Before I Fall Book Review

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a truly fantastic book. The genre is iffy- it can fit anywhere from humor, inspirational, romance, to young adult. It offers insight on some of life's most unnoticed aspects, shows how modern teenagers can become so shallow, and offers a variety of things to think about.
In this book, the character that we follow is Samantha Kingston, one of the most popular girls in her school of Thomas Jefferson High. She has the "best" boyfriend anyone could ask for, the best parking spot in the school, she's rich, and has the most amazing of friends. But why is it that the night of one of the biggest parties, a person from the very school that Sam is Queen at gives her own life because of this Royal Pain.
Juliet Skyes is a soft- spoken girl that has a very hard family life and is tormented by Sam and her friends day by day. She's the "freak" of the school, the one that everyone avoids in the hallways. And this is all because Sam and her crew make her out to be this way. So Juliet thinks that the only way to get out of this is to kill herself.
Kent McFuller was Sam's best friend when they were young kids, when Sam was the biggest loser in school. Kent saved her, was her friend, helped her regain her life. And even though he was a loser, too, she didn't care. And because they got so close, he fell in love with her.
Kent throws a party at his house on Valentines Day and invites Sam and all her friends- pretty much everyone at the entire school, too. They make it to the party and start going their own ways. But to their surprise, Juliet Skyes shows up and confronts Sam. Everyone is astonished. But when Sam and her friends make fun of Juliet to show that they're still the top dogs, she runs out. But the girls shake it off. Except for Sam. She can't help but feel off.
Then the fateful night. Sam is in the car with the girls driving home (with a not-so-sober friend driving) and you guessed it: they get in an accident. But in this accident, Sam dies.
She wakes up the next morning, though. And not only does she wake up, she wakes up on Valentines Day. Again. She soon figures out that she keeps reliving the same day of her death until she can make it right. She has to sacrifice her own life to save another's to make up for her days of being so mean to all the wrong people.
She relives her last day seven times, and throughout it, she gains insight and a new perspective for the world. She sees people like she's never seen them before. Some of them, she realizes, are not all that they were made out to be while some were never given the credit they deserved. This book is the process of her changing from this stuck-up, shallow high school girl into a young woman who finds out more about true life in one day (replayed 7 times) than most people do in their entire life. And it's one of the best journeys I've been on in a book. The way she starts to think about life made me think, and it was really interesting, especially when I realized how much of the world I was missing out on, too. This book really helps you get back to true, pure life.
Overall, this was a truly fantastic book. I saw very, very few flaws, if any. This book was well written with clear themes, and themes that were hidden just enough to make you think and keep you interested. This book was a brilliant mixture of life lessons, humor, and even romance. It was a perfectly balanced book with a delicious after taste. This is one of those books that makes me remember the beauty of writing truly fantastic stories compared to a lot of the crap floating around now.
I would recommend this book to anyone in a heartbeat. I know that everyone will enjoy it! It was a brilliant read. A++