Name of the Book- Before I Fall
Author- Lauren Oliver
Genre- Young Adult Fiction
Published date- 14 February 2010
Summary- Samantha Kingston has everything that any girl has always wanted; three good friends; the popular guy at school and Miss Popular of the year. But on Cupid Day, things take a major twist.
Samantha meets with a car accident by the end of the day and when she wakes up, she sees that she is under a time loop of the same day. As she goes through each incident, she realises how mean she has been to everyone around her with her demeanour, despite being a part of the lower end of the social status when she was younger. But will she be able to get out of the loop? And if she does, what’s gonna happen after that?
Reviewing the book:- Samantha did go through a lot in her childhood, and her being popular and mean is something that definitely would happen when she gains power. But the ironical thing is: when she tries to fix it in bits, it never works; but when she does it as a whole, it fixes together completely.
I really disliked Lindsay’s part in the book; she seemed so rude to everybody that she felt domineering to her status. Elody and Ally, her posses, took her insults without question, just so that they could make her feel happy about it.
As for Samantha’s interests, they kept changing every time in the loop, so that was one interesting part to read.
I found the story to be more focused towards the subject of bullying; the morality of the idiom “as you sow, so shall you reap” and all that. It was a good read and it made me realize that there are many Lindsay’s in the world who would either be very rude to you or befriend you as her posse or as a substitute friend, but how you handle the situation depends on your shoulders; do you take charge or do you let their insults seep into your thoughts or do you wave it off like nothing happened and you were never a part of it?
My answer would be the first choice. Take your stand for yourself and prove your worth to these people and show them that you are as good as they are. But at the same time, you should wave off their comments, but not their attitude. Be careful around them, cause you might lose your control and decide to scream when the best way out is to silently prove yourself and move on.
I’d rate this book 4/5 stars because it gives us an insight into a social issue that prevails amongst teens.
My favourite lines:
- “Be honest: Are you surprised that I didn’t realize sooner? Are you surprised that it took me so long to even think the word — death? Dying? Dead?Do you think I was being stupid? Naive?Try not to judge. Remember that we’re the same, you and me.
I thought I would live forever too.”
- “I want to help you,’ I say to Juliet, though I know that I can’t make her understand, not like this.‘Don’t you get it?’ She turns to me, and to my surprise I see she’s crying. ‘I can’t be fixed, do you understand?’I think of standing on the stairs with Kent and saying exactly the same thing. I think of his beautiful light green eyes, and the way he said, You don’t need to be fixed and the warmth of his hands and the softness of his lips. I think of Juliet’s mask and how maybe we all feel patched and stitched together and not quite right.
I am not afraid.
Dimly, I have the sense of roaring in my ears and voices so close and faces, white and frightened, emerging from the darkness, but I can’t stop staring at Juliet as she’s crying, still so beautiful.
‘It’s too late,’ she says.
And I say, ‘It’s never too late.”