed by a younger sibling.
Really?
Sure, siblings fight. Husbands and wives, girlfriends and boyfriends do, too. But how many books begin with "I hate my stupid boyfriend" as though it's supposed to be cute.
Worse, we all know what's going to happen. The older sibling will come to realize his love for his "stinky little brother" and, voila!, instant character growth. Just add tears!
Nah. Forman's right. We love those whom we're with otherwise, in most cases, we wouldn't be with them. Unless you're talking about a crappy abusive family in which your character had the tough luck to be born.
But that's another story and, fortunately, not mine to tell.
