Lauren Oliver

'They say that when you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that's not how it happened for me' Sam Kingston is dead. Except she isn't. On a rainy February night, eighteen-year-old Sam is killed in a horrific car crash. But then the impossible happens: she wakes up in her own bed, on the morning of the day that she died. Forced to live over and over the last day of her life - the drive to school, skipping class, the fateful party - she desperately struggles to alter the outcome, but every morning she wakes up on the day of the crash. This is a story of a girl who dies young, but in the process learns how to live. And who falls in love . . . a little too late. BEFORE I FALL is a brave and complex novel about the territory between life and death. As astonishing as The Lovely Bones and as luminous as Jenny Downham's Before I Die, it will make you want to live every day as if it were your last.

Before I Fall

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. Before I Fall is now a major motion picture Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, and Kian Lawley. Named to numerous state reading lists, the novel was also recognized as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, The Daily Beast, NPR, and Publishers Weekly.

Cody Nicole

Before i fall

Monicap

This book took me over a week to read. That is HIGHLY unusual for. The last book that took me over a week to read was Blade of Fire (Book 2 in the Icemark Chronicles) by Stuart Hill. That was also a reread. And it happened before I was active on goodreads. 2010 or 2011.

Anyway, my thoughts on this book:

It’s divided into seven parts. Which makes sense, seven days and all, you know? 

Anyway.

Part 1: was infodump. And moreover, this book being, for the most part, contemporary, infodump was not required near as much as it was given. Didn’t really like it.

Part 2, 3, and 4: Were really not interesting. Honestly I can’t remember much from those parts. They just kind of dragged on and on…

Part 5: this is where stuff kind of started picking up. I remember enjoying this part more than the first four, but no real details from it.

And after reading part 5, I focused on reading the Scorpio Races and didn’t pick this up for two days. (Now, it is two days overdue from the library, though, so… maybe not my smartest idea)

And then I sat down today and read parts six and seven. Part six, I’m fairly certain, was my favorite.

After that glowing reaction, what I say next might come as a surprise.

I DO think this book was worth the read, despite NOT ENJOYING much of it.

See, you can’t really read this book without THINKING. Without COMPARING YOURSELF to the main character. It makes you look at who you are and how YOU want remembered.

So… this book was meh, but it was deep. 

Will I read it again? No. Never. Will I recommend to anyone? No. Not actively.

But I do maintain that I am glad I read it. I believe it was worth it for ME to read.

★★★★☆
4.00 STARS 

This book is actually quite sad, it left a surprisingly heaviness in my chest. Not only because a girl named Samantha, one of the popular girl who's not the most perfect, had to lived the final day of her life seven times, but because she had to live through it before she can understand the true meaning of how to live your life. I specifically liked Sam's character development, each and every day she had to repeat her final day. How little by little, she improved and she managed to open her mind with something so important. The ending seemed so abrupt in a way, I actually thought how dissatisfied I was after reading the epilogue. I remember feeling a bit hopeful about what was going to happen at the end. Hopeful that somehow, it will all fall into places. But the ending really caught me off guard. I wanted more. I actually wished the ending offered more. But after pondering about the ending after a while, it seemed...suitable.

A chance. She was given a chance to make everything right, not because she needed it to live through her life but because she has to feel the goodnes in making everything right. Not a chance to live again and live her life in a new light but to see the importance of everything before she leave. And that is the saddest yet most amazing part thing about this book. That you don't have to pretend that you are making it all okay just so you could save yourself. Sometimes you have to understand life and make sacrifices.

PS: I just hope there was a little more of Sam and Kent.

Daniel Spruill

Breathtaking. Emotionally draining. Perfect.

chloe rae

So let me just start off this review by saying that I bought this book on my kindle, expecting it to be a light, fun read. And it wasn't at all what I expected. It was AMAZING. Like, HOLY TOMATO, it's good. I just remember starting this in bed, with my book light and comfy jammies on. And I don't remember sleeping that night. I just got so invested in the horrible problem this girl got dealt with, having to live a day over and over again; to change it and fix it, rearrange it. She kept trying to get it right and I was right there with her, waiting for that moment. By the end of it you're dreading the inevitable ending, but you accept it, just like how you accept the choices you make in your own life. A great read, but be prepared to stay up all night and basically kill your book lights battery. Just a warning.

Annika Arguemore

It's like I've just read a twisted yet introspective version of Mean Girls with a little bit of Skins added into it. And death being the center of it all. It's just one of those books, you know? When you have to read until the end to see if it's worth pursuing or not. I'm glad to say that it was. 

Quite the concoction, this novel turned out to be. It's retrospective. It's extraordinary. It's beautiful in a certain way. I can't word it exactly but I guess I'd have to try. It's the kind of beautiful that's striking and wistful. The kind of beautiful that asks you to look closer, that you have to look closer. That you have to delve deeper to know that it's not what it seems, that it's more than that, that it's not superficial.

