January Read - Before I Fall

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Synopsis (as taken from Goodreads):  

What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death--and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

S’s Rating:   ❤ (out of five hearts)

D’s Rating: ❤ 1/2  (out of five hearts)


S’s Thoughts:

I'm going to give Oliver's book a one word review and plonk an asterisk next to it if you want to know more.  

UGH.*

*Okay, so you're interested in why my review was simply a disgusted "ugh"?  Fine.  You asked for it.

I have this rule about books (and wasting my time) called the 50 page rule.  I've had it since high school.  You have 50 pages to interest me, to pull me in like a fish on a hook.  If you can't do it within 50 pages, I ain't biting. Simple as.  Unless of course it's required reading which I honestly think Sister Reads fall under.  I would have thrown the paperback version of this book (not MY kindle version) across the room after maybe page five.  I hated this book, and I'm a fan of Lauren Oliver.  Yep.  

I hated Sam.  I didn't like her, her friends, her boyfriend, any of them.  It was even a stretch for me to like Kent, good guy as he was, because Oliver made him so painfully stereotypical.  The only person I even remotely found myself somewhat liking was Juliet.  Even she was stereotyped but I could look past that because I knew what it was like to be bullied in school and the butt of jokes.  I felt outraged by the cheapened excuse for Sam and her friends' reason for being so hateful to Juliet.

In the end, I'm not sure Sam learned much of anything.  I don't really care, to be honest.  By the final page I was fed up and just willing it to all end.

Standout Quotes:

Really?  No.
Album to listen to while reading this book: Ugh. Okay. Probably some current NOW! album.


D’s Thoughts:
After we read Wintergirls back in August, I felt somewhat guilty that I made S read a book she disliked so much. But for S's choice in Before I Fall this month, I think we're even.

Like S, I hated all of the characters. They were so painfully stereotypical that it was difficult to even imagine them in real life. The one character I found interesting, however, was not Juliet Sykes--her story was sad, but it was predictable. It was the minor character Anna Cartullo. There is only one portion of the book that explores her as being more than "white trash", and I don't feel like enough justice was done to her. She was perhaps the most down-to-earth character in the book.
When I was trying to explain the plot to a friend, he gave me an odd look. "Why would she need 7 chances to redo her last day?" The sad part is, Sam never seemed to understand why she needed to change. Boy, did she need it. In addition to her cruelty to all "below" her, Sam's semi-intelligent thoughts in the book (though few and far between) all seemed forced, as if she'd had such revelations in a drug dream and not off her own intelligence.

I didn't throw the book against the wall. It was coherent English. The book did make me feel something, albeit immense frustration and confusion as to why all novel and movie characters around my age must be perceived as immensely stupid partiers or "emo" kids on the verge of destruction (I might note that this is why I like John Green so much). For that, I'll give it 1 and 1/2 hearts. Generous.


Standout Quotes:
This is one of Sam's "forced intelligence" cliche moments, but I still liked it. Kinda. It was the closest thing she got to demonstrating a lesson learned:

So many things are beautiful when you really look.

Now go read my standout quotes from the other books we've reviewed so you don't find me lame.

 Album to listen to while reading this book: Something I would never, ever listen to.

 
February’s book is D’s choice and is Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

See you soon! S & D