Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Jill

I've put off writing this review for awhile just because I didn't know if I could do the book justice.  I've decided to just let the review come from my heart and leave it at that.  This book is amazing and painful, hopeful and sad all rolled into one.  When I started the story I hated Sam and her friends.  And I'm not exaggerating when I say hate.  They are the typical mean girls.  This was hard for me because, being a 7th grade teacher, I see things like this starting.  And being the mother of an 11 year old girl - my heart hurt thinking she might encounter girls like these.  When I got done with chapter one I saw no way that Sam could be anything but what I saw of her in that first chapter.  But then, like the summary said, she gets a second chance.  Throughout this second chance I wanted to shake her.  She just couldn't get it! Everything was so self-centered! But as the story goes on, Sam learns.  Much of what she had going on inside her was able to come out into more of the person she should be. By the end, I didn't hate her anymore - not even a little.

Before I Fall is a difficult book.  As an adult I had a hard time reading it.  I was starting the last chapter at school, and I had to stop because I was crying by the second paragraph into it.  This book hit my at my core.  I'm not a high schooler living in the midst of that like the characters were.  But I see these characters in real life walk the halls of my school.  Lauren Oliver made them extremely real.  Maybe just a little too real at times. I honestly believe that this is a book many girls should read because it might help them take a good hard look at themselves and how they are treating those around them. My fear is - that even after reading it, they wouldn't see themselves in it. I worry the whole point of the story might be lost.  I know it wasn't lost on me, and I walked away from the story changed. 

Final thought: A hard look at how we treat each other and why.
Best stick-with-you image: the whole book
Best for ages: 16+

Word of warning to parents: this is a very mature book in content, language and situations.