Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Published: March 2nd, 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 341 (paperback edition)
Challenge: 100+ Reading Challenge
Other: 2010 YA Debut. Voted best YA Fiction 2010 by Goodreads members.
Buy the book: Bookdepository


What if you had only 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 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-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 had ever imagined.


Before I Fall tells us about Sam and her friends, and most of all: the last day of her life. Sam dies and gets to relive her last day and by making only the tiniest changes, she figures out she can change everything.

This book left me speechless, except for the fact that I couldn't stop saying how good it was. The chapters are carefully built, one day at a time and every chapter we discover something new that changes the way Sam (and we) look at things. It makes you think about some of the things you may have said, someday to somebody, that you have forgotten, but the other person has not. It made me think of how I'm treating other people and makes me think more about the things I say to them. After all, you never know when it's your last day.

Oliver's writing style is complicated, yet so incredibly easy to follow and understand. The story is so carefully built and so well put together that everything fits perfectly. I felt for Sam, while in the first chapter I couldn't stand her. Sure, I've been a bitch sometimes, but I didn't behave like she does. The moment I realized that she loved someone, it really touched me heart. I mean, really. I cried. It was all so sad that she had to discover this after she died.

This book is a stunning debut and besides that a really good and well thought out story.

My overall rating:


This book is so incredibly good and really touched my heart. I would call it a mustread. Another thing: get out your box of tissues, because you're going to need it.