Rachel Hall

Rachel Hall
Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver
12/19/12
Realistic fiction
Just right
page: 288



1. In my book the main character Samantha, also known as Sam is going through the third attempt at Friday, February 12th. In this day she told off one of her best friends in the whole world, Lindsay, in the car when they were driving to school. Sam was accusing Lindsay for all the right reasons but it came out extremely rude. Lindsay then kicked her out of the car and Sam had to walk the rest of the way to school that day. After school she then found a new group of girls that she hung around with for the rest of the day. They end up stealing Sam's mom's credit card and going shopping, out to dinner and finally to Kent McFuller's party. At Kent's Sam runs into Lindsay and all the friends that she got in a fight with earlier today. When Ally says that Sam should try and make up with Lindsay and say sorry, Sam gets really upset because she doesn't feel sorry for all of the things that she said earlier.

2. I really really like this book. Its probably one of my favorites that I've read so far this year. I enjoy this book in particular because it is a mature book and it has a lot of older topics talked about in it. Maybe that's why I like it, because its so realistic. The things that they talk about in this book is things that could happen any day once your in high school. I really like how you know whats going to happen but you go even more in depth every day and you find out new things that you would have never known before. This book is told in the perspective of Sam and she thinks that if she knows that no one is going to remember what happened the next day, because she gets to relive that day seven different times then why not have fun and do things you know that you wouldn't get away with every day? I kind of like that sense of her, risk - taking. Its very fascinating what she risks and does each time she re does this particular day.

3. I think the theme in my book is isolation. Every day she wakes up the same way and at the same time, in the real world everything keeps on going but she is stuck in that one day just repeating over and over again. On one of these inevitable days, she is crying at Kent's party, in the text it described about how alone she felt. When I read this it really stood out to me as her being isolated. She had no one to talk to about this, her friends were against her and she is alone crying at a party. Sam had no one that she could turn to that she could rely on to always be there for her, and tell them why she was crying and that they'd understand her. She knew that if she tried to explain what was happening to her, people would think that she's crazy. This is also another reason why isolation is a key part of this book, because she's the only one who knows about this, and Sam can't tell anyone. Sam definitely didn't chose to be isolated. Isolation chose her when she died in the car crash. Sam would now do anything to get back to her normal life with her friends and family and different days.

4. I think that my favorite character in this story would have to be Ally. Ally is one of Sam's best friends, she is so level headed and she always keeps in mind everything that is going on around her. When Lindsay and Sam get in a really big fight, Ally tried to talk to Sam to figure out what happened and to try to help Sam in realizing what she said wasn't OK. Ally always seems to know what to say, she is the brains in the friendship that knows where the line stops. I admire Ally's wisdom in such hard situations. She seems to have her friends backs and their best interest in mind whenever she does anything.

5. My least favorite character is Lindsay. She is so fake, even though she cares for Sam and all of her friends she also ices them out and can be quite harsh to them. Lindsay is too self-absorbed. The repeated day before this one they all find out that Juliet Skyes committed suicide. They find out that she committed suicide because of bullying, the tormenting and bullying from Lindsay for years. When Lindsay hears she doesn't feel sympathy for Juliet, she just says that maybe that's where she should be and that's best for everybody. Lindsay does so many things that bother me, this is what makes her my least favorite character.

6. It's pretty easy to make a prediction in this book, since its the same day repeating over and over but you find out different things each day. I predict that in the ending, on the very last day she gets to repeat  before she is gone forever, Sam will kiss Kent. I feel this way because on the first day she absolutely hated him and she has for a long while. But this night, the third night, she realizes that he really cares for her and he wants her to be happy. Kent over hears Sam crying at his party, and he asks her what he can do to make her feel better. He even offered to let Sam stay at his house for the night, because she seemed to exhausted and worn out to leave and go home. On this night you seem how much he cares for Sam when he brings her to the guest room and puts her to bed. Sam seemed really comfortable and happy around him when he did this. Kent lead Sam to her room holding her hand, she didn't seem to mind because it made her feel safe. I think that since after he showed that he really cared for the well-being of Sam that she realized that he's not such a bad guy after all. When I read this part in the book, I really felt like she had some feelings for him.