Book Review: Before I Fall By Lauren Oliver

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

I read Before I Fall, the debut novel by Lauren Oliver after reading Delirium, which I obviously cant stop raving about. Yet after reading Before I Fall, I just felt empty and so lost in reality so immediately I started off another book right away fearing that if didn’t it would have taken a long time for me to get out of the character, Sam.

The author Lauren Oliver has come up with a genius idea about what if you were living your last day, seven times. It is a book that you can easily whizz through, the writing style is swift and contemporary and the language crisp and smooth. This is a book that you can flip through fast with your emotions changing at the same rate. This is a book that makes you think about yourself, then others then the world and ultimately death. In a word, you grow with the main character, only we are dealing with our own issues. The more I read on, the more I fear the inevitable - the last day, the seventh day.

Personally, it is a good book to reflect on but given a choice I wouldn’t want to live my last day seven times because it is just too scary. It takes a brave person to think otherwise though and that is Sam, a sixteen-year-old girl, who seemingly has everything a teenage girl could ever ask for. She is popular, hanging out with "it" girls in school and going out with the most admirably dashing guy in school. Yet she dies in a car crash on a normal party night, only to find herself waking up the next day to the day she dies. Plus she gets to live the day 7 times and every brand new day, she lives it a little differently as she sees things anew from a more positive perspective. She realises how she has been distant from her parents and her little sister, whom ones she shared so much happy times with. Her best friend doesn’t seem to be as cool as she actually is and finding out her dark side leads to a misery of another girl, who, for years they have been mocking at in school. Her childhood friend, Ken, who is an obvious keeper, a potential and loyal boyfriend material, was shunned for years who now seems to be the right guy. People who she merely cares for or talks to are not disgusting to her anymore when she chooses to see another side of the story. As days go by, she changes her attitude to make atonement for what she has done wrong to people she cares or couldn’t care less. While I saw the change set in her gradually, I felt the same in me, not exactly like a major change but I could feel that I've made peace with myself, mostly on changes I have done, I haven't done and I couldn’t do.


It is the kind of book you should read if you think you are having a happy life, yet without knowing that you are being happy at someone's expense. If there is something you think you want to change in your life, perhaps try to look for that minute detail that you have always neglected in life and this book could offer you some insights. It is an enriching self-discovery experience reading such a masterpiece. It sure is a book that will linger in me for a long time and constantly reminds me it is never too late to make a difference even if this is your last day.


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