--- product_id: 996941 title: "If I Stay" brand: "gayle forman" price: "¥2944" currency: JPY in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.jp/products/996941-if-i-stay store_origin: JP region: Japan --- # Single-day emotional timeline Major motion picture adaptation NYT Bestseller status If I Stay **Brand:** gayle forman **Price:** ¥2944 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📖 Dive into the story everyone’s talking about—because some choices define a lifetime. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** If I Stay by gayle forman - **How much does it cost?** ¥2944 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.jp](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/996941-if-i-stay) ## Best For - gayle forman enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted gayle forman brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Timeless Themes:** Explores love, loss, and resilience—perfect for readers craving stories that resonate with real-life complexity. - • **Cinematic Experience:** Adapted into a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, bringing Mia’s story to life beyond the page. - • **Universal Relatability:** Mature, heartfelt narration transcends age, connecting deeply with millennials balancing life’s tough choices. - • **Award-Winning Bestseller:** Ranked #29 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction about New Experiences, proving its cultural impact and wide appeal. - • **Intense Emotional Journey:** Narrative unfolds over one critical day, blending present tense with flashbacks for a gripping, immersive read. ## Overview If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a New York Times bestselling YA novel that explores the poignant story of Mia, a gifted young musician caught between life and death after a tragic accident. Told through a powerful blend of present-day events and flashbacks, this emotionally charged narrative delves into themes of love, loss, and the difficult choices that shape our futures. Adapted into a major motion picture, this critically acclaimed book continues to captivate readers with its mature voice and unforgettable characters. ## Description INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A heart-wrenchingly raw and heartbreakingly romantic story that asks the ultimate question: What would you do if you had to choose? “Beautifully written.”— Entertainment Weekly “Every moment I spent reading Forman’s masterpiece drew me in more.”—NPR Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left—the most important decision she’ll ever make. Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting, and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving. Adapted into a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia’s story will stay with you for a long, long time. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Asin | 014241543X | | Book 1 Of 2 | If I Stay | | Dimensions | 0.9 x 8.4 x 5.5 inches | | Edition | Reprint | | Grade Level | 7 - 12 | | Isbn 10 | 9780142415436 | | Isbn 13 | 978-0142415436 | | Item Weight | 2.31 pounds | | Language | English | | Print Length | 320 pages | | Publication Date | April 6, 2010 | | Publisher | Speak | | Reading Age | 12+ years, from customers | ## Images ![If I Stay - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71cldKzoOFL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of my favorite books of all-time. So moving, deep, and emotional. *by on Reviewed in the United States March 13, 2015* Wow, what a poignant and moving story. I am so incredibily impressed with this book. Although it's dubbed YA fiction, the voice of Mia (17-year-old narrator) is far from young. Gayle Forman did a great job making this book relevant to all ages through the span of characters and mature yet relatable narration. Mia's story is so touching and heartbreaking yet so full of hope at the same time. Anyone can pick up this book and get something from it. I highly recommend it to anyone. I was blown away.Original review posted 5/17/12 on The Book Addict's Guide: Ho. Ly. Cow. This book was phenomenal. First I have to say bravo to Gayle Forman for such beautiful writing - I read a lot of cheesy books and yes, they're fun, but nothing is better than a flat out wonderfully written story. Although this is dubbed YA fiction, Mia's narration throughout the novel does not feel juvenile at all. I feel like any age can read this book and appreciate it in its entirety. Every character in this book has a story and I felt such connection, like this was the story of a real family, real friends, and not just characters on pages. I connected with everything Mia was feeling throughout her struggle to fight to stay alive or decide if it was her time to go. Wow, it just really moved me, as cheesy as that sounds. There's just no other way to put it. So mature, so emotional, so gripping. I laughed, I smiled, and most of all I cried. Just read the book. It's so worth it!Re-read completed 8/11/13: Well since it was a re-read I wasn't as totally knocked out by it (just since there were some surprises and whatnot I already knew) but it's still such a beautiful story and wonderfully written. My original thoughts stand.Re-read review posted 9/4/13 on The Book Addict's Guide: Gayle Forman is one of my all-time favorite authors and also a great writing inspiration. The beauty and emotion captured in her books are the reason I started the Gayle Forman Read Along... Well