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A review by mariahistryingtoread
Before I Fall Enhanced by Lauren Oliver
5.0
With all the commercials advertising the movie, I was reminded of my love for this book (before it was cool) and that I never wrote a review.
Before I Fall just clicked with me. I gave it five stars because I personally love it more than I can say. Objectively, I can see its faults, but this is a book that managed to transcend all of that because I loved it anyways.
Samantha 'Sam' Kingston is a mean girl who keeps reliving the day of her death. The story started off weak because while Sam was mean she was not stereotypical. This book doesn't focus on the Regina George of her little group - Lindsay. It focuses on Sam who is more equivalent to Gretchen Weiners. That line about it being better to be in the 'Plastics' hating it than completely outside of them definitely applies to Sam.
Sam, Ally, Elody, and Lindsay are good friends to each other. I don't doubt they care about each other. But, they all clearly defer to Lindsay. Sam does so in particular because she was unpopular as a child and desperately wants to never go back to that.
Knowing all of this the book started off weak because while it's a lot more interesting than the stereotypical Queen B is punished for her sins trope I was left almost hating Sam more for her behavior. We see Sam acknowledging what her group does in certain instances is wrong or questioning it, yet she does it all anyways. It annoyed me endlessly to follow such a spineless girl. I was apathetic to her impending doom.
Everything started to pick up, however, when Sam started reliving the days. That's when we truly got a look at Sam as a person rather than a one dimensional plot device. The strength here was in the development of the characters. With each day you learn more not only about Sam, but about all those around her. You get to see these different sides of people that Sam either purposely ignored or didn't see before. It's like an episode in a cartoon where we follow a secondary character and see what they do all day.
Sam is a catalyst for a lot of things. But what's really interesting to note is that she doesn't change that much. Which is the most believable part. You see her evolve in her perception of people, sure, however there is not complete turnaround for her. Oliver makes her more sympathetic, yet, manages to keep the integrity of her character. Sam learns a lot, but in the end she is still that weak-willed, judgemental girl.
I'm still not sure I like the ending. On the one hand it is literally spelled out from the beginning what will happen. On the other, once I read how it unfolded I don't think it was totally necessary for her to die. And the reason all of this was happening at all or to her specifically was never touched on. It meant we didn't get bogged down with science or magic mumbo jumbo or a search for answers just to fill more pages, but it did mean that the ending in my opinion fell kind of flat. Going along with what I think is the author's motivations, it makes sense. I just needed a bit more story to explain it.
Bottomline, Oliver was not telling a story of redemption. She was telling a story of one girl who is forced to, for once in her life, do the right thing.
Before I Fall just clicked with me. I gave it five stars because I personally love it more than I can say. Objectively, I can see its faults, but this is a book that managed to transcend all of that because I loved it anyways.
Samantha 'Sam' Kingston is a mean girl who keeps reliving the day of her death. The story started off weak because while Sam was mean she was not stereotypical. This book doesn't focus on the Regina George of her little group - Lindsay. It focuses on Sam who is more equivalent to Gretchen Weiners. That line about it being better to be in the 'Plastics' hating it than completely outside of them definitely applies to Sam.
Sam, Ally, Elody, and Lindsay are good friends to each other. I don't doubt they care about each other. But, they all clearly defer to Lindsay. Sam does so in particular because she was unpopular as a child and desperately wants to never go back to that.
Knowing all of this the book started off weak because while it's a lot more interesting than the stereotypical Queen B is punished for her sins trope I was left almost hating Sam more for her behavior. We see Sam acknowledging what her group does in certain instances is wrong or questioning it, yet she does it all anyways. It annoyed me endlessly to follow such a spineless girl. I was apathetic to her impending doom.
Everything started to pick up, however, when Sam started reliving the days. That's when we truly got a look at Sam as a person rather than a one dimensional plot device. The strength here was in the development of the characters. With each day you learn more not only about Sam, but about all those around her. You get to see these different sides of people that Sam either purposely ignored or didn't see before. It's like an episode in a cartoon where we follow a secondary character and see what they do all day.
Sam is a catalyst for a lot of things. But what's really interesting to note is that she doesn't change that much. Which is the most believable part. You see her evolve in her perception of people, sure, however there is not complete turnaround for her. Oliver makes her more sympathetic, yet, manages to keep the integrity of her character. Sam learns a lot, but in the end she is still that weak-willed, judgemental girl.
I'm still not sure I like the ending. On the one hand it is literally spelled out from the beginning what will happen. On the other, once I read how it unfolded I don't think it was totally necessary for her to die. And the reason all of this was happening at all or to her specifically was never touched on. It meant we didn't get bogged down with science or magic mumbo jumbo or a search for answers just to fill more pages, but it did mean that the ending in my opinion fell kind of flat. Going along with what I think is the author's motivations, it makes sense. I just needed a bit more story to explain it.
Bottomline, Oliver was not telling a story of redemption. She was telling a story of one girl who is forced to, for once in her life, do the right thing.