Before I Fall in Around the Year in 52 Books

Aug 30, 2011 Harini rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, unhauled

I have to be honest, I started this book with high expectations and after 20 odd pages into the book, disappointment was filling me. I couldn’t understand why author chose to write a book from perceptive of a girl who was anything but shallow and contrived. I disliked Samantha Kingston and her three friends – Lindsay, Elody and Ally from the word go. The girls are spiteful, mean, shallow and according to Sam popular (and me infamous). They are the group of girls whom you immediately develop ill I have to be honest, I started this book with high expectations and after 20 odd pages into the book, disappointment was filling me. I couldn’t understand why author chose to write a book from perceptive of a girl who was anything but shallow and contrived. I disliked Samantha Kingston and her three friends – Lindsay, Elody and Ally from the word go. The girls are spiteful, mean, shallow and according to Sam popular (and me infamous). They are the group of girls whom you immediately develop ill feelings for. As I hated the main characters I found it difficult to get into the book.

Secondly, I couldn’t relate to the high school world that Lauren Oliver was painting. Schools in India work a bit differently… or at least mine did. Yeah, you have popular not so popular school outcasts. Yes, there are rumors spread about you, yes there is lot of meanness going on but there is always that invisible line that you don’t cross. You can have fun, sometimes even at the expense of others but the moment you realize that you have hurt someone’s feeling badly you have to apologize… no matter how popular you are. That was the unwritten rule in my high school. Anyways, I digress.

The reason I was persistent with the book was that the author’s writing style was brilliant and also the curiosity to know if the author could repeat the same day seven times yet not get repetitive. And to my pleasant surprise, the book was never repetitive, though Samantha Kingston keeps reliving the day of her death over and over again.

As the book progresses Sam discovers true meaning of life and changes. This is where the book picks up and then goes on to become an amazing book. All the annoyance, anger and frustration you feel towards the characters and the book in the first half slowly disappears and is replaced by hope and intrigue. As Sam digs deeper you get to know the characters better and even though you don’t love them, you don’t hate them either.

The characters in the book that come as breath of fresh air are Sam’s childhood friend Kent and her sister Izzy. Every moment that featured them was sweet and adorable. They are the only two characters in the book that I like.

This is a very good book if you can persist through the frustrating first half, which I would not give anything more than 0 stars.

It’s the second half of the book… especially the moments featuring Kent that are touching and deserve something close to 4 stars.
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