What would you do if you had to relive the day the you died? What would you change?
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a teenage fiction novel that tells the story of Sam Kingston, an 18 year old car accident victim, who is about to re-live her last day on earth.
I must admit, I looked around at some other reviews of Before I Fall before I started reading the book and was expecting to be blown away. And I was. Lauren Oliver has done a great job in avoiding Before I Fall becoming too repetitive, despite Sam reliving the same day seven times over. Each day is delivered in a fresh new way the stops the book becoming stale.
I was also very impressed with the characterisation. At first, the reader is not meant to like Sam, and I didn't. She's one of the most popular girls at her school, and as a consequence she's also one of the nastiest which makes her quite unlikeable. Sam does begin to grow on you though, as she learns of the mistakes she's made and grows through her experiences. Lauren Oliver has done a fantastic job in developing her characters and Sam never once comes off as one dimensional.
While I really enjoyed the book, I can't say I liked the ending. It's one of those books that stays with you once you've finished it and the more I think about the ending, the more I feel like it didn't gel with the rest of the novel. I wont spoil it for you though, and please let me know what your thoughts were of the ending!
All in all, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a fantastic novel show more that grips the reader. It's an interesting premise that is extremely well constructed. I would definitely recommend that you give this book a go and I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars. show less
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a teenage fiction novel that tells the story of Sam Kingston, an 18 year old car accident victim, who is about to re-live her last day on earth.
I must admit, I looked around at some other reviews of Before I Fall before I started reading the book and was expecting to be blown away. And I was. Lauren Oliver has done a great job in avoiding Before I Fall becoming too repetitive, despite Sam reliving the same day seven times over. Each day is delivered in a fresh new way the stops the book becoming stale.
I was also very impressed with the characterisation. At first, the reader is not meant to like Sam, and I didn't. She's one of the most popular girls at her school, and as a consequence she's also one of the nastiest which makes her quite unlikeable. Sam does begin to grow on you though, as she learns of the mistakes she's made and grows through her experiences. Lauren Oliver has done a fantastic job in developing her characters and Sam never once comes off as one dimensional.
While I really enjoyed the book, I can't say I liked the ending. It's one of those books that stays with you once you've finished it and the more I think about the ending, the more I feel like it didn't gel with the rest of the novel. I wont spoil it for you though, and please let me know what your thoughts were of the ending!
All in all, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a fantastic novel show more that grips the reader. It's an interesting premise that is extremely well constructed. I would definitely recommend that you give this book a go and I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars. show less