Adam

As I come closer to the end of my book, If I Stay By: Gayle Forman, I reflect on my rollercoaster relationship with the character, Adam. Adam is Mia's boyfriend, he is cool in the sense that he has his own style, he has his own band but he isn't necessarily popular. I like how the book describes him when they say, "He had a small group of friends and a large group of admirers." (Forman, 64) That's just how Adam could be described. As a reader, I found myself loving Adam along with Mia in the beginning. Was it his sweet gesture to take Mia to the symphony? Or his burning passion for music? Adam is just an overall lovable character.

Although, as the story progresses along with the flashbacks, Adam and Mia's relationship crumble as well as your admiration for Adam. I mentioned before that Adam was part of a band, a very small and not well-known band at the time he met Mia. The longer their relationship flourishes, his band does as well and he becomes popular. Adam starts becoming distant and spends more time with his band and now fans more than Mia. This upsets Mia, as well as the reader because Gayle Forman writes the story in such a way where you can feel the sadness. You feel disappointed in Adam. The conflict that rises between Mia and Adam shows a very bad side of Adam. It becomes clear that he values music over Mia. At that time, I hated the way Adam was acting.

Now that I am close to the end, I recently encountered (in my opinion) the best quote of the entire book. It is, "If you stay, I'll do whatever you want. I'll quit the band; go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I'll do that too...and that would suck, but I'll do it. I can lose you like that, if I don't lose you today." (Forman, 386) This is said from Adam to Mia while she sits in the hospital still in a coma. This quote reveals the Adam that I adored in the beginning. I loved the way Gayle Forman revealed Adam's personality. He first made you hooked on Adam and kept you reading because you want to know everything about him. Then, the fight occurs and you hate the true Adam. But in the end, you realize the sweet person he really is and fall in love with him all over again. This definitely is a rollercoaster relationship and as of right now, Adam has become a favorite character of mine.