Before I Fall in Around the Year in 52 Books

Mar 17, 2017 Lauren rated it did not like it

I am just not a fan of Lauren Oliver's books. I REALLY try but I can't seem to like them. I think partly because I don't like her characters. I think this author I should break up with. ...more

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Dec 01, 2010 Maggie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, general-fiction, fantasy, chick-lit, coming-of-age, usa

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sam, a popular senior in high school, spends a day cutting class, giggling with her gang of friends, bullying others, gossiping, ignoring Kent, the weird boy who likes her, worrying about her agreement to have sex with her boyfriend Rob, going for a party and finally dying in a car crash. She then re-lives the day six more times. On the second day she is confused, on the third she tries to mend things but fails, on the fourth she is angry and reckless, and on the fifth she gets to talk to Juliet Sam, a popular senior in high school, spends a day cutting class, giggling with her gang of friends, bullying others, gossiping, ignoring Kent, the weird boy who likes her, worrying about her agreement to have sex with her boyfriend Rob, going for a party and finally dying in a car crash. She then re-lives the day six more times. On the second day she is confused, on the third she tries to mend things but fails, on the fourth she is angry and reckless, and on the fifth she gets to talk to Juliet Sykes, a girl driven to suicide after being bullied for years by Sam's gang, and whose death is intertwined with Sam's. On the sixth, Sam repairs everything, but Juliet still dies. Finally, on the seventh, Sam lives out a bittersweet day before pushing Juliet away when Juliet flings herself onto the road, hence dying in Juliet's place.

This book irritated me because it was so predictable. A bitch has to repeat the same day several times - you just know she is going to recognise her faults, realise that popularity means nothing, leave the popular jock for the thoughtful outcast, basically turn from mean girl to nice girl, and she does.

I give credit only for the seventh day. After a near perfect sixth day, I didn't expect an additional day. But even the seventh day was predictable, because when it started, I knew Sam would die. Letting Sam die would be the perfect way to make Sam heroic, so Sam died. But the problem is that sad endings need to have a meaning if they are to have any depth, and Sam's death was meaningless. It erased all she had done on the sixth day to right her wrongs, so that while Sam became a better person, her friends, who lived, didn't. And it could have been easily prevented, if Sam had held on to Juliet a little tighter, or if Sam had had the guts to set up a confrontation between Lindsay and Juliet. The ending felt like a ploy to give the book imaginary depth, and it failed.

The biggest problem is that although Sam does get better, she gets better for the wrong reasons. She breaks up with Rob because he isn't good to her. She gets together with Kent because he is nice to her. She loves her friends despite all their faults because otherwise she would have no friends. She sacrifices her life for Juliet's because it is the only way to get out of the cycle of repeating the same day over and over. She spends more time with her little sister Izzy and becomes nicer to her friends and schoolmates, but never considers the impact her death will have on all these people. In the end, I felt like Lauren Oliver was trying to trick us into honouring a shallow girl. The cliched writing style didn't help either. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. ...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Nathalie rated it liked it

Shelves: read-more-than-a-decade-ago

A teen novel, perfect for spending a few hours in the blazing hot sun of Spain, resting by the swimming pool still dripping from occasionaly jumping in the cool water.

When we were getting ready to go to Spain, by car no less, I was searching frantically through my vast home library for a few books I could tag along.
I wasn't going to take the risk of using my e-reader in that little place of sunshine, since last year it killed my previous e-reader. It was brought along, but mostly to spend the ho ...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Andrea rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2011, e-books

I didn't really like the main character or the story of this book. There were parts that made me think but a lot of it was stupid and it had too many pop culture references. I think seven days was too much for this story, and it would have been better if it was only three or four. I think the first (second?) day was kind of a waste and she should have been able to do better sooner. I also don't like how the event at the end happened in front of a lot of people. It would have been better if no on ...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Deyara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, death-and-dying, living

I found it hard to get into, the beginning is very high school and teen-speak, which was a little off-putting, but I quickly got sucked into Sams story, and wanted to see how her choices affected her "life". Didnt love the ending, though it was the best of the options we were given. Not as sad as I had expected, but still made me think. ...more

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