that and I needed a good excuse to re-read all of them because I've been meaning to do so ever since I finished JUST ONE DAY.Re-reading IF I STAY was an interesting experience. I was really glad I got to share it with the people on the read along because there were some people reading not only IF I STAY for the first time, but any of Gayle Forman's books for the first time! It was just really great to see them experience that. But also, one of my main fears of re-reading was that I wasn't going to like it as much as my first read. While that kind of ended up happening in a way, I also fell in love with the book all over again.It's true that I didn't enjoy IF I STAY as much as when I first read it. On my first read, I was simply blown away. It was the first Gayle Forman book I ever read and of course the beauty of her writing just swept me away, but I also think (and have discussed with other read along-ers!) that part of the reason I wasn't as amazed on the re-read is because I knew exactly what was coming in Mia's story. The initial read has a sort of suspense whether Mia will choose to stay or go, the surprise of the initial accident, and just little moments that a first-time reader isn't expecting. I think all of those elements on a first read really makes the book amazing. It's still gorgeous and heartbreaking and bittersweet the second time around, but those little surprises really make up a sizable chunk of a "wow factor" for this book.Some things that I was able to pick up on my re-read that I hadn't on my first read: a small little hint at SISTERS IN SANITY! Mia makes a mention of a Portland band called Clod which was Brit's band in SISTERS IN SANITY. I absolutely loved that because so much of SISTERS IN SANITY reminded me of IF I STAY. Obviously I had no idea on my first read since I only read SIS a couple months ago so I really, really enjoyed how those two books tied together! Very clever, Gayle!I also think that already knowing the ending of the book helped me slow down and really get into the characters and their relationships. Whenever I get excited about the end of a book, I have this really bad habit where I can't help but rush through what I'm reading to get to the end and see what the future holds in store for our characters. This being a re-read, the ending wasn't a surprise to me so I really got to take my time and cherish the relationships that were blossoming as others ended, revel in Mia's pain and sadness, observe things about characters and the setting that I hadn't noticed before... I just really got to take in a lot more detail!Um, HI -- this also helped me rekindle my love of ADAM WILDE. Gayle....... thank you for Adam. I've already started the re-read of WHERE SHE WENT and I am SO in love with Adam. Of course, that's a discussion for another day, but all of IF I STAY just really helped me remember how much I loved him and what a shame it was that I almost forgot!If you haven't read IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT yet, I highly recommend picking them up! They both instantly made me a Gayle Forman fan for life and will always hold a special place in my heart. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ You'll be smiling while you're crying. *by on Reviewed in the United States April 14, 2014* What is most impressive about If I Stay is how easily I grew to love the characters, even though the story is told mostly through several flashbacks. We follow Mia through an unexpected and horrible car accident – and not only do we have to see her deal with figuring out who she still has left in her immediate family but we also must watch her decide whether she deems living worthy or if she chooses to pass on. Mia is completely unresponsive and can see everything happening to her body, but she cannot interact with the world, except for one nurse who Mia believes might understand what is happening to her. Interwoven between each scene in the present, readers find themselves learning who Mia is through a series of memories, mostly catered to who is visiting her in the hospital at the time. Mia is completely unresponsive and can see everything happening to her body, but she cannot interact with the world.Forman does an excellent job creating Mia’s family and friends through memories. We barely interact with them in the present day, but thanks to the quality of Forman’s authoring, you know the very heart of the Hall family within a few chapters, as well as how important Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, and her best friend, Kim, are to her. Even the minor characters feel very tangible. Mia explains it well in the sentence where the book’s namesake lies: “What would it be like if I stay? What would it feel like to wake up an orphan? To never smell Dad smoke a pipe? To never stand next to Mom quietly talking as we do the dishes? To never read Teddy a chapter of Harry Potter? To stay without them? I’m not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I’m not sure that I want to wake up” (Forman 136-7).If I Stay has some remarkable literary techniques in it as well. Near the end of the book, we get a beautifully sad, ironic parallel to the true fate of Mia’s parents. Her mother says, “In my ideal scenario, my bighearted pushover husband and I die quickly and simultaneously when we’re ninety-two years old. I’m not sure how. Maybe we’re on a safari in Africa – ‘cause in the future, we’re rich – and we come down with some exotic