Amy Zhang

One cold fall day, high school junior Liz Emerson steers her car into a tree. This haunting and heartbreaking story is told by a surprising and unexpected narrator and unfolds in nonlinear flashbacks even as Liz's friends, foes, and family gather at the hospital and Liz clings to life. This riveting debut will appeal to fans of Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver, and 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. "On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton's laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road." Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? The nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High's most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn't understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn't understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang's haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.

Falling into Place

Kritika Narula

suffice it to say it was heart breaking. Detailed review later

Melissa Palmer

Book #76 Read in 2014
Falling into Place by Amy Zhang (YA)

This young adult novel will appeal to fans of If I Stay and Thirteen Reasons Why. Liz has decided to kill herself but plans on driving her car off the road to make it look like an accident. Liz, while popular in high school, realizes that she has not always been a nice person. Of course, she feels abandoned both by her father who died recently and her mother who threw herself into work to overcome grief, so that does not help her mental state at all. Told in alternating locations of the hospital and flashbacks of days and weeks leading up to the accident, Zhang details the happenings of a teenage girl. 

Add to this that the author is a high school student and it makes the novel that much more of a success. It is well written and the flashback format does not hinder the plot. The characters are very realistic as are the situations they experience. It was a good read. I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

alexandra

originally posed on twirling pagessimilar to if i stay, this novel was told in flashbacks, like a patchwork of memories and moments. it certainly built up the story and fit well; i wouldn’t be able to imagine it being told any other way. amy zhang executed the novel perfectly with these snapshot stories. without realizing it, the plot was built in a beautiful crescendo. everything was satisfying, which is so rare to see in contemporary novels. the only negative aspect i could find was that we wouldn't be completely and utterly attached to each and every chapter. what i mean when i say that is: since the flashbacks don’t connect together in terms of time, you wouldn’t have this “I NEED TO KNOW” feeling after every chapter. each one was concluded and built the story together, with each little moment. although the writing assumes to have a less demanding feeling, i finished it in a day and was hooked throughout the entire novel. it's also interesting and different because the story is told in first-person pov, but we don't know who it is. similar to death in the book thief (by markus zusak), the person is somewhat omniscient, and it's almost like there's an angel or ghost following our characters. (we eventually find out who/what it is) in short, the writing is sublime.

in the beginning, i found most the characters mediocre, unjustifiable, and melodramatic. as the novel continued, i could see them coming alive, coming undone, coming together, bit by bit, and piece by piece. everyone (and everything) grows on you like vines on a castle wall – slowly and without realization. before i knew it, i understood them, and i felt what they felt. our main character liz is popular, reckless, and larger than life. in many ways, she reminded me of margo in paper towns (by john green). although she seemed over dramatic and shallow at first, i grew to really connect to her. all the characters were complex and completely themselves.

there was also the perfect amount of romance in the deep darkness of everything. despite the negativity, there is a fine layer of hope and beauty and love. it's subtle, but it's there. and with it being there, it creates a much more moving and positive story. the relationships between the characters are unique in their own way. sometimes i question their morals, but i love liz and her friends.

falling into place will always hold a special place in my heart. it was unexpectedly beautiful and every adjective that’s a synonym for “wonderful” and “emotional.” i'm not a real "crier" when it comes to reading – watery eyes, but not hardcore sobbing – and yet falling into place made me cry. real tears streaming down my face, physically stopping the book to cry. everyone should read this book at some point in their lives because it is so important. GO READ IT. if i could conclude my thoughts into an emoji, it would be :'-).– alexandra
blog // instagram // twitter

I started off thinking "This isn't really my kind of book", what with our main character getting drunk out of her head and kissing seven guys in the space of thirty minutes.

 Liz Emerson isn't particularly likable, or relatable. As the book progressed, though, she kind of crept up on me. What got to me most was that she was human, and as impossible as it seemed, she regretted her mistakes. The guilt ate at her just as much as it did to all of us. I'm just full of sympathy for her. *tears everywhere* 

This book was tragic and beautiful, exploring the complexities of life, friendship, loss and forgiveness. Heart wrenching and emotionally draining, this is a must read.

Rosy 

lucia arenas

Se me aguaron los ojos en el epílogo. ¿Qué puedo decir? Sin duda una lectura que vale la pena.

Charlotte 

A book with song lyrics in the title - a bit obscure, but 'falling into place' is also from a song by Gotye ✔

篠田美月

The only thing I have to say about this book is: oh god, the tears I've cried.

Elle

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I was hoping to. I had heard that this book was somewhat similar to Looking for Alaska, so naturally, I got my hopes up. I loved the timeline in Looking for Alaska but I was vastly disappointed by the timeline in this book. The timeline was not chronological like I had expected. Instead the timeline was choppy and jumped all over the place making it difficult to remember how everything fell into order. I was also rather annoyed with the amount of times that I had to read "Liz Emerson." Liz, in general was also very frustrating. You could see that she had a heart, yet she never showed it.. She did the exact opposite most of the time. Then when I reached the end, I wanted to know more about how everyone and everything turned out.. But as readers, we don't find out much.

Overall, this book was nowhere near my favorite but it also wasn't awful. If you're looking to read a book like this one, I would strongly suggest Looking for Alaska.

