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Feb 08, 2012

Lora rated it:

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Tessa's been battling leukemia since the age of twelve. But now, when Tessa is sixteen, the doctors have told her that further treatment is futile and that there isn't much more they can do.
Realizing that she'll not be able to do all of the things that normal girls get to, she makes a list of ten things she wants to do before she dies. This list includes everything from sex to driving her father's car without a licence. And even as the novel rushes towar More...

6 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2012

Ari rated it:

This review can be found at ReadingAfterMidnight.com

I don't really know what to say about this book. I didn't like it that much, but I didn't hate it either..

The bad:

For the most part of the story I didn't really care about Tessa, about her illness and her strange wishes (as I never got attached to her). I understand the desire to have a boyfriend, to be kissed and have sex, probably at her age this would be an important part of her life, but the More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2007

Lacey rated it:

I started this book wondering, "Why am I reading this?" and I ended it wondering, "Why did I read this?" But my two reasons for thinking these things were very different.

In the beginning, I felt like this book would be a repetition of "Skinny," a massive disappointment in which the author was enamored with the idea of a sick, frail, floundering heroine. The heroine in this book started out looking more or less the same: "I'm sick, I'm gonna die, th More...

6 comments like (19 people liked it)

May 23, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

This book about broke my heart. It's not as if I didn't know how it would end - the title says it all, but I didn't expect to be touched by the story to such a degree.

The premise of Before I Die is quite simple - Tessa is 16 and dying of leukemia. She knows that she has only a few months to live and struggles to come to terms with her fate. Trying to make the best of the time she has left, Tessa comes up with a list of things she would like to experience before she dies. Some items o More...

4 comments like (29 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Courtney rated it:

I didn't think this book would be as hard to read as it was. But it was a good type of hard, like reading "The Book Theif." To read about the last year of this young girl's life was emotional - worth the ride. I especially loved the kindness of Adam.
P.S. Be careful where you read this book, you are going to cry!!

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2008

Ashley rated it:

We know three pages into “Before I Die” that sixteen-year-old Tessa won’t survive her leukemia--and that there’s plenty she still wants from life. So she makes a list and vows to do everything on it before she dies.

Like most teenagers, Tessa is at odds with her parents and angsty about how life’s shortchanged her. At first her ranting and left-field demands seem too adolescent. Isn’t the looming presence of death supposed to mature her beyond her years?

But that’s precisely More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

May 27, 2008

Kirsty rated it:

I read this in a day - I couldn't put it down. The story is told from the viewpoint of a 16 year old girl, Tessa, who has terminal leukemia. She has months to live and has made a list of things she wants to do before she dies.

The book is beautifully written, and brings about a number of emotions. The characters are well established (Tessa's father particularly) and this makes the story realistic and believable. It's interesting to learn about the relationships between the characters More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com

I devoured this book in two days. It called to me. Beckoned me across the room and begged me to pick it up and finish what I'd started. If I hadn't needed to eat and sleep, I'd have finished it in mere hours. It was that vital to keep going.

Tessa Scott keeps going, too. She keeps writing on the wall and adding to the list of things she wants to do before she dies. Tess's life is being driven from her by leukemia before she More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2008

Boof rated it:

I have just finnished this book and I write this review through tears. In the day it took me to read I have laughed, cried, felt uplifted and humbled.

This is the story of 16 year old Tessa who is dying of terminal cancer. In her last months she makes a list of 10 things she wants to do before she dies (this includes falling in love and saying yes to everything for one whole day). Tessa goes through a range of emotions including anger (why her?) but the overriding feeling I got from More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2007

Mr.Nourok rated it:

If you need a reminder of all that's important in this world, then you should read this novel. Even if you don't think so. The title says it all. Narrated by a Tessa, a girl who is dying of cancer, Before I Die gives a realistic portrait of what she wants to accomplish in the little time left to her.

Now please don't think I'm sexist when I say this, but 99% of the women I know make lists. It's something I admire about them. Lists—it's a girl thing.

Tessa, makes lists. Lis More...