★★★★★ // Groundhog Day for the young adults. loved it.

debre

started the book hating Sam and her friends, ended the book crying so much because I wanted it to have a different and happier ending, but I know it was impossible. I know. I love it when I read a book that's so sensible, so incredible well-written that you just feel everything the characters are feeling because you can't help but think they are real, you know? I just am feeling so sad because this was such an incredible read and the characters were so real I feel overwhelmed with so many emotions. thank you so much for the lessons, Sam. I'll never forget.

Yasmin Dunnewind

The second half was much better than the first half of the book. I was in such a slump by this book, bc I just didn't find the first half of the story interesting. It didn't captivate me, i found the mc not enjoyable. I know that a lot of people really like this book, but it just didn't hold me the way some other books do.

Victoria

Wow. Okay...wow. 

I don't know how else to put it. I mean, I've started reading this multiple times and have put it down multiple times as well until finally deciding that I have to actually finish reading the book before the year ends because the movie adaptation comss out next year. Yes, give it to me to actually have movie adaptations of books serve as my motivation (more like a giant push, if you ask me) to finish up a novel. 

Well going back, I finally finished it in a matter of days because the mid to latter part seemed more interesting to me than the beginning. I'm not sure why I didn't like it more during the first few parts. I mean, the premise of the story seems promising: waking up on the same day over and over again? Who wouldn't be intrigued and who wouldn't want to know what happens next or what happens in the end, right?

But I don't know. Maybe it's the writing that threw me off? Ugh. 

Anyway, it was refreshing, though, to read a YA book that for once is not about the bullied kid. This time it's about the popular kids, the bitches, the jerks. We all hated them at some point when we were in high school but really, it's nice to have a novel where the protagonist is not the opressed teen. 

Okay, so overall, the story's pretty good but it's not something that would make you go "omg omg omg". Not for me, at least. Plus I'm not sure about what I feel about the ending. Actually, I don't know what I feel about this in general. Hmm. Maybe I'd like the movie better? Jeez, that's not good.

Lacy W

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

tw: car accident, bullying, disrespectful comments about poor people, homophobia and homophobic comments, slut shaming, fat faming, use of word retard, suicide, inappropriate teach/student relationship, underage drinking, sexual assault

I couldn’t decide what to read. It was between two books and I can’t quite remember the other one. So I decided to do what any normal person would do in this situation and that was to let my dog pick what book I should read. I held up the two books and said pick one. She picked this one by putting her nose on the book and boy, does Shelby have good taste because this was an amazing book. I devoured it in just a few sittings. I didn’t want it to end, if I’m being honest. 

On the surface, it doesn’t seem like the type of book anyone, let alone me, would enjoy. The MC, Sam, is your typical mean girl with your typical mean girl best friends. Like who wants to read a book about that? I know that I don’t. I can’t stand the mean girl trope even if there ends up being some sort of redeeming quality at the end. Like the mean girl learns her lesson and is a better person. I just can’t stand that. 

But this book is so much more! I very much regret judging this book so harshly. I need to stop that and let the book just speak for itself. It’s about Sam coming to grips with her past actions and behaviors, unlearning those toxic traits and trying to right those people she wronged in her life. I know I know, I said I didn’t like that kind of trope in the paragraph above. But this book, it did it so differently. There were a lot of ups and downs and I was just sucked in. 

While I absolutely loved this book, all I felt was pain. It reminded me of the Song of Achilles. I knew I was going to be terribly hurt but I couldn’t stop myself from devouring the book. I had this pain in my heart that wouldn’t go away. Because I had a feeling that things weren’t going to end the way I wanted them too. I wanted and hoped for so much.

From now on, I’m letting Shelby pick all my books because she did an amazing job. Someone remind me to give her treats for this when I see her next month in November. But for real, I highly recommend this book. Don’t let the trope of the mean girl get to you. It’s so much more than that.

Beatrix Haase

Read this is in 2014 and really enjoyed it. Gonna have to read it again at some time.

I read this when i was a kid, reread it recently and until this day it’s still one of my favorites

I love it, all the details, the inner monologue, the realistic character development and the incredibly addictive writing 

Lulu Evensen

I read this when i was a kid, reread it recently and until this day it’s still one of my favorites

I love it, all the details, the inner monologue, the realistic character development and the incredibly addictive writing 

M.G Derio 

** spoiler alert **
           Me dolió el final, yo deseaba uno feliz pero supongo que su muerte fue algo que ta estaba establecido

Savindi Jinasena

** spoiler alert **
            Cover Gushing Worthiness: I think the cover of Before I Fall is beautiful, but I don’t think it does the book justice. Maybe the whole point is to look beyond the face of the girl and discover her own secrets.

