Before I Fall by Lauren OliverMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a difficult book to review I don’t normally read young adult fiction, so had nothing to really compare it to. What I would say though is that Lauren Oliver’s writing style was very familiar to that of Jodi Picoult, very easy to read and kept you wanting to read more.
The story is set in high school America, four friends Sam, Lindsey, Elody and Ally are the “popular” girls, and are the main characters of the book. The story is being told by Sam Kingston a pretty girl with a trophy boyfriend, Rob. Lindsey is the ring-leader of the group, who taunts and ridicules others who are not “in style”, the other three girls follow suit. Sam knows what they do and say is wrong but she goes along with it anyway. They aren’t physical bullies but are malicious and cruel, the way that only teenage girls can be.
The story is told in seven chapters, each one representing the day Sam re-lives. It starts on Cupid Day, and Sam has to right some wrongs that she and her friends have made. At some parts of the book you just wanted to shout at Sam to tell her how she could fix it, but that is what was so good about the book and Oliver’s style of writing, it made it believable. It was hard to believe that the characters would grow through-out the book, but they did and you even start to like Sam, she went from being a spoilt teenager to a thoughtful person, realising her actions had repercussions.
When I first saw this book I thought it would be monotonous reading about the same day over and over again, but Oliver’s descriptive narrative made every day, the same day, just as interesting as the first. I thoughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading more of her books.
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