Before I Fall

A Mean Girls Groundhog day for Sam Kingston where she relives the last day of her life for a whole week.

The beginning was so irritatingly Mean Girls, I almost abandoned it. But with encouragement from my Tumblr followers, I finished, and I will admit that I am glad I finished.

What I Liked:

With each day she grew up a little bit, obviously. I liked the Samantha she became, the Samantha that didn’t care what people thought and finally stood up for her best interests. 

Slowly falling in love with Kent. It reminds me of John Green’s “I fell in love the same way I fall asleep. Slowly at first, then all at once.” It felt like that, and having experience in the falling in love department, I can honestly say that that is how it feels.

Despite the irritating metaphors and similes, I liked Sam’s attitude. Yes, she was a bitch, it’s not always super easy changing one’s ways, and though it shouldn't take a death-experience (nonetheless near-death) to have one decide they need to be nice, at least it happened before she died.

What I Didn’t Like:

It kept reading as though some of the other characters knew what was happening. Like saying you’ve been acting strange, or the fact that on the last day Sam somehow miraculously knew that the seventh day would be her last. Anyone notice that? She said on her way to Kent’s party that it would be her last. How does she know? I doubt she meant that even if she comes back she won’t go to the party anymore. She tried that, and besides that if she wanted to be around Kent, his party would be the best place to be. So… yeah, little plothole there, pretty irritating.

Her trying so desperately to save Juliet (Hate that name, for the record but luckily I see no R&J references so… I guess we’re okay this time). I understand apologizing and doing what you can, but honestly (SPOILER) I don’t think that killing off Sam was the best thing to teach. Do what you can, but after a while, the responsibility does not fall on Sam anymore. Sensitive topic, so I’ll leave it at that.

(SPOILER) The teacher/Sam action was ridiculously creepy. I understand why it was necessary, but still it was creepy. Also, another plothole with that scenario, on the day after that whole creepy action happened, he was super creepy with her, more than he was on the other days, as though he remembered what they almost did, or it implies they’ve done it before. Why would he be more creepy with her that day even without her flirting when he hadn’t been the other days when she was flirting? Hmmmm….

Overall, despite some holes, and despite the horrid Mean Girls quality, I enjoyed the story and what Lauren Oliver had to say about what it means to be a good person and the overall topic of dying.

3/5