Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver
HarperTeen
March 2010
470 pgs.
Summary
After she dies in a car crash, teenage Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.
My Thoughts
On the surface, you know what this book is about. Girl dies, girl comes back, girl tries to redeem herself. Repeat. 7 times. But, really that's not it. At first, Sam does try to prevent her death from happening again. I mean, who wouldn't? But, that's not the right answer for her. So she decides to spend her days trying to find the right answer. I loved many things about this book. In Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver writes some beautiful sentences that paint gorgeous mind pictures. She tells a great story, too!
In the beginning though, I disliked Samantha. Intensely. "There's always going to be a person laughing and somebody getting laughed at." WHAT? But I kept reading because I know redemption has to be coming, right? And there's more beautiful writing..."little wisps rising like phantoms in the air" to describe cigarette smoke. Describing sunshine as "the sun has just spilled itself over...and is too lazy to clean itself up."
But then there's Rob. Sam's boyfriend. He's an obvious idiot and you wonder why she likes him so much. Then we find out. We take a look at all of Sam's friends. And the people who should be her friends. And we learn so much about each one.
This is one of few books that uses all 480 pages to it's advantage. I thought it about it even when I was done reading. I'm still trying to decide who to hand it to next. I want it to be someone who has the time to read and discuss it with me! I will buy this one for the library - 4 copies.
Caveat: There is a lot of drinking in this book which somehow disturbed me more than the smoking and sex...