Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Samantha Kingston has worked her way up the popularity ladder; now a senior, she and her three best friends rule their school. On Cupid Day, Sam expects to receive Valentine roses, to party with her friends, and to finally (maybe) have sex with her equally popular boyfriend. The last thing she expects is that she will die, but in the final moments of her life, as she hears "a horrible, screeching sound—metal on metal, glass shattering, a car folding in two," everything turns to nothing. Only, it is not the end for Sam. She wakes up to start the same day over again, and again; in fact, she relives it seven times. At first, being dead has its advantages, as she realizes that nothing worse can happen to her. She first conducts herself with reckless abandon, seducing her math teacher and smoking marijuana. It is difficult to feel pity for Sam; she is snobbish, obnoxious, a cheater, and just plain mean.





Right away, I have to say that this is one of my favorite young adult novels that I have read in the past 5 months. It is heartbreaking, frustrating, and incredibly well written. I have recommended this book even before I finished it. First of all, it is a fairly large book at almost 500 pages but there are really only 9 chapters. Each chapter is Samantha reliving the day she died and trying to change the outcome. At first, she is in denial and thinks the accident was all a dream and then begins to try and save herself. As each day starts over, she has a new goal and soon enough is not thinking about saving herself but somebody else. She may seem cruel and mean in the beginning but she changes so completely by the end that it is heartbreaking what she ends up having to go through. I was upset when the book was over because I was so engrossed with Samantha's efforts to save one girl and realize her feelings for a boy who has liked her for years. I feel like the book goes through the 5 stages of death in a way and that was probably what the author was secretly trying to accomplish. This is at the top of my list of books to recommend to anyone willing to take the time to read this bigger than average young adult novel.