Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: -
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release: October 25th, 2010
Source: Kindle
Pages: 470
// Goodreads //
BLURB:
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.
Supports the Common Core State Standards
EXPECTATIONS: I actually saw the trailer for the movie, and I have to say I was captivated and intrigued, so I read the book, before I could watch the movie. Going into it I only knew what the trailer showed me, so I was kind of expecting something interesting but not a masterpiece. I was right, but I still did enjoy the book.
THE WORLD: Our normal, everyday world. Our characters are teenagers who live in a small town, they go to school, they have teenage drama. In this book there is much of the social statuses, because the school they go to, is all divided into groups: the popular kids, the jocks, the artsy kids, the outcasts. So just everyday normal world.
CHARACTERS: Our protagonist and narrator is Samantha (Sam). She and her friends are like the most popular girls in school. She has a boyfriend and all she thinks is how to sleep with him, and how this other guy is so in love with her. She is popular, beautiful, everyone loves her, she can do pretty much anything she wants and get away with it. She is the ultimate IT girl. When we first meet Sam, it is done in a way that the reader would think she is shallow and stupid. She doesn't care about anything else apart from how many roses she'll get the day before Valentine's day and she really doesn't mind hurting other people's feelings. To be honest, I kind of felt like I knew Sam personally. The girl who has everything, pretty, smart, does no wrong, everything is just perfect and she can do anything she sets her mind to. She disregards other people who are not in her group and acts like she will be like this forever. She is until one day, she gets into an accident, and has to relive the same day over and over again. This is where, I really started liking Sam. From this shallow shell she started to transform to a person, who sees everyone around her, she realized how hurt the people who she bullied felt, how awful she treated the guy who was in love with her. She realized that there is more to life and people then her stupid bully friends.
Sam's friends: Lindsey, Elody and Ally. It felt like I knew these girls and I did. My school had all of them. The IT girls, the girls who gets away with anything, who controls the social life. I mean in this book you get to see why they treat people the way they do, but I mean in general I think some people are born mean.
We also have other character like Rob - Sam's boyfriends, total jerk. Kent, the guy who loves Sam, an outcast, a shy and quit guy, who to be honest I thought was too good for someone like Sam. Juliet - was the girl, who Sam and her friends bullied the most. Actually what I totally agreed with was that when Sam asked Lindsey why she hated Juliet so much, and they called her names, none of then could have answered. They bullied her just because.
Sam's friends: Lindsey, Elody and Ally. It felt like I knew these girls and I did. My school had all of them. The IT girls, the girls who gets away with anything, who controls the social life. I mean in this book you get to see why they treat people the way they do, but I mean in general I think some people are born mean.
We also have other character like Rob - Sam's boyfriends, total jerk. Kent, the guy who loves Sam, an outcast, a shy and quit guy, who to be honest I thought was too good for someone like Sam. Juliet - was the girl, who Sam and her friends bullied the most. Actually what I totally agreed with was that when Sam asked Lindsey why she hated Juliet so much, and they called her names, none of then could have answered. They bullied her just because.
ROMANCE: Probably it would be Sam and Kent, I think. When she finally realizes that he is truly a wonderful guy.
GOOD: I like that these books exist, books that show you, you can always start being more nicer to people. I liked that even thought Lindsey used to bully Sam, they still managed to become friends. I also liked the concept of this book. Sam lived the same day over and over again until she realized why this was happening to her. And I'm not sure I liked the ending, but it was really unexpected I'll tell you that :)
BAD: I guess, there wasn't much that I didn't like about this book. It was rather slowly I guess, I think events could have taken action more quicker.
OVERALL: I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend reading it for sure!
What do you think about BEFORE I FALL?
