Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I did not expect that I would enjoy reading this book, much more that I would really love it! This is the first time that I read Lauren Oliver's work and I have no idea about how she writes and the stories that she tells. But I am glad that I was introduced to her work by this novel.

This book was just a recommendation by Goodreads. It piqued my interest because its premise goes something like, "What if you only have a day to live? What would you do?" Of course I got intrigued! I have not encountered a young adult novel of this kind.

The story is told from the perspective of Sam. She and her friends (Lindsay, Elody and Ally) are the most popular girls in school. They are the cool girls who guys want to date and girls want to be. But (oh my) they are mean! As in really mean girls! They would humiliate their school mates, play pranks on them, call them names. I was actually a bit surprised that they are the central characters in the story. I was thinking why the author would highlight girls with personalities like them.

The novel starts on Cupid Day. It has been a tradition in their school that before Valentine's Day Valograms (roses with small notes tied to them) are sold by the student council. These are then delivered by Cupids (lower classmen dressed as such) to their recipients. How many roses one receives tells so much about his or her status in school. One's popularity is measured by the number they received - getting under ten is bad and being caught holding less than five is mortifying!

Knowing the novel's premise, I thought that the entire length of the book would just be one day (something like the series 24). I wondered how the author would write the story to pull that off. How she did the story was even better! Seen the movie Groundhog Day? Sam experienced something like that. She found herself reliving the same day over and over again, giving her chances to do things differently and (possibly?) make things right. However, the day always ends in either she (and her friends) dying or this girls that they have constantly bullied killing herself.

I find that novel is not-your-typical young adult story where the focus is on the love story between the boy and girl protagonists or whatever love triangle they are in. It made me think of the relationships that I have forged and how I have treated and am treating the people around me. If I have friends who will stand by me through thick and thin; if I made relationships that will really stand the test of time.

"It's the weirdest thing. I'm popular - really popular - but I don't have that many friends. What's even weirder is that it's the first time I've noticed."

This novel teaches you about life, it raises a lot of points on how life is. There are statements in the book that I found myself nodding and agreeing to it - "[i]f you draw a circle, there will always be an inside and an outside" - which is true (if you think about it). Society will always have cliques, that's just how the way things are.

"It's funny, isn't it? When you're young you just want to be older, and then later you wish you could go back to being a kid." I have to admit that I am guilty of this. When I was a kid, I can't wait to be a grown up, now that I am I wish I could just be a kid again - when things are uncomplicated, when wounds are only physical and your parents could kiss the pain away.

What really got to me though is that the book made me think how short life really is...

"My point is: maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let it slide like coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it.

"But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know."

Come to think of it, we never really know that when we left the house this morning is the last time we'll ever see our family or when we talked to our friend the other day is the last time that we will hear his or her voice. I know it sounds morbid but death is one of the few constants in life. I guess I will start living like it's the last day of my life.