Review:I think I found Before I Fall in my goodreads recommendations list for my Young Adults shelf and then I received it as a Christmas gift from Raya over at Midnight Coffee Monster .

The book deals with an issue that really hits close to home for me and that is bullying. Even though it happened so long ago and I’ve moved on and found amazing friends it is a memory that will probably stay with me forever. I’m grateful that Lauren Oliver addressed this issue in her debut book, especially because it’s so relevant to the society we live in.

The plot of the book is unique. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before since the book starts with the death of the main character and works its way forwards. I thought Sam asked a really interesting question in the first chapter of the book and it is:  Let me ask you: is what I did really so bad?So bad I deserved to die?So bad I deserved to die like that? Is what I did really so much more worse than what anybody else does? Is it really so much worse than what you do? Think about it.

I was struck by the question and I wasn’t sure how to respond to it. A part of me was thinking ” you could have been better than your friends,” but the other part of me was thinking “most teenagers want to fit in, not to be cast out.” Each chapter in the book are variations of Sam’s last day and my personal favourite was “Day Six.” I think Sam redeemed herself the most on that day. Lauren Oliver’s decision to explore the idea of “What would you do if you had nothing to lose” in one of the chapters was interesting because we see Sam daring to do things she would never think about doing in real life. It does make you wonder what you would do if you have nothing to lose.

While the book is a character driven work of fiction,I don’t think it was about liking any of them. It was more about the importance of our actions and the consequences that follow afterwards. Samantha Kingston stirred up so many emotions within me. I felt anger, hate, sympathy and pity all at the same time. It made me sad that she gave up things she loved in order to fit in. I think so many people, not just teenagers do this in the hopes of gaining the feeling of belonging to something larger than they are. In the end you have to wonder if it was really worth it. I think you could sense that Sam had some regrets in her actions, but overall I felt like she wanted that popularity and sense of belonging more.

Lindsay, Sam’s best friend was one of the most unlikable characters I’ve come across in YA Fiction. I knew she was a broken person, but her actions left me with a hard time finding sympathy for her. While Sam makes the references that you don’t think when you say some things, it left me astonished that you could think that some of the spiteful things Lindsay said would have no consequences as at all. I still can’t fathom how people treat each other the way Sam, Lindsay and her friends did. I felt Lindsay was the Queen B among the group and she reminded me of the character Alli from the show Pretty Little Liars. I don’t follow the show, but I’ve seen little snippets here and there which have featured Alli and Lindsay reminded me a lot of her.

Sam’s other friends Ally and Elody were quite underdeveloped in my opinion. I wanted to know more about them because they always fell under the shadow of Sam and Lindsay. I did feel sorry for Elody because she seemed like the most weak out of the four.

Apart from the four girls, Juliet was a tragic character. I could relate to her the most, having been in the same situation a long time ago. I wonder what would have happened if Sam had been her friend. It would have been nice to know more about her character since she seemed like there was so much to her than what appeared on the surface.What struck me as odd was that she wasn’t the typical victim of bullying as portrayed in other works of fiction which deal with this issue. She was a beautiful girl; probably more beautiful than Sam and her friends combined. I think that was probably the message Oliver wanted to send; “Bullying knows no boundaries.” My favourite character in the book was Sam’s younger sister Izzy. I thought she was such a sweet little girl and she was so secure and even proud about herself. It’s funny how kids are so happy with themselves when they’re younger, but as they grow older insecurities start to plague their minds and sometimes they become people who are unrecognizable.

My one complaint about the book is that the ending of the book was unsatisfying. I feel like none of the secondary characters evolved by the end. I felt like the ending left one of the characters in a much more vulnerable and dangerous environment. Those who have read the book will probably know who I am talking about (view spoiler)[ where Juliet asks Sam "Why did you save me?" I felt like the ending left her in danger because Lindsay and the others would have blamed her for Sam's death, leaving her in a more vulnerable state of mind. (hide spoiler)]

Overall Before I Fall was an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. It deals with an issue that is like a parasite in today’s school environment and sends out an important message to both children and teenagers about the consequences of their actions.

My Rating: 4/5

Would I recommend it? Yes

Rachel Kanyid

Wow... This book.... 
One of those books that is really a thought-provoker.
In my opinion it:
Really makes you wonder...How have you been treating those around you? Have you been doing and saying seemingly unimportant things to people that might affect them badly? 
How can you change that?
How can you make sure every single person knows that they are important?

Wow.. Just wow.
I love thought provoking books.
The writing style could have been a little better.
The characters could have been a little more fleshed out.
But it was really good.

Jeannette Ordas

I wasn't sure about this book from the beginning, but mid-way through I was curious how this book was all going to end up. Call me impressed. 3.5 stars.

