If I Stay Art and Culture

Mia thinks she isn't a hard-rocking punk chick, and she isn't. But she is totally metal. Yes, we're putting the cello and heavy metal in the same sentence. Why? Because science.

Scientists say that heavy metal music and classical music—and the people who love them—are very similar. Their listeners are both sensitive and dramatic, which is the perfect way to describe If I Stay, a book about a violent car accident that causes a teen girl to ponder life and death. What's more metal than that?

Questions About Art and Culture

1. Why does Mia feel an affinity for classical music?
2. Mia's parents have particular musical tastes. How do their tastes influence their personalities, or vice-versa?
3. What do Mia and Adam have in common musically?

Chew on This

Mia's real love is music, not Adam. She will always choose music over a man.

Music creates another community for Mia. She has her family, her friends, and people she would never have associated with were it not for their shared love of music.