Before I Fall

Title: Before I Fall
Author: Lauren Oliver
Pages: 470
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: March 2, 2010


Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is an amazing debut! High School senior Samantha Kingston is one of the most popular girls in school. She and her best friends, Lindsey, Elody, and Ally are living a life full of fun and privilege afforded them because of their popular status. Then on February 12, Samantha lives her last day.

What follows are 6 more chances for Samantha (Sam) to live the same day over again. These next 6 days are opportunities for her to change the decisions she makes. But more so Sam ironically learns about who she is and what truly matters in life.

What I loved about this book was how insightful it ended up being and how introspective the main character was. Even though Sam comes off as superficial, the more we learn about her the more we realize that the real her she's pushed away may be more than the popular girl we meet at the beginning of the book. The growth Sam makes through the course of the novel is inspiring but also heart breaking at the same time, knowing what has led her to this. The author did a great job of making Sam a fully fleshed out character as we simultaneously learn more about her past and she learns more about herself.

Another reason this book was so wonderful is because any girl out there could easily become Sam. She wasn't a bad person, but the need to belong led her to make bad decisions that ultimately affected everything else in her life. But in learning more about the main characters, every teenager can probably relate in some way whether it's to any of the popular girls, the girl who was picked on, or the mere friend who secretly vied after their popular friend. I loved the way the author added more information on each of the 6 days that showed us more about what exactly happened to lead to Sam's death and other events throughout the day. She was also able to describe the same day repeatedly while continuing to add to the plot and have Sam gain more insight. The personal growth in Sam was discernible from one day to the next.

There are some very important messages in this book for not just teens but all people. I think one of the things that might make teens relate to this book is how real the author described high school/teen life. She didn't shy away from including parties and sex talk, but she also didn't overdo it to try to shock either. She was very genuine in her depiction of these teenagers.

There are a couple quotes from the book I wanted to include. In this first one, Sam is reflecting on the fact that she has separated from her parents and she's realizing her feelings about this.

"I hate both of my parents right now: for sitting quietly in our house, while out in the darkness my heart was beating away all of the seconds of my life, ticking them off one by one until my time was up; for letting the thread between us stretch so far and so thin that the moment it was severed for good they didn't even feel it." (pg. 111, nook)

And in this quote, Sam is starting to see that people may not always be what you think.

"I shiver, thinking about how easy it is to be totally wrong about people -- to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it's the effect or vice versa." (pg. 225, nook)

If you enjoy young adult books or books and/or introspective characters, you will definitely enjoy this book.


This book meets the requirements for the 2010 Young Adult Challenge.