With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman's If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others.
For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.
However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam 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 ever imagined.
Named to numerous state reading lists, this novel was also recognized as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, The Daily Beast, NPR, and Publishers Weekly. It has been optioned for film by Fox 2000 Pictures.
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Samantha Kingston narrated this story “Before I Fall”. It was a first person narration. The narrator was a reliable source about her own feelings and thoughts but, not everybody else’s. This book was set in a small town where Samantha goes to high school and she is a popular teen there. The setting makes a difference as the book revolves around high school teenagers and their issues. Including but not limited to bullying and suicide and drinking and drugs.
I think what the book was trying to say was that sometimes thing you say and do have a bigger impact than you realise and sometimes it is like a domino effect. There was a quote which showed this message “It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.”
The book was contemporary with a slight bit of romance. However, it was more about death. A lot of other books which I have read in this genre are similar. There is a lot of hope in these books. A lot of wondering what is going to happen next. A lot of praying that somehow things are going to turn out alright. Even though you know that is probably not going to happen and these type of books if they are written well always make me cry.
The author’s name is Lauren Oliver and I have not read any other books by her. So I can’t really compare other books because I don’t know.
So, basically Samantha died while her best friend was drunk driving and they crashed. However, instead of dying she had to relive her last day 7 times. Each time Samantha started realising things about her life she hadn’t before and it shocked her and she tried to change it. Sometimes there are only certain things you can change and yet you hold all the power.
I liked the book. I was glad that Samantha realised what a bitch she was by the end of the book. I think it was fitting that you cannot change death but, you can make as little changes as you can in other people’s lives. I liked the idea of reliving her last day seven times. I wonder what I would change if I relived my last day seven times.
I loved a quote in this book and I keep on going back to it. “So many things become beautiful when you really look.” which is so true. You go to life just glancing at things. Everyone does it so you can’t even deny it. Sometimes you really need to observe.
One thing I did not like about the book was her relationship with Kent. The relationship as a whole was sweet but, ( now I guess this is personal opinion ) I thought what she did to him was unnecessary. She knew she was going to die. I thought it was mean to make him go through that. But, then again he might have gone through it anyways and how do you stop self - realisation I guess. Saying goodbye must have been so hard for Samantha.
I would read other books by the author. Completely. Though some of her books are science fiction. I really liked this book so the author deserves more books to be read which are by her.
I would encourage other people to read this book because I want other people to realise what a big impact actions can make on people. How they can make and break people’s lives. Also because I loved the book :)
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