Before I Fall

Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver
370 pages of 470 pages
Fiction for Young Adults

Quote from the book: “So many things become beautiful when you really look.” This is one of the quotes that are mentioned in the book now and then. I really like this quote because I think it is very true, and it is similar to the quote that says that you only notice how much you need or like something, after you don’t have it anymore. I think this quote relates very good to the character of the protagonist, because she dies in this novel, and starts to see things differently and actually realizes how precious even the small things in life are.

What happened until now: Samantha Kingston, a seventeen year old girl living in a small town called Ridgeview and going to Thomas Jefferson High, has a perfect life. She is in her senior year, and one of the most popular girls in school. She is even dating the hottest guy in school, Rob, the guy nearly every girl has a crush on. She has three best friends, Lindsay, Elody and Ally, that she already knows for a long time. On Cupid Day, everything goes perfect, until they leave Kent McFiller’s party, crash into something and drive into the woods with their car. After that, Sam’s last day repeats six times. The first time, she is really confused, and the same things happen to her again, leading that she has to live through the accident a second time. The second time her day repeats, she thinks that she is trapped in some weird “between life and death” scenario, and she just has to avoid the accident to move on, so she doesn’t go to the party and her three friends and her stay at Ally’s house. At two o’clock in the morning, something horribly happens though: they find out that Juliet Sykes, the freak at their school, killed herself and they all feel bad because they were always pretty mean to her. The third time Friday, February 12 repeats, Sam thinks that her day will repeat forever until time stops, because avoiding the car accident didn’t work, so she gets really sad and angry and does a lot of crazy things. The fourth time, she stays at home pretending that Rob and her broke up and has a nice day with her family, until she meets Juliet’s sister at a restaurant and figures out that she has to save Juliet Sykes from killing herself to move on. On her fifth repeat, she tries to prevent Juliet Sykes from killing herself, but doesn’t succeed. Juliet Sykes jumps in front of a car: Lindsay’s car! Sam is shocked, because she finds out what made them crash into the woods and killed them, and that Elody died because of the accident. The sixth time her day repeats, she feels like she knows exactly what to do to save not only Juliet Sykes’ life, but also hers and Elody’s. Will she actually succeed? And if, what will happen to her?

I really like this book. It’s very interesting and I can’t stop reading. I really like how the author added quotes throughout the novel, and how each time Sam’s day repeats, a new chapter starts. Maybe it is because this was Lauren Oliver’s first novel and she was extra careful, but I didn’t notice any mistakes in the book yet. Usually there are some small mistakes in every book I read, so I think it’s worth mentioning that there aren’t any in this one. I really recommend this book, although it is more a book for girls! Thumps up :)