Brittany Maresh

writer

Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall is a book to swallow whole, to devour quickly, and then to re-read more slowly. Honestly, I can’t believe this is (as I’m assured by multiple sources online) her “debut” novel. The writing itself is beautiful, and I didn’t once think the voice was faltering. Perhaps I’m too generous, but I was really lured in by the voice of the main character, Sam.
Far from perfect, Sam’s that girl you all know, and you all hate – pretty, popular, cruel, and unrepentant. Before I Fall is a shockingly vivid and insightful look at how she comes apart during the course of the book, finding layers underneath she didn’t know she was capable of having, while she relives a day that ends in her own death, seven times.

Sam isn’t the only compelling character in this story .
We meet Juliet, a social reject teetering on the edge. And her sister, a beautiful, interesting character waiting to be squished.

Izzy, who is Sam’s sister but more awkward and independent than any third grader has a right to be.

Kent, the world’s most dorky, adorable, and altogether heartbreakingly neglected good guy. He’s far too good for Sam, from page one, and even though I was dead set against liking his character, I couldn’t help it–I can see people I know in him, and people I don’t appreciate enough, day to day, too.

Lindsay rounds out the important cast by being the “bad” guy, the popular girl who helped forge Sam into what she is in the beginning: a mean girl.

The story itself is tightly written, a fast-paced story despite repeating the same day several times (to varying results). Each day takes us further into the picture, shows us more about the characters, and changes Sam, as well as our perception of the people she’s already cast judgment on.

I’m not sure it’s really my sort of book. I probably won’t hold on to it (if only because it’s so much easier to get people to read books if you give them to them). But it’ll stick with me, I think, at least for a while.

It’s not perfect, but it’s powerful.

Read this book.

Disclosure: I picked up this book because I saw the cover and thought “huh, it’s about a dead girl.” Also, because I have been hunting for ghosts, and I was craving a dead girl story. More of the ghostly kind, like Bad Girls Don’t Die than the sad kind, like Lurlene McDaniels. This book was neither, and shocked me in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
Further disclosure: I tried to find it on the shelves, because let’s face it, that cover is haunting, and they didn’t have it. I had to ask the book lady to get it for me. She couldn’t find it in the computer, but that darn cover, it was so striking she remembered it, too, and was (fortunately) able to find it for me. Yes, this is why I like my local bookstore ladies.
Some books you bring home from the bookstore, you read a few pages, you wander away to do chores, you come back, you read a bit more, you maybe go have dinner, finish the book in a day or two.
It was really worth the effort, though. The book is fantastic.