sickness and go to sleep one night feeling fine and then never wake up” (Forman 145). Not only is this scenario almost true – her parents do go together, quickly – but it also makes the reader ache for what the Hall family could have been.Additionally, Forman incorporates several allusions to music, bands, and songs. Music is an enormously large part of Mia’s life; Adam is in a band, Mia is a gifted cellist, and her parents were into music during their heyday, a trait that they have brought into their household through the years. Those allusions, to artists like Bob Marley and the like, help to add another layer of depth and grounding to the story. We know what the Hall family knows, and we can see how much it means to their way of life. Adult and young adult readers alike will find these aspects accessible.I strongly suggest reading If I Stay. I found it to be one of the quickest but deepest reads I’ve encountered in quite some time. Though the material is sad, Forman manages to sneak lighthearted moments in, too. It seems cliché, but I was smiling and crying at the same time at one point.In closing, I will leave you with my favorite quote from the novel; it is one of the many beautiful thoughts Forman includes. This one in particular struck me: “The doctors keep coming around and pulling up my eyelids and waving around a flashlight. They are rough and hurried, like the don’t consider eyelids worth of gentleness. It makes you realize how little in life we touch one another’s eyes. Maybe your parents will hold an eyelid up to get out a piece of dirt, or maybe your boyfriend will kiss your eyelids, light as a butterfly, just before you drift off to sleep. But eyelids are not like elbows or knees or shoulders, parts of the body accustomed to being jostled” (Forman 64). ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Perfection in Simplicity *by on Reviewed in the United States October 2, 2011* Mia has a choice to make.She has just been in a car accident that has killed her mother and father. Her little brother, Teddy, is struggling in another hospital somewhere, while Mia has been air-lifted to ICU.Her friends and remaining family straggle through the hospital room. Her Gran and Gramps cry. Her best friend, Kim, is trying to stay positive. Her father's band mates and best friends are praying and Mia's first love, Adam, is begging her to stay.Mia knows all of this, because while her body is bruised and battered lying prone in a hospital bed, Mia looks on. She thinks back on her life up to this point, and she sits in the waiting room with the people who love her.But what is keeping her here? When she has nothing left to live for, what's the point in staying?Mia has a choice to make - a life or death decision.`If I Stay' is the smash-hit contemporary young adult novel from Gayle Forman, which recently had a sequel released this year called `Where She Went'.Yes, I have been `reading' under a rock. I knew that `If I Stay' was a best-selling, beloved YA novel released in 2009. I read the rave reviews and knew that there was a furore surrounding this incredible book's sequel . . . still, I didn't read it. I knew that this book packed a punch - that it was sadness through and through and to be honest, I just was never in the right head-space to get stuck into the novel. Until now. Don't ask me what did it - I just decided I was ready to brave the emotional terrain and whip out the Kleenex.Mia's story really does start out sad . . . and get worse from there. The car accident is the plot-trigger, and everything that comes after is Mia weighing up and pros and cons of staying, or letting go. It's a sad start, with plenty of emotional turmoil heaped throughout. But the novel is, surprisingly, not altogether depressing.While Mia's ravaged body repairs itself in a cold hospital room, ghost-like Mia remembers her life to this point. She recalls her punk-rock parents and their dismay when Mia took up the cello and fell for Mozart. She remembers the birth of her little brother, Teddy, and all her brother's funniest moments. She remembers how her best friend, Kim, saved her from herself by prodding her into music camp. But most of all, Mia remembers Adam. Adam, the beautiful and dishevelled older boy played in a rock band and inexplicably loved Mia - and how she loved him back.The novel cuts between present-time and back-tracking memories; as Mia's fetch-like form watches the nurses monitor her vital signs and doctors perform surgeries, she also recounts her memories in vivid detail.I did love the book, as I suspected I would. It's partly because the story is duelling heartbreak, and uplift - as we see Mia come to the slow realization that life is beautiful, regardless of the pain. But also because Forman could have dragged Mia and the story down in a flowery writing style . . . when you're discussing death and the meaning of life, it's very easy to wax poetic and get too caught up in the meaningful, so that life gets lost amidst the prose. But Forman has deliberately shied away from sweeping declarations of life-affirming meaning - the prose is simple and powerful for its subtlety, and the real meaning of life is between the lines, in the flashbacks of Mia's childhood. Perfection in simplicity. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.jp/products/996941-if-i-stay](https://www.desertcart.jp/products/996941-if-i-stay) --- *Product available on Desertcart Japan* *Store origin: JP* *Last updated: 2026-09-14*