Nadia Leontescu

The characters were alright, but it was hard to be sympathetic with Liz and her behavior. But, overall I liked the story and it definitely got me thinking.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

I finished this book last week, reading the entire thing in one day, and I’m still not sure how I’m going to rate this one. I think the writing was beautiful and I really thought the story packed a punch, yet I had very little sympathy for the main character. She was a HORRIBLE person to so many people! I see how this book was meant to protray bullying, and I can totally respect that fact… but at the same time I had a hard time feeling bad for this girl that knew she was doing mean things, yet continued to do them over and over again. Because of disliking the main character so much, I failed to have any positive feelings for her whatsoever, which honestly isn’t me. I usually feel very bad for the lost girl that’s behaving badly becuase of something in her past… but this time, that whole sympathy aspect was missing for me.

The writing was beautiful. Seriously beautiful. I have a lot of trouble reading books involving people trying to kill themselves, so this one was a bit emotional for me. Emotional in a good way though. I definitely felt quite a bit… and with not liking the MC that means a lot. This story is along the lines of Before I Fall and If I Stay. If you liked those stories, you will most likely adore this one. It addresses several very intense topics that many teenagers are facing these days, including addiction, teen pregnancy, bullying, and suicide. Definitely a story full of emotions, but one worth reading.

I have to say I’m a bit bummed about something. While reading this book I caught sight of a review that had what I would consider to be a “spoiler” in it. It mentioned who the narrator was. I think this story would have been better had I not known, since that took a lot away from the story for me. Maybe other people wouldn’t mind knowing that little tidbit, but I thought it was such a unique narrator it really would have been a shocker to most. So I WILL NOT be mentioning who the narrator is. It isn’t revealed until the very end, and I think it should remain that way.

I’m having a difficult time rating this book. For the writing alone, I would give it 4 stars. But since I didn’t much care for the characters and at times wanted to just be done with the story already, I don’t think I can give it a full 4. I think I’ll compromise on a 3 star rating. Again, this is purely my own opinion regarding this book. It has several 5-star ratings to show how much it is loved. I guess it just didn’t wow me like I had hoped. Overall a very profound, moving story with gorgeous writing. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

Audiobook Impressions:
Julia Whelan did a really good job on this one. There were so many different characters, so many emotions from these teenagers, and she got them all perfectly. If you search for Julia you will see that she has quite a few books under her belt, and there’s definitely a good reason for that. She’s overall a fantastic narrator that can do a great job at just about any kind of book.

(Thanks to Greenwillow Books for the review copy!)


  Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

 Bruna Acioly Leão

4.5 stars

Liz Emerson is the most popular girl at school. And also the most hated. The thing that no one knows about Liz Emerson? She doesn’t like herself very much and she wants to end her constant trajectory of destroying lives. So when Liz’s car crashes at the interstate exit, the lives of the people that are somehow connected to her are examined by an unknown narrator. The story is told alternating between flashbacks from the past, from right before Liz’s crash and moving forward after it.

This was a beautifully written character study. Liz is not a likable person, but you feel for her and in a way you can understand what she’s going through. She is afraid to be herself, she is afraid that if she doesn’t destroy, she will be destroyed. That’s my impression anyway.

I am having a hard time expressing my feelings towards this book, so I’ll just make a rundown list of things I liked.

Unlikable characters. Some people might not like this book because the characters are horrible, horrible people. This book is not about redeeming them, even if it gives them redeeming qualities (there’s a big difference there). There are no excuses for the awful things Liz and her friends - mostly Liz - do, but there is a person behind those things. I think that’s what’s important, that’s what this book is trying to accomplish: make you question what lies beyond other’s actions. Wanting to change and hope, that’s what’s important. That’s what makes a character worth reading for me, the complexity.

Beautiful writing. There is something very literary about the way this book is written. The choice of narrator and the non-linear way the story is told both contribute to that. I found myself marking so many passages that I thought were just really well written and meaningful. The book uses Newton’s laws of physics to question our experiences in the world. It raises questions about the meaning of friendship and love and also about how our actions impact other people and ourselves.

Lots of almost crying moments. So many moments when I was just like: “why does it have to be this way?” It is a question often asked in real life as well.

Very relevant and re-readable. I would definitely like to revisit it, it is a haunting book and there are so many interesting messages that could take new meaning upon re-reading.

You would think about like this would be slow, but it was actually a very quick read.

I don’t have any real reservations with it, no actual flaws that I can point. It doesn’t get a full five-star rating, because it just didn’t give me that “this is perfect” feeling. But it was really, really great.

Overall, an amazing book, quick to read, and it gives a lot to think about.

http://brunawrites.tumblr.com/post/11...

Giulia 

Se si pensa che questo è il libro d'esordio di quest'autrice si stenta a crederlo.
La storia ricorda molto quella di If I stay di Gayle Forman, chi ha amato quel libro sicuramente non potrà essergli indifferente questo titolo ;). Le storie sono molto diverse, ma entrambe sono impuntate sui ricordi. 
E' un romanzo molto emozionante, che fa riflettere sulle cose davvero importanti e di come la popolarità non sia tutto nella vita, che sicuramente non porta la felicità. 
In molti punti ho notato l'uso delle maschere pirandelliane, i personaggi presentano diversi tipi di carattere e indossano una faccia diversa in base al posto in cui si trovano. 
Una bella storia, voglio assolutamente il cartaceo!

kiko

Kate

She would be an object in motion that would stay in motion, even if it meant flattening everything in her path. One cold fall day, high school junior Liz Emerson steers her car into a tree. Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? This haunting, nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High's most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn't understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn't understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? An Indies Introduce Title A Top Ten Indies Next Pick

Falling into Place

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