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A review by lauraborkpower
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
1.0
This was an interesting idea that ultimately feel flat because of a lack of strong writing. Other than the shocking trauma that began the story--and grabbed my attention in the best way possible--there was a lack of conflict. The characters were all perfectly perfect and lacking in imagination (for all of their ridiculous uber coolness, which got really tired after a while [and reminded me of Audrey Niffenegger's cool-Chicago-spot name dropping in The Time Traveler's Wife that did little to show me anything other than how hard she was trying to come off as actually cool. And that's kind of the opposite of cool. I think Forman looked up "punk music" in Wikipedia and used what she found], they felt flat and boring, and the little brother was so "cute" I wanted to smack him in the head).
In addition to the lack of conflict among the characters, the dialogue drove me nutso. And maybe it's because I'm covering short fiction with my creative writing students now, and we're talking about how dialogue is rarely eloquent or original, and how we, as humans, rarely say things perfectly, and rarely say exactly what we mean. And sometimes we avoid revealing things altogether, turning our dialogue into the absence of feeling and truth, just a revelation of the mundane. But Forman's characters seemed to always be speaking from the heart with courageous and perfectly pithy lines and banter. It was irritating, unrealistic, and amateurish.
I wanted to like this, and I'll admit that I shed some tears while listening (because it is, undeniably, a highly emotional situation), but I wish the story had been in the hands of a stronger writer. It could have been great.
In addition to the lack of conflict among the characters, the dialogue drove me nutso. And maybe it's because I'm covering short fiction with my creative writing students now, and we're talking about how dialogue is rarely eloquent or original, and how we, as humans, rarely say things perfectly, and rarely say exactly what we mean. And sometimes we avoid revealing things altogether, turning our dialogue into the absence of feeling and truth, just a revelation of the mundane. But Forman's characters seemed to always be speaking from the heart with courageous and perfectly pithy lines and banter. It was irritating, unrealistic, and amateurish.
I wanted to like this, and I'll admit that I shed some tears while listening (because it is, undeniably, a highly emotional situation), but I wish the story had been in the hands of a stronger writer. It could have been great.