Before I Fall

I just read this aMAzing book called Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, I probably shouldn't post about it because it's not actually on sale until March but oh well, no one reads this anyway. Basically the book is about a girl, Sam, who dies in a car accident. That's not a huge spoiler, it happens pretty much right away. Only, instead of that being that, she wakes up again, at the beginning of the day she died. It's like Groundhog Day, only in high school and without that annoying song playing as she wakes up. Basically, what is so great about this book is the fact that Sam, through living her last day over and over, learns that she has the power and the chance to change things. Sam isn't a very likeable character at first. She is your typical, popular, a-list girl, with a few shameful secrets, who harbors delight at making fun of the weaker, less popular students, especially a girl named Julia who is dubbed "psycho". Everyone knew girls like these in high school and everyone probably assumed that they were just evil bitches who had perfect lives. What Sam comes to realize and to teach us is that just like their (the popular girls) assumptions about us (the losers) aren't usually true, our assumptions about them aren't either. This book is basically the same thing happening seven times and allhough that sounds like a recipe for uber boredom, Oliver manages to make each day incredibly unique, interesting, touching and suspensful. I cannot say enough good things about this book. I was skeptical at first about the subject but Oliver has managed to take your typical high school 'mean girl" story and create a world and a character that is truly engaging and meaningful.