While I like ambiguous endings and think they can be really effective, with this one I was disappointed there weren’t more answers. Often scenes are skimmed over in books where there is a more fast pace, but in Before I Fall Oliver took the time to paint scenes and make them really pop. I did like how scenes are really fleshed out. The concept of repeating the day over is so interesting and I think the author did write that aspect of the book well. There were so many threads and characters, Oliver did a great job of weaving them together, and showing how Sam doing a different thing on the next iteration of the day impacted on something that happened to another character. The friendship between Sam and her friends was portrayed especially well. Even characters who featured only a small amount felt like real people not just anonymous faces. Maybe if her character had done a complete arc from popular mean girl to selfless good girl in seven days I would have thought she changed too quickly or would have found it too cliché.Īll of the characters were painted really vividly, even if I didn’t like all of them. And even in the last section of the book, although she didn’t seem quite as selfish, I didn’t get the feeling she was doing the ‘good’ things totally selflessly. When she realised she was living the same day over and decided to do something good it wasn’t because she wanted to help the other person, it was because she thought it might be her ticket out of this endless loop. However, for most of the book she was still annoying. At first I found that annoying, but then I realised she couldn’t be a nice person at the start, could she? How could there be a redemption arc (which is what Oliver seemed to be going for) if Sam was a good person from the start? So I accepted that I didn’t like her character, thinking that she would grow on me as she developed.

The main character, Sam, was really irritating. There were times when I hated, times when I loved it, times it made me sad, times I was frustrated by it. I went through so many different emotions as I read it. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.Īfter I finished reading this book I really had no idea how I would approach writing a review for it. However, she still wakes up the next morning. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night. Publishing Info: Kindle edition (first published 2010)įor popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12-”Cupid Day”-should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver