Structure and Point of View

In the novel If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, the point of view in this novel is 1st person. The main character, Mia, is speaking the whole time. She says, "I haven't gotten into Julliard yet, but my audition went really well" (15). This lets the readers know that Mia is into music and what she wants to do in the future with her life, which is going to Julliard and playing the cello. Mia is very unreliable because she is just telling her opinion the whole time. The readers don't know if the things Mia is telling them is true, because it's mostly opinion. This story would be completely different if it was told from a different perspective. If it was another one of Mia's family members, the story might not be as intense. Also, the readers wouldn't know much about Mia's personal life, because it wouldn't have been told by her. The author uses many flashbacks so the readers can get to know Mia better and what her life was like before the fatal car crash.