Student Review: Before I Fall (Oliver)

Title: before i fall
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: Science Fiction (Fiction, Death, Friendship, High School)
Pages: 304
Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5


In this book, the main character Sam Kingston is a senior that goes to Jefferson High School. She is very popular and has many friends, but also many enemies, including Juliet Sykes. Sam gets the best parking spots, the most roses on Cupid Day, and gets invited to the best parties. Cupid Day is the Friday before Valentine’s Day, or February 12th. Sam gets invited to the biggest party of the year on Cupid Day, and after a day of hanging out with her friends, they head to the party, with good friend but bad driver Lindsay driving. After a strange confrontation at the party with Juliet, the friends head home. They get into a huge car accident, and Sam believes that she has died for a few hours, and then, for some odd reason, she wakes up. But she wakes up at 6:50am, on February 12th.


I picked this book because I read the summary and it was very interesting, and this book sounded very suspenseful and mystical. The book also had a very intriguing cover, of a girl on the front, lying on her side, possibly dead. The book’s theme was ‘Don’t take your days for granted, because they are limited.’ The most interesting character to me in this book is Juliet Sykes. They don’t talk about her much in the beginning, but suddenly the author throws her into the book as the main reason for Sam repeating the same day 7 times. Juliet acts strangely and proves what people think about her wrong, and shows herself as a strong and determined character.


I really loved this book, it was filled with suspense, and it was always unpredictable. The author keeps you thinking and keeps you guessing, even at the very end. My absolute favorite part of the book was the ending, and how it ends sort of asking you a question, and definitely keeping you thinking. I would recommend this book to mostly teen girls who like a book that keeps you thinking. This is because the book is girly and is told from a girl’s point of view. This book reminded me of “Groundhog Day,” the movie, because they both are a story of repeating the same day over and over again.


Now I ask you this; If you had to relive the day of your own death over and over again, what would you do on those days, and how would you stop the loop?
--"Justin Bieber," 8th grade

Congrats to our guest blogger today, who is not the real Justin Bieber (sorry girls).  Just an FYI, I reviewed this book on the blog in May.  You can read the review here.  "Justin" did a much more in-depth review of the book!