31 Jan 2012

Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

March 2nd, 2010 HarperCollins

Source: Swapped
Format: Paperback

Page Count: 470

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.

Review:
After this book was recommended to me, I hiked it up on my to-read list and got myself a copy. And I’m so glad I did!
This book took me awhile to get into, roughly about 100 pages. This is when I would normally give up if I wasn’t enjoying a book, but luckily it picked up just in time! Why I found I became genuinely interested around the 100 page mark was because even though the same day kept repeating, each passing day became more and more interesting than the previous.
It was unique to see how Sam chose to do things a little differently than the last, as the repeated the same day over and over. It was fascinating to read about all the things Sam got up to, as  she could do anything and the next day it would be forgotten about because it didn’t happen, the day was repeating itself.
It reminded me of those, “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, where there a variety of paths to choose from and you pick what happens next. It was exactly like that with Sam, as each day she’d take a different path, do something a bit differently.
Even though I didn’t like Sam at that the start, I ended up really liking her character in the end, as she grows so much and becomes a much better person.
This book will inflict a whole load of emotions, especially tears, so get those tissues ready!
This is my first book by Lauren Oliver, but I guarantee it won’t be my last.
I don’t exactly know what I was expecting , but it certainly wasn’t this!

This book will really get you thinking. About the person that you are. And the person that you want to be. About how you act towards others. And how you live your life.  

The ending was sad, mysterious and completely surprising. It ended so different than I thought it would…

Such a thought provoking read that I’m so grateful that I finally picked up! If you haven’t done so yet, I suggest you grab yourself a copy and read it! If you do start reading it, and like me don’t like it straight away, keep powering through, don’t give up, because even though I found the start to be a bit of a bumpy ride, in the end I was completely blown away.

Rating 4.5/5

4 comments:

  1. Aaaa! I WANT TO READ THIS BOOK. I haven't read Lauren's debut novel but I've read DELIRIUM and LOVED IT!!! Awesome review, Rebecca! I'll have to read this soon!

    Celine @ Forget-me-not

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  2. this is like a trend in lauren oliver books, i'm seeing. i just finished delirium, and it took me quite a while to get into it as well!
    but once i powered through, the second half got way more interesting. :)

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  3. @ Celine - I hope you get to read it soon! I'm sure you'll enjoy it!! :)

    @ Arielle - I've got Delirium on the shelf, and will be reading it, hopefully soon! Glad it picked up eventually though!

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  4. I agree that this book made me want to read more of Oliver's work. And I think she was very successful at making the same day occurring several times actually interesting.

    But I didn't like Sam at the end as much as a lot of readers did; I don't like that she makes excuses for her friends' being terrible people, saying it's fine that they hurt other people now because they'll grow out of it in a few years. Actually, it's not fine. I would have had far fewer issues with the book if that line had just been omitted!

    Overall, though, it was still well-written and engaging, and I think her other books will be even better if there are no "mean girls" as protagonists.

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