Author: Lauren Oliver
Pages: 496
Genre: fiction, romance
Ratings: 4/5 stars
Awards: there are too many to list...check out this link for the awards' list and a movie trailer: http://laurenoliverbooks.com/before_i_fall.php
This book is a romance novel because firstly, this book takes place on Valentine’s Day, or as Samantha calls it, Cupid’s Day. This is also a romance novel because Samantha falls in love with the most unexpected person, Kent. The setting of this story is Thomas Jefferson High School in Connecticut. If this wasn’t set at this high school, this would’ve completely affected the resolution of this story. Samantha would’ve never have met Juliet, therefore not being able to save her. The protagonist in my book is Samantha. Samantha lived a perfect life and she had it all. She was a part of the popular group at school and had the perfect boyfriend. But obviously, none of that mattered when she was killed in a car crash. The main conflict that she faces is Samantha is stuck living the day she dies over and over. Kent is another important character besides Sam. Kent is very important because Kent falls in love with Samantha and most likely would’ve been her boyfriend if the days didn’t start over. The plot of this book is very unusual since the days start over, but the book begins with Samantha going to high school on Cupid’s day and is excited to spend the day with Robert. Then, in the rising action, Sam gets killed in a car crash and wakes up on the same day that she died. At first, she doesn’t believe that she is reliving the day that she died, she is in denial. She thinks that maybe yesterday was just a dream. The next day's, Samantha is apathetic and does reckless things, like stealing her mom’s credit card. Then Samantha tries to be a more respectful and kind person, thinking that this is what she needs to do to escape this repeating day. But one night, Samantha finds out that Juliet killed herself. So after this night, Samantha tries to prevent this from happening, in hopes that if she does this that she will be saved too. Suddenly, in the climax, everything clicks, Samantha knows that her fate has been sealed, the point of her repeating the day of her death is so she can help someone else’s life. Samantha realizes she must save Juliet. In the falling action Samantha does everything to save Juliet and make everything right. The story is finally resolved by Sam saving Juliet by pushing her out of the way of a car.
The theme of this book is to be nice to everyone because you never know what someone is going through. I chose this as the theme, because this is an ongoing message the author tries to convey. For example, Samantha and her friends were always very mean to Juliet. By them doing this, this made Juliet feel so alone, while things were also bad at home. So because of this, Juliet ended up killing herself. Another example, is that the girls have also always been mean to Anna Cartullo, they always call her names and spread rumors about her. They didn’t realize how upset it made her feel.
One thing I liked about the book is the way the author created Kent. She created Kent to as this weird, dorky guy. But the author reveals his true personality and then Samantha begins to fall for him. This ties is with the importance of the theme of this book, being nice to everyone. But the one thing I did not like was the ending. Only because I just wanted it to end with by her saving Juliet, she would wake up from a coma in a hospital. But it just ended with her officially dying to save Juliet. Despite my opinion, this shows perfectly how life really is- people can’t live forever and we don’t always get the ending we want. People who enjoy romance novels or books that make you think about life would love this book because it had an adorable love story and will make you think about what really happens in the afterlife.
Contributed by Gabby Levine
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