Before I Fall

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of my favorite book reviewers said, "Can't really decide what to think of this book." And I don't really know either.

I hate the "Mean Girl" mentality of the main characters.
I love the inner dialogue of how fragile mean girls really are.
I hate the profanity and the triviality of the things teenagers (and let's be honest, adults too) are obsessed with.
I love Kent. He's the kind of guy every girl should fall in love with, rather than the silly boys we crush on in high school.

This could go on for a long time, and so let's boil it down to three things:
1) I love teen fiction.
2) I love the concept of Groundhog's Day, so a book that follows that format resonates with me.
3) I could not put it down. I started carrying it with me on the off chance that I could find a minute to read it.

So despite my reservations and distaste for some of the behaviors and mindsets, I gladly read Before I Fall and was SO frustrated by it. I don't know who to recommend it to because it's the type of book that teenagers would love, but also would seemingly get bad ideas from it. Adults who read it might be too put off by the attitude and triviality of the teens, but will have a much clearer understanding of what it's like to be on the other side of be an adolescence...and see now the big picture that we so often miss when we're young.

I would give this book 3.5 stars, but I can't because despite my constant writing about it, the Goodreads gods haven't made it happen. So I'm giving it 4 stars because it's well written and haunting.

Read it, don't read it. Ambivalence all the way, but as always, happy reading--