3 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 18, 2007

Michael rated it:

This one snuck up on me. I thought that I was reading just a sweet inspirational tale about a dying girl, and the next thing I know I'm sobbing in a Chinese restaurant on 8th Avenue.
The review that inspired me to pick this one up, said that the only thing wrong with this book was that the publisher decided to market it as "young-adult", so it may never get the readership it deserves.
It was reminiscent of Nicholas Sparks', A Walk to Remember, but with much more of an edge. More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2010

H.I. rated it:

This is just so horrible!

As in painful. I think I'm turning into a masochist. I can't keep away from heart-breaking books.

It's hard to read something about death, so damned hard. It made me think: if I was Tessa, how would have I felt?

Imagine this: four years of fight against a disease, with a probability that you're going to die at the end.

You're too young, only sixteen, but your life is slipping away from your fingertips. You're dying. Your drea More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Celine rated it:

Before I die by Jenny Dowham, makes you realise how fragile everything we take for granted is. Getting up in the morning, spending the day knowing you still have tomorrow and looking forward to things in the future...

Tessa Scott has a list. She has a list of ten things to do before she dies.

When Tessa was 12, she was diagnosed with cancer. Now at the age of 16 she wants to live through all the things she wants to do before she dies.

Number 1: Sex
While I w More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Tânia rated it:

Tessa is only 16, and dying of leukemia, but despite the death sentence, she’s determined to make the most of the time she has left to live by accomplishing the list of things she wants do do before she dies. She writes and keeps adding them on the wall of her bedroom. The list includes: having sex, taking drugs, saying yes to everything during a whole day, committing a crime, being famous and so on. Her first sex experience happens with a stranger and it’s so bad she feels terrible. What she r More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Michael rated it:

Before I Die was an unusual read in that right from the start you know what the outcome will be at the end with the main character dieing. Despite this the book was far from depressing, sure there are bits of it were it gets very sad that not even a being from another planet would not cry uncontrollably but for the most part i found it uplifting. The story goes of sixteen year old Tessa who has Leukemia and has only months to live. Tessa makes a list of things she wants to do before she leaves t More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2010

Amanda rated it:

I knew by reading the title that, obviously, someone was going to die. I guess I thought it would have been like all the other books where the author magically flicks their wrist and it's over.

This is a story about a life. A beautiful life that has been taken by leukemia. Jenny Downham does a fabulous job taking us through Tessa's 'list' of things she wants to do before she dies. Throughout the book more things get added to the original list, some things get changed or removed. More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2009

Lesleigh rated it:

I decided to venture out of my comfort zone by reading the British novel, Before I Die by Jenny Downham. This book features a sixteen-year-old girl named Tessa, who is facing terminal illness due to cancer. With a few months of life left, her time in the world is very limited. Knowing this, she comes up with an interesting list of things to do before she dies.

The story takes place all around a small town in Great Britain. The way Tessa sees her situation, she has two choices: “stay w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Nicola rated it:

This is a morbid little story. Beautiful, but morbid. I can't help thinking that the author demands instant literary kudos simply by dealing with the uncomfortable subject of teenage death. Unfortunately, I don't think the novel quite deserves that kudos. It provides no great profundity and, though poignant, I can't help but think it compares poorly to the 2003 movie, My Life Without Me.

For a start, the central character, Tessa is hard to like. There's a prickly sullenness about her More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2008

Diane rated it:

Jenny Downham is a very good writer who hasn't quite found the right story to tell.

This one is an awful idea; the wishes of a dying teen. I want to take Downham gently by the hand and show her the maggnificent Nothing Sacred, a dazzling comedy about a girl who pretends to be dying of cancer and is embraced by new York in an orgy of sentimentality. Eventually she has to fess up, but not until she'd had a lot of free lunches.

