Before I Fall

{Before I Fall. Lauren Oliver. 2010.}

So, let’s try this again.

Scenario: Sam is a popular senior at Thomas Jefferson High, enjoying her favorite day of the year, Cupid Day, when she dies. She wakes up the next morning, and lives the day all over.

Pros:

  • Kent. He and Sam made it onto last year’s Most Swoonworthy YA Couples of All Time comments over at Forever YA, and he reminds me of Mr. Cardigan Librarian, when I met him back in junior year Latin (high praise indeed). I expected the evolution of their relationship to be more central to the story, but I’m actually glad it wasn’t.
  • the lack of rules to Samantha’s post-death adventures. Seriously. There’s no genie or angel or deity who comes on the crash scene and breaks it down for Sam, and that’s a good thing. In fact, I’d have preferred that the flap stayed similarly vague — then I wouldn’t have even known about the seven day thing.
  • Sam’s path to understanding and dealing with her situation feels real, which is pretty impressive when you consider the scenario. The early attempts to fit in, the rebellion, and her eventual decisions.
  • I’d heard Mean Girls and Groundhog Day comparisons — there’s actually an in-text allusion to the latter — but it didn’t feel derivative.

Cons:

  • By the end I could almost love Lindsay, but it was a little too hard, and the book was a little too long to spend so many pages actively hating a character who was supposed to evoke not just rage but also grudging sympathy. In the end, I kind of came around, but it could be sloggy in passages. Lindsay’s henchgirls, Elody and Ally, alternately sweet and spiteful, were easier to love.
  • I thought some of Sam’s musings on popularity, especially before the accident, rang a little artificial. Like, she was thinking about it all too directly and philosophically. But ultimately, the reflections gain power as the story progresses, and so I’m not sure I’d take them out.

PS: And oh, look, Fox 2000 has optioned the rights to the book, so it can join the illustrious ranks of all the casting updates I so love to post.