Before I Fall Book Review

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

This is the type of book I read because I wanted to know what all the hype was about, and also it is a favorite for my best friend. The truth is that this book ended up disappointing me. I never truly understood what the hype was about, although it is a brilliantly written book.

At one point I even felt bad because I hadn’t enjoyed it. The truth is I never really connected to the characters, even when I could pinpoint them in my own life at one point. The book could be relatable to some, but to be it felt like it was all Sam’s fault. Her own actions and silence took her to where she ended up. Sam was a follower, a settler, and an enabler. Also, most of these characters were self-centered. They were all too focused on themselves to even notice the many things that were going on around them.

Even though it didn’t even make it close to my favorite books list, I do have to admit that many aspects of it did intrigue me. For instance, I liked that the main character, Sam, goes through the 7 stages of grief about her own death. I do not know if this was intentional or not but the fact that they were clearly represented in her actions on the 7 times she relieved her last day was absolutely incredible to me.

Another aspect of the book that I did like is the fact that it shows you that sometimes some things aren’t meant to be changed no matter how hard we try and it isn’t our fault. Time and time again we see this happen in each chapter of the book.

Also, there is a message of doing the things we can to be a better version of ourselves before it is too late. Speak out and do the things you want to do every single day of your life. Don’t leave it until you are reliving the same day over and over to realize that you could have been a better person and that you could have actually been able to help others.

Finally, a very peculiar aspect of this book is that it speaks directly to the reader. I think that by far that was what kept me reading. Would I recommend this book? Not sure. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t amazing either. Do I regret reading it? Not at all, but I wasn’t missing out on anything if I had decided not to read it.

Here is the trailer for the movie released in March 2017:

What did you think about this book? I know a lot of people will differ from my opinion, but I did say it was a well-written book! Also, have you seen the film? What do you think of it?

I’ll write to you all soon!

Love, Nashi