"Here's another thing to remember: hope keeps you alive. Even when you're dead, it's the only thing that keeps you alive."(Samantha Kingston)
There are three type of books that I always end up enjoying:
1) The type that make me question anything and everything
2) The type that makes me wonder about humanity and how my actions affects others
3) The type that deals with life and death
Before I Fall has all of this and so much more...
Samantha Kingston is a popular mean girl who dies in an accident on 12th February, also known as 'Cupid Day'. She ends up waking up on the 12th of February, her last day, over and over again and has to deal with the changes that come with it along with it while figuring out why it's happening.
Recently, I heard that a movie adaptation was being made of this book. I read this book three years ago and while I could remember loving Before I Fall as well as the plot outline, I couldn't remember the plot twists and the ending. That's why I decided to re-read this Before I Fall and three years later, I feel exactly the same way. Before I Fall is amazing!
Sam, the main character of Before I Fall, starts off as one of those typical mean girls. When I started reading Before I Fall, I hated Sam. She was unfeeling or indifferent towards all the horrible things involving her and happening around her. I felt so much of anger and rage towards her. The funny thing is that as I continued reading I started to understand exactly why Sam acts so indifferent and sympathized with all her flaws and pitfalls. I also saw her grow and develop as a character that I could relate to and cheer on. Her character development is realistic, believable and intensely emotional.
The secondary characters and their relationship with Sam evoked emotions from me raging from intense disgust to extreme love. An example is Lindsay, who was a good friend and a bad friend at the same time; Kent, who I just couldn't help but smile about and Juliet, who broke my heart several times. The most interesting thing was how Sam's perception towards and her relationship with these characters change during the course of reliving her last day.
The most important thing about Before I Fall is the message that I took away from it. Before I Fall managed to teach me so much about life and living it. It shows how the things that we do in life could potentially affect the person sitting next to us and also cause a chain-reaction of consequences. It shows how much our lives can influence, impact and imprint on others. It taught me about death. Last, but definitely not least, it made me realise that life is short and I should live it with goodness, kindness, sacrifice and hope.