Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Title: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Published: March 2, 2012 by Harper
Pages: 470
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Reviewed by: Carey

What if you had only one day to live? 

What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life? 

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

 Instead, it turns out to be her last. 

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

***

I think the cover of this is just so cute! I love the model's eyes. Just thought I'd let you know that.

The thing about Before I Fall, at least in my opinion, is that it just drags on and on and on. Seven days of the same exact thing, knowing what will happen, just like Sam will. I found myself wanting to skip over paragraphs from time to time (of course I didn't, but that's beside the point.) I felt like seven days was way too long for this plot, even if Sam did make minor changes each day. The only thing that really kept me going was her growing love for Kent.

Okay, there's something that I have to get off of my chest: I am in love with Kent myself. His personality is so quirky and adorable and I love it. It reminds me of this kid I went to middle school with who went by KT, but his first name was Kent. KT was really quirky and sometimes adorable. But since I moved, I have no idea what he's like now. 

Most of the characters irritated me. Maybe it's just because I'm not popular, and I get irritated easily if people my age or are in high school drink and bully people (yes, even fictional characters, don't judge me).  But Lindsay and Rob irritated me the most. Lindsay was just a straight up bitch, honestly, and I'm glad that Juliet stood up for herself as the last thing she tried to do. Rob was really annoying and only wanted to get down Sam's pants the entire time. And it just makes me more happy that Sam finally realized that. Ally and Elody (what kind of name is Elody?) were alright. Elody amused me, though. At least for the most part. We didn't really see a lot of Ally, just beside the fact that she's insanely rich.

It's sort of funny, actually. When I was in eighth grade, I wrote a short story like this. Girl wakes up, she does everything wrong, gets into a car crash, and then she gets another chance (just one, not seven). I called it Deja Vu, and it won a contest and I got to meet and have lunch with David Lubar (Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie). That was quite an experience. 

For the most part, Before I Fall was a good book. The plot is a good idea, and I love that Sam realizes that she was doing everything wrong, even if she's dying in the process. If it didn't drag out so long and go on for the same day seven times, I feel like I would like it even better though. Three and a half stars.