Or, join her deceased family members in the afterlife and avoid the pain of living without her mother, father, and little brother.

The novel received positive reviews from the young adult audience, and Summit Entertainment optioned it in December 2010, for a 2014 film adaptation.

[3] 17-year-old Mia Hall is an aspiring concert cellist living in Portland, Oregon with her parents and younger brother Teddy.

Mia struggles to decide whether she will awaken from the coma to be with her remaining family and Adam, or whether to join her parents and Teddy in death.

She very nearly makes the decision to pass on until Adam finally reaches her hospital room and tearfully begs her to stay.

Mia struggles with leaving her childhood behind as she reaches the end of her high school career and is on the brink of entering an adult world, where she will not only be in a new place but be completely alone, where she must fend for herself.

Mia makes the choice to ultimately 'stay' due to her boyfriend, Adam, playing cello music for her in the hospital, which was the main decision she battles throughout the book.

The two were going through a hard time when Mia made the decision to end her relationship with Adam and left to go to New York to attend the Juilliard School of Music.

[6] In terms of thematic interpretations, Elle Wolterbeek of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy explained that "[m]usic is an extremely important aspect of the story.

The reviewer also agreed that the novel addressed "the tug of familial and sexual love and the bonds between friends as well as the passion for music.

In December 2010, it was announced that a film was in the works and that Dakota Fanning, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Emily Browning were in talks to play Mia.