Jade Iveson

Okay, so I’m going to be honest with you. This book came out quite a while ago and I had heard of it but knew nothing about it. I guess I just wasn’t all that interested. Then last year the trailer for the film dropped and I immediately knew that I had to read this book.

So, I started it. Now this is one of these books that start off a little slow because at first you are reading a day in the life of a popular teenage girl who didn’t care about anything or anyone apart from her social status. It’s safe to say this initial chapter or ‘Day One’ as it was put in the novel, made me question whether I would really like this book or not...
To Read more of my review please head over to my book blog linked below, i think its worth the read!

https://greenivybooks.wordpress.com/

THANK YOU!
Jade x

Talia Dominguez 

this book is so awesomely good!!! i would recommend it to anyone! I juzst finished it.and i.still cant believe.that it had a very very sad ending!! :( why did that happen to her??why?? why couldnt she just move on with her life,!!?! this book made me feel mad sad and happy at the sake time while reading it because of the things she did. she pobably did deserve everything! or Maybe she didnt bt it was for the best :/

tina

Movie Review: 

Before I Fall was an exceptionally well done movie. For someone who has read the book, I can say that I am really satisfied with how the book to movie adaptation turned out to be. It stayed true to the book, so it was just like I was seeing the book come to life. It still triggered emotions, and captured hearts. It was still an emotional and dramatic rollercoaster that will leave the audience to think of life in a different perspective. And it was still a story that has such a meaningful message to tell. The only major change was that she didn't wake up at the exact same day for seven days, but it really didn't affect the storyline. Also, I'd like to point out that movie Sam was definitely better than book Sam. Book Sam was hard to sympathize with because she was a character who was easy to dislike. The only time I actually got to like her was during the last chapter, the seventh and last day. Whereas movie Sam was the complete opposite. It was easier to like her and it was easier to connect with her. 

The actors did a great job portraying the characters. They were just like how I pictured they would be. The flow of the story was also well done. It was easy for the audience to understand what was going on. I'm also really glad that they were able to include quotes from the book. The quotes were beautifully written and poetic so it was a good thing that they didn't cast that aside. 

Overall, it's a well done adaptation. It's a movie I'd like to watch again. So I'm going to give it a 4/5 stars, same rating I gave to the book.

I read this after reading the Delirium series, and I absolutely loved that, so I guess my expectations were a little too high, plus I had no idea this was her first book.

I really did not like it at first. It was hard to empathize with Sam because she was everything I wasnt. Her environment, her friends, her school, her activities was totally against my standards, plus she was you typical famous-gorgeous-bitchy-bully and usually the antagonist in books Ive read. 

I love how, in the middle, she started to realize everything she missed through the years. She began to see Kent and Julie and Anna in ways she didnt before. They seemed more human than her friends. She began appreciating her family more, and she realized all the things she lost when she changed. Somehow, I think she's a represntation of so many teenagers these days. We try so hard to fit in and be wanted, we forget the things that actually matter, the important things. We want to be loved by people, we ignore the ones at home who love us just the way we are.

Towards the end though, I was catching on and I was totally hooked. This book shows the best of humanity. There was no perfect fantasy and false pretnses about thoughtful girls who saves the community. This was the real world, she was real, the kind of people we see everyday. She was flawed and imperfect, and it took her a week to see things properly, but it shows the worst of us have good inside of us.

This book... made me feel a lot of things.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to like this book, mainly because I knew it was also a movie (not sure why that made me have low expectations, but it did).  I was very surprised. 

I LOVED IT. The concept and discussion of death really captivated me, and the magical realism-ish aspects to this book really intrigued me. 

I hated the characters at first (kind of the point, I guess) but grew to love them all. Especially Kent McFuller. I’m in love. 

The ending left me with this weird sense of serenity... Not sure why but I felt like a new person after finishing this book.

It was amazing. Definitely a favorite.

Gisela Ayala 

Wow, what I just read just wow. I have no words at all. 

My first Lauren Oliver book and I'm just left speechless. Her writing is absolutely stunning. The language is rich and the dialogue is beyond perfection. The actual story, though... my dear, my heart is breaking into little pieces as I'm typing this. Usually, I wait a few hours or a day to write a review but I just want to get this over with. I don't want to feel this way. 

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars (which I think it fully deserves) is because I was not satisfied with the ending and I was hoping for another outcome. Other than that...phenomenal and beautifully sad. 

Before I Fall is a word of warning and a prayer all in one to us all.

Shrouk Shafie

Am just.. not convinced with the ending. 
*Spoilers alert*

Am not sure the message I got from the book was "we realize the right things to do too late, after we are dead or close to death?" ? 
Or... "In order to save people, in order to really feel how others feel, we have to die for them? " 

Why death anyway? Why not any other way?

Before I Fall

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