#71- Before I Fall By Lauren Oliver

#71- Before I Fall

Rating- 10/10

I have read this book before, but after skimming it I realized I didn't remember all of it so I decided to re-read it. I am infinitely glad that I did. 

Before I Fall follows the life of Samantha, a popular girl who climbed the social ladder and plans on staying there. She is in a circle with her three best friends, Lindsay, Elody, and Ally. Together they are invincible, or so they think.

On the Friday of "Cupids Day" February 12th, they all decide to go to a party. At this party they have their fun and when its time to leave, they let Lindsay drive home drunk. They drive recklessly and something runs in front of their car and they get into a car crash. If you learn no other lesson from this book let it be this, never drive home drunk. Not after one drink, not after two drinks, and certainly not after three. There is never a safe situation to drive home while drinking. 

Samantha thinks that its all over, she feels herself dying and falls into sleep.

So its quite a suprise to her when she wakes up again the next morning in her own bed. At first she freaks out, not sure how she got home the night before, not sure what happened to her friends, not sure what happened at all. That is until her little sister comes bolting into her room telling her that its Friday still. Friday? She decides that its Deja' Vu and if you convince yourself something enough you can convince yourself its true. That is until the entire day is EXACTLY THE SAME. That can't possibly be Deja Vu and she knows it. 

As the day ends and she falls asleep for the second time on February 12th and wakes up again on February 12th she starts to realize that there must be something that she needs to fix and set right about this day.

So she relives this day seven more times, and each time approaches it differently, until finally on the seventh day she realizes all of the mistakes she has made not only on that day, but also in her entire life.

I think my favorite part of this entire book was how much it showed that things can change from one single action, that one moment can change someones entire world. Even more importantly that the things you do affect others as well. There is a girl whom the entire school considers a big loser, Juliette, and throughout the week Sam see's how the things that they do that may seem harmless, and are actually much more than that. Bullying is a large issue in our society and I think its really sad how many people will throw around words like they arent as bad as throwing fists when in reality they can hurt just as much if not more. Sam realizes this and I think that the words and things that she does to try and fix them are eye-opening. I think that anyone who reads this book can learn the lessons that it tries to teach and I found myself very moved by the concepts.

I felt myself wishing that some of the days were real, and wishing that some of the things that happened on one February 12th had happened on a different version of it. I felt the emotions that these people felt and was just as confused as Sam when the entire day started over and she had to wipe her slate clean and start over again. 

“It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.”