snark (reading) lady

Repeating the last moments of ones life is not entirely original concept, but in "Before I Fall," Lauren Oliver creates something so relate-able and real, you forgive the already done plot point. I was reading this with a friend who said that the story transported her back to high school in such a way, that she forgot she wasn't even popular then. I agree. The author managed to bring up memories for me, but more than that, it was almost as if this story of Samantha Kingston and her three popular friends, mixed with my own real memories. It was as if I could've lived it because some elements are universal to the teenage struggle. Samantha, Lindsay, Ally and Elody are bitches. They are only 17, but they are willfully mean and catty. Again, though, it's a catty that we can relate to because we've all been that catty or witnessed that catty. We've all written on the bathroom stall or been written about. I felt myself going through the same problem as Samantha- I loved the loyalty and the inside jokes between the girls, but I also knew that a lot of what they did was wrong. In each chapter Oliver reveals just enough of another layer of the story to keep the momentum going. I didn't want to stop reading because I had to know what would happen to Sam. I turned the final page and promptly sent a text message to that friend who was also reading this book. It was a neat string of very ugly curse words. My one and only nitpick is that the main character's little sister Izzy many times seemed more like a 4 year old than an 8 year old. It was the only thing that brought me out of the story. Overall, I would recommend this book. It is a fast read, even if it isn't always easy.