What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.
The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing
Frankly, Before I Fall felt like a waste of time for me. It was long, it was boring, it was repetitive and I did not get the meaning at all.
Oliver usually saves the day with her beautiful, poetic writing style - but there was no one moment I stumbled upon that in Before I Fall. I found the writing rather plain without much character or personal touch - other than in Delirium.
That, however, is a big problem in Before I Fall, because literally everything else fell flat for me, too.
The characters were your general, stereotypical highschool girls, the Queen Bees in a small town, focused only on parties and boys and alcohol.
The development of main character, Samantha, was visible, but not enough -absolutely not enough - to make me like her or keep me entertained by the story.
The plot made this book a fail for me.
I understand why some people would like it and that is why I want to stress that this is a very personal opinion - and maybe one bookbloggers will share more than occasional readers.
In the book, we follow Samantha reliving the same day over and over again. This is something you will either love or hate. I think if there had been only three or four repititions and the book had been shorter then yes, maybe, I would have liked it more.
But we relived the same day about 7 or 8 times and it just got on my nerves. I get that each time was entirely different, but the fact that no event or action would ever have consequences in the next chapter just made me...furious!
I honestly think this book was supposed to tell me something, it did contain a message, I'm sure. It's just that I never got it and I got annoyed and I didn't like the book. There were some emotional moments, some interesting scenes, but overall I just didn't get the book at all and thought it was a waste of time.
Oh no! I hate it when I read a book and just feel... underwhelmed when I've finished it. :/ It's been a long time since I read this one (I think I read it as an arc), but I remember really loving it... I wonder if I'd feel the same if I reread it. Still, I've been hearing really good things about Lauren Oliver's upcoming release, PANIC, so maybe that one would be more suited to your tastes?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
True!! There has been a LOT of positive talk about Panic and I am intrigued! I loved Oliver's writing in Delirium...I just don't like the way her plots seem to take forever to unfold. I might read Panic...mhm...I might :)
DeleteAww I'm sorry this one wasn't as good as you wanted it to be. It's been really long since I've read this one, but I can see where you were concerned with the stereotypes of the characters and the fact that it's the same day being relived over and over again certainly can be repetitive. I'm sorry the plot and Lauren's typically beautiful writing didn't cut it either, however this is a great review! <33
ReplyDeleteI loved her writing in Delirium!! Back when I first read it, she immediately became my favorite author. She still is, writing-wise. Okay, close up to Maggie Stiefvater. I just think that many writers who have such beautiful language kind of neglect the plot... :(
DeleteI think she just stick to writing dystopia! I just re-read Delirium earlier in the week and loved it as always. Awesome review
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