Rated YA-MA discussion

I actually read this for the recommendation challenge. I liked it. I just wished it had ended differently.

I'm curious how similar this book is to ? Has anyone read both and can let me know. Carina?

If it's too similar, I might have to skip this one. ELU left me in a bad mood for a while after reading it.

Before I Fall is more like a Groundhog Day situation in which the MC relives the day she dies over and over and over again. So not particularly similar. And definitely not as depressing.

It was really repetitive for a while with the reliving the same day (it does grow more varied the more she does it, but the first few days at least were frustratingly similar) and that made it take a while for me to get into it, which kept me from loving it, though I did like it. I mostly approve of the ending because I'm not sure it could have ended any other way and still have worked as well.

It's been quite a while since I read this one, but I do agree with Jenny that the begining of the story is very repetitive until it moves on. And it WAS very sad for me. Probably one of the first sad stories I read, and that's probably why I was so emotional.
Were I to read it again now? It would still be sad, but like Jenny said "...definitely not as depressing." as ELU or other stories.
I would still recommend it. It was really good from what I remember.

I also read it for the recommendation challenge. To be honest, I didn't really like it. I didn't like Samantha and her redemptions weren't really consistent enough to actually be redemptive for me. It just didn't really work for me.

This isn't a book I would normally pick up but decided to read for the monthly read. So far I'm actually enjoying it. I'm only on about day 3 of the do overs but I find I want to keep reading. I hated groundhog day, but this I find is done very well and is keeping my interest--So far anyway.

I've just started this, I'm only 12% in... Someone please tell me I will have even an OUNCE of compassion for Sam by the end of this book. Because right now I hate her with a passion.

I hated her in the begining too, Adream. Hang in there, she gets better.
The story gets sadder =( but she gets better.

Adream wrote: "I've just started this, I'm only 12% in... Someone please tell me I will have even an OUNCE of compassion for Sam by the end of this book. Because right now I hate her with a passion."

I liked her a tiny bit better by the end, but not a ton. Depends on how much that is going to bother you.

I didn't like her at first either. I am not sure if I really liked her much more by the end, but my opinion of her did improve at least enough for me to be rooting for her by the end.

I really enjoyed this book. The repetitivness of reliving the same day over again didn't annoy me as much as it seems to have bothered others. After finishing the book I felt compelled to be a better person and stand up for the little guy. So much so, I got into an argument with the Manager of a McDonalds because she was treating a new employee like crap....so I told her so! I'm a true Lauren Oliver fan, having read almost everything she has written and this one was a winner for me.

I really liked this one. I didn't like Sam in the beginning either, but she did grow on me. For those who finished: (view spoiler)[ It was a little sad to realize at the end that so many of the good things that happened in some of the other days (like Sam showing her little sister her special place in the woods) won't stay in the memory of those left behind. (hide spoiler)]

Your spoiler is actually one of the things that bothered me about the book, Cinthia. (view spoiler)[ I was frustrated that Sam would (finally) do an unselfish thing, then she would not do it the next day. For me, that kind of negated her doing it at all. (hide spoiler)]

I started it last night and have been enjoying it so far. I actually only meant to read a bit, but then I finished the first day. Then the second. Finally after the third I made myself go to sleep.

Sam reminds me a bit of Chelsea from Speechless and I loved that book so I've been giving her the benefit of the doubt so far.

I may try finish it tonight but apparently one of the books I checked out from the library I could only check out for a week instead of the normal 3 weeks. This would have been fine except I didn't know until I got an email today saying it was due in 2 days. Lovely...

I am about 3/4 of the way through the book and I still like it. I feel Sam is growing as a person and genuinely feels remorse for her past behaviour. I'm still enjoying the do overs they are not repetitive or annoying. I am rooting for Sam in the end. I hope I don't cry. I'm so tempted to read the spoilers but I won't.

So I finished the book and read the spoilers noted. I don't know what to think of the ending. I'm not sure that I liked it. I'll wait till the end of the month to make any more comments as I don't want to ruin it for others. Maybe by then I will have made up my mind about the ending.

I did manage to finish the book earlier and I did enjoy it.

Regarding the spoilers above one way I look at it is:
(view spoiler)[
We don't know why or how she was able to replay her last day. That was one of the reasons I gave it a four. One idea I had was that each day she went through could have created its own alternate universe.

So in two universes, she died in the car crash. Juliet shot herself in another. She fought with her friends and stole her mom's credit card in the fourth. She spent two universes trying to save Juliet (one at home with her family) and she died saving Juliet in the final universe. But her story continued in the universes where she lived and those events did happen.

I realize that probably wasn't what happened, but I like the idea.

I did love on the final day the issue with swimmer that they made late and how Sam tried to negate it by stopping at Starbucks and it completely backfired. I thought it was funny. (hide spoiler)]

I finished it.

I know I'm supposed to feel some sort of compassion for this girl. But I do NOT! At all. Not even a little bit. The girls were bitches. I don't feel sorry for them. I liked Lauren Oliver's writing. I liked the way she told the story. But man, did I hate those girls. I don't think this is a major spoiler....but I'll just give a little tiny spoiler alert here.......don't go on if you don't want to...******************ok......I really liked Kent. And now of course, he's gonna be more upset and I feel badly for him. That's it.

I felt bad about that too. I think it was (view spoiler)[Kent's sadness that I was most upset about in the end (hide spoiler)].

Hi All! I'm almost finished with this (on p. 420). Although I pretty much despised most of the characters (except Kent), I am impressed with the author's ability to maintain my interest and enjoyment. Her writing is so breathtaking at times. Some of Sam's realizations, even minor ones, are gorgeously described. Sometimes I found myself thinking; huh, I wonder if she's right? For example, on page 285 (view spoiler)[ "And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possiblities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different." Such a simple quote but I just found it to be thought-provoking. (hide spoiler)]

Lauren Olivers writing is absolutely beautiful which is why I stuck with the story, because lets face it Sam sucked in a lot of it.
"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."
I will say that Kent was the one shining character in this that I loved loved loved. I felt so bad for him. I wanted it to end differently only for Kent's sake. I did like Sam a lot more by the end of the book. Her journey to grow into a likeable human being got to me and I really wanted more for her. But her clicke of friends were absolutely aweful, sad that there are girls really like that.
I think I was sad for at least 2 days after finishing this. So I have mixed feelings even still. But it was worth it just for Kent.

not the ending i wanted but it worked. im glad she realized by the end all her faults. poor kent. i did not like any of these girls but sam was ok the last 15 pages.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is not one that I normally would have picked out and I am glad that it was the challenge of the month and that I joined before the month ended. I loved seeing the days change and what choices she would make. I liked the way the author pulled me into the book and made me anticipate what would be different the next day. I cried at the end of day six and for the beginning of day seven. I was saddest for Kent and I loved that she was just appreciating each day. Like I said I never would have picked it myself as I don't usually read stand alone books but I am so glad that I did and I may even reread it in the future.

Prior discussion to this post is for the group read of

Added to the topic.

The author also writes a dystopia series, Delirium, which is found in the science fiction folder.

Just got this. I can't wait until May when I actually have time to read it!

Panic..I mean. Probably could have specified that.