Audiobook Review – Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 12 hours and 25 minutes (544 pages)
Publisher: HarperAudio
Release Date: March 2, 2010
ASIN: B003AOVPAM
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—”Cupid Day”—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.”

This was a decent YA contemporary fiction book with an element of magical realism to it. This book reminded me a lot of the Groundhog Day movie starring Bill Murray. Basically our heroine has to relive the same day over and over again; each time she figures out more about the people around her.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did a great job. She sounds exactly like I am imaging Sam would and did a good job on other character voices as well.

Think of this as a high school mean girl version of Groundhog Day. There is a ton of high school drama. Sam is incredibly unlikable at the beginning of the book but she grows a lot as the book continues.

This book will make you think…some. Honestly this book doesn’t do anything all that creative; basically it analyzes bullying from the bully’s perspective and looks at how some cruelty is just plain thoughtlessness. I did like the character growth but felt that Sam remained fairly selfish throughout. Sam changes from being mean to people because she discounts them, to trying to help them to help herself move on with life. Throughout it all her main goal is to help herself.

Don’t get me wrong at times it’s an engaging read and very emotional. It was an interesting change of pace for me since I read mostly fantasy. However, there wasn’t a lot here that many other YA books haven’t already addressed.

The ending completely sucks, although I don’t think it could have kept with the tone of the story and ended any other way. I felt incredibly bad for the “nice guy” character of Kent; in the end I feel like he was the one screwed over the worst.

Overall I enjoyed it but didn’t think it was anything all that special. It’s definitely not a “feel good” book, so be prepared to be depressed by it. The story is engaging and the characters are decently done. It’s pretty much a “mean girls” version of the Groundhog’s Day movie. This is the third Oliver book I have read this month (I got them at an Audible sale) and I think I am done with her as an author. Everything I’ve read so far by her has been okay but not great.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Audiobook Reading Challenge