Goodreads Review: Before I Fall

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mean girls meets Groundhog Day - that's what I went into this book expecting.
Turned out to be much more complex than that simple comparison..

Meet high school senior Samantha "Sam" Kingston, our protagonist who is forced to relive the same day (12th February) over and over again.
Sam is one of the mean girls at her school, this divides an audience into those who were of similar popularity at school and those who weren't and those whom the popular kids tormented. As one of the kids in the in between at
school (I wasn't a main target for abuse, but I rarely looked the popular kids in the eye..if you catch my drift). I found it a little hard to be sympathetic to Sam's plight at the beginning, having a 'you reap what you sow' kinda attitude, however this view changed as Sam's did during the course of the book. As she began savouring moments with loved ones and trying to make a difference to classmates lives, even if just for a day. Spending days with people she'd previously given the brush off to. Also making it her mission to save one character in particular.

All in all I highly recommend this book to those of us who survived high school but more so to anyone still in the trenches of it, for some insight on the effect your actions can have.
This book left me with a reminder to be a little kinder to people, because you have no idea what's going on in their life.

..:: SPOILERS BELOW ::..
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I warned you.
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I have to wonder what was the point of Sam's interactions with Kurt were all about?! Don't get me wrong I loved Kurt as a character, what I think is so great about this book is as Sam bumps into all the different students you can see your 'high school self' in them, that for me was Kurt.
But looking at it from Kurt perspective - the girl whom he's been in love with for years turns around and finally acknowledges his existence and reciprocates his feelings they share a few kisses (even though most of them he doesn't remember) and then goes and gets hit by a car..I'm sorry what?!
What did Kurt do to deserve that!
He is by far the only decent male character in this book, though there aren't exactly a ton of 'good' male characters to begin with. He treats Sam far better than he should in my opinion.
What was the point of Sam's journey of self improvement, if she was going to die in the end anyway. Being Juliet's 'guardian angel' may be a beautiful metaphor. But it feels too much like a cop out.
The problem with becoming so intertwined in Sam's world is that we see the collateral damage from Sam's self sacrifice coming a mile off. Sam become self aware of this as the book progresses as she loses hope to save herself and instead makes it her mission to save Juliet, she even mentions it in her last interactions with Izzy, her little sister.
Which make her final interactions with Kurt on her last day seem cruel, she gave him hope of a relationship tells him he's the best thing that's ever happened to her moments before she goes and gets herself killed.

And.
That's.
All.
She.
Wrote.

xo CorpsyAnn

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