One cold fall day, high school junior Liz Emerson steers her car into a tree. This haunting and heartbreaking story is told by a surprising and unexpected narrator and unfolds in nonlinear flashbacks even as Liz's friends, foes, and family gather at the hospital and Liz clings to life. This riveting debut will appeal to fans of Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver, and 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher. "On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton's laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road." Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? The nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High's most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force-Liz didn't understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn't understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect?
Amy Zhang's haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.
Initial thoughts: I considered leaving Falling Into Place unrated. It's such a difficult book to regard. Half the time I was crying or at least on the verge of tears. It's painful because on an emotional level, I connected with Liz. Sports was her escape and oftentimes the only source of joy. She knew so many people but how many of the did she truly know? How many did she care about and how many cared about her? At the same time, she had ben such a terrible person. She knew that. And that's what ultimately sent off the edge. There was no reason for living if she destroyed the lives for so many, not just people she hated but people she loved too.
This book so beautifully captured despair and emptiness. It asked the hard questions. At the same time, it called out people for hypocrisy. When someone's alive and well, we're alright with hating them. Yet if their lives are taken too early, suddenly we extol their virtues. Doesn't matter how horrid that person had been. With Liz dying, so many people acted like she was already dead. Until they were reminded that being comatose meant that however slim the chances, there still was hope.