Other reviewers loved the idea of a dying g More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 21, 2008

Mayla rated it:

This book is one of the most touching and honest books i have ever read. It is a story told by a teenage girl - 15 years old Tessa. She was diagnosed with cancer and after about 4 years, she finally is let go by life. This book talks about her dreams and her long list that makes up the things that she wants to do before she dies. She is a very brave teenage girl who embraces the true meaning of life and finds love. She brings her parents back together, bonds with her brother, and really gets to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 07, 2008

Stevie rated it:

When I picked up this book I thought this would be another sentimental story about a dying girl wanting to fall in love and watch a beautiful sunset and be a complete saint before she dies. Not being afraid, never questioning or beng angry at the hand life had dealt her. Similar too A walk to remember...what I found was a strong willed, stubbourn, sometimes reckless and daring young woman who truly does want to live life to fullest while she has it. Experiencing the good (falling in love with a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 02, 2008

Abby rated it:

Not a book for those who prefer happy endings. A teenage girl is dying from leukemia and she's got a list of everything she wants to do before she dies. Cheesy concept, right? Hasn't this been the premise of a zillion after-school specials? The writing saves it from becoming maudlin, however -- the stark urgency of the narrator's voice as she contemplates what little time she has left and what's she's going to make of it. Her emotions are real and uncontained-- anger, fear, disgust, boredom, joy More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 21, 2007

Abby rated it:

Tessa has leukemia. Tessa is going to die. But before she dies, Tessa has a few things she wants to do. She wants to have sex. She wants to do drugs. She wants to go one whole day saying "yes" to anything anyone asks her. In this heartbreaking novel, Tessa will find love. She will witness her family breaking apart and coming together. Although Tessa's come to terms with the fact that she is dying, she's not ready to die yet. She has plenty of living to do before she leaves. And her jou More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 07, 2007

Carrie rated it:

I've been slowly reading this for the past week and half, not because it was slow, or bad, but because I knew the ending was inevitable, and wanted to prolong Tessa's life as long as possible. I finally finished it today in a wash of tears.

The book tells the story of the final months of Tessa's life. She is a British teen who has spent the past 4 years of her life fighting leukemia, and before the books begins already knows that there is nothing more they can do for her. She decides More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2009

Anna rated it:

Once I got to about chapter 36, I started crying.

Tessa is a strong girl, she really is. She has leukemia, but she doesn't let that get to her. Most teenagers with cancer, or anyone with cancer, tend to be strong or tend to be really emotional. Tessa... she makes a list of things she wants to do before she dies. She writes things on her wall.

The book begins with her writing on her wall that before she dies she wants to have sex with a boy.

She has a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2008

Daniele rated it:

be prepared to cry, bawl, and then cry some more. but, if your anything like me, the tears won't all be sad. i mostly cried because the truth was so beautifully exposed, raw, and honest in this story of a young woman's struggle against cancer and her acceptance of life being what it is: life. Once she finally realizes all the littlest, most precious moments are what make life so beautiful she has such little time to appreciate them all. When I was finished with the book I remember looking th More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

Linda rated it:

We all will face the inevitability of death, it is our destiny. This book explores what it is like to gradually die while living. Diagnosed with leukemia at 12, Tessa lived with the certainty that her life would wind down and halt long before she had the chance to fully experience the normal transitions of a teen aged child.

The book begins at the final months of Tessa's life when she writes a list of things she wants to experience before she dies. Sex, drugs, dancing and driving are More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Debbie rated it:

Let me wipe my tears away before I get too far into this. Yes, I broke down at the end of the book. You know Tessa is not going to live and yet Downham has sucked you so far into Tessa’s life that you feel as if you know her and would mourn her passing as well. I liked that this book sounds as if it really were written from the point of view of a teen ager. The things she wants to do before she dies are things like use drugs, have sex, break the law, etc. All things I think a typical teenag More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2009

Rebecca rated it:

Tessa has cancer. That scary c-word that equals hospitals, unwanted sympathy and the fear of death. And that’s exactly what’s in store for Tessa.

But Tess is only sixteen, and there are certain things she wants to experience before she dies. A list of the top ten is formed: Sex. Drugs. Driving a Car. Fame… Love. With her father so determined to find a cure for his undeniably terminally ill daughter, he is not prepared to help her meet her dying list. Best friend and wild child Zoey st More...

0 comments like

Mar 08, 2009

Adele rated it:

I have been crying solidly for the past thirty minutes, dampening my pillow as I read the end of this book. I didn't like Tessa and I hated myself for feeling that way. It took me most of the book to realise that I did care about her though and that her fast approaching death felt intensely real. I actually caught sobs in my throat, this piece of writing is that emotive (and I can be an unashamed brick wall at times.) There is no sentimentiality here, lacking that cringe factor that most TV writ More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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