Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
March 2nd 2010 by HarperCollins
Hardcover, 470 pages
Purchased
Book Synopsis
What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life? Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined............(Goodreads)
Review
Can you say I hate and love something at the same time????
I will admit to you up front, I didn’t like Sam- the main character of the story and this book by far is proof that book bloggers make a difference. After reading the first 100 pages of this novel while I thought the writing was smart, I found the main character mean, unsympathetic and everything that turns me off from a person. After reading through countless reviews raving over Oliver’s debut, I stuck with it and finished and I’m glad I didn’t write the book off as a mean girls Lifetime movie………..
Before I Fall is told through the complete first person account of Sam- who dies in a car accident but awakes to live her last day over and over. Given the chance to figure things out, Sam awakes to each day trying to make something different. She lives the day trying to fix what went wrong and trying to achieve a different outcome. In the beginning of the novel Sam is self-centered, mean and basically lives her life with no consequences. She can mouth off to teachers and her parents, cross the line with men using her sexuality, she’s mean and she pretty much represents popularity in its nastiest form. So does it come as a surprise that she would approach her do-overs in the exact same fashion? Well in the beginning thats what happens, soon though, as each day brings about new revelation, Sam begins to grow and realize the person she was wasn’t necessarily the best person to be. Not that Sam ever wants to be out of her circle of friends, or not popular, but she starts to see the ripple effect rumors and bullying can do to another person’s life.
I loved that the book was a huge mess that slowly gets cleaned up, I loved that Oliver's writing was a twisty story that slowly bleeds out the plot line....as I said above I didn’t like Sam and I thought as I progressed with the story I would like her but I never did. I saw glimpses of goodness but never really enough to completely redeem who Sam was...that is until she finally got it, but even then my opinion of how Sam lived her life never changed. The positive aspect though of Sam’s character was the writing in general, due to the fact that although I never connected with Sam, I connected with the story and found myself having hope for her. Even though Sam couldn’t change the outcomes she did change within herself and her ending, beautiful yet haunting fit the story like a glove. For sure a novel that will make you hate it, love it and thankful you read it.....
Rating
Before I Fall contains graphic content including: Language, death, violence, suicide, mild to graphic sexuality, bullying, drinking, drug use, driving intoxicated and an array of taboo activities. Recommended to the mature teen (10th grade & up) and adult reader.
4/5- YA, Death, Life Lessons
finally read the book too and agree with you about all the raves about the book. The writing was excellent and fianlly got to see her change.
ReplyDeleteI actually felt sorry for Sam... the way she didn't know herself enough and ultimately allowed herself to be dragged by peer pressure or whatever into acting the way she did. I think that's really common where a kid has a lot of potential and because they're so lost they do whatever they can to fit in!
ReplyDeleteI think most people who have read this definitely didn't like Sam much or at all, but the unique plot was extremely engaging and an amazing debut novel. Looking forward to reading more from Oliver. Great review.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this book as well and I agree with your comment about not connecting with Sam. I loved when Sam finally got it in the end, but I don't know if that changed my entire opinion of her from the previous chapters. Thanks for another great review!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way about Sam, i didn't like her at first but she grew on me. I ended up really loving Before i Fall and am really looking forward to Delirium!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I felt the exact same way...frustrated and impatient with Sam. It takes a while for her to set things straight. However, once things line up, this book is addicting and difficult to set down! :)
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I agree with your review, but I was still kinda sorry for Sam toward the end of the book, mostly because of the inevitability of her death. Great review!
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