Book Review - Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: HarperCollins
Hardcover: 480 pages
Published: March 2, 2010

GoodReads Summary:
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: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.


My thoughts:

This story reminded me of Groundhog Day meets The Lying game meets If I Stay. I really like Lauren Oliver's writing. She's very descriptive and she has the ability to transform ordinary events and make them sound beautiful.

The beginning of the story was kind of repetitive, the first two days were almost exactly the same and were kind of boring to read all over again.  But when the days started to differentiate the plot finally picked up. It was really interesting to see all the different people in her high school that she was able to interact with. It was enjoyable to get the different perspectives in all the different cliques.

I enjoyed reading about the girls friendships, it reminded me of my best friends when we were younger. I read the 400 something pages in a day and a half.  Lauren Oliver has a very realistic and genuine voice in this book. Often when adults are writing about high school, I find the story and dialogue sound cliche. Instead of representing how teens really are, they are written to a stereotype or what adults THINK teens sound like.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Although this one was an alright  read, I was super disappointed by the ending. I was hoping for some type of redemption. I just felt like this book was ....wait for it....pointless. GASP! How could I say that about THIS novel. Stone me now!  But I just didn't really get it. Was it helping her to let go of her life? I felt bad for Juliet, but not THAT bad. Why would Sam die for someone? Was it inevitable? I truly don't understand why she would sacrifice herself. I did like that she got to be with Kent instead of her loser boyfriend Rob.
*END SPOILERS*

I wasn't as impressed by Before I Fall as I was by Delirium. But, her writing is beautiful and somewhat makes up for the not-so-exciting plot.

Judge a Book By It's Cover: The cover looks really beautiful, not how I pictured Sam (the main character) but that's ok. The hardcover copy looks GORGEOUS on my shelf

4 Stars!

Author Lauren Oliver  - Twitter / Blog

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*Disclosure: I actually read a book that I own. Awesome.