The book talk was definitely the project I was dreading the most. I'm not a fan of getting up in front of people and talking so I was extremely nervous. It helped that I got to choose the book and it also helped that I really felt like I already knew everyone in the classroom. It was a really friendly environment so I never even really felt like I was presenting. It just felt like any other day, discussing a book with the class.
Author: Lauren Oliver
Release date: March 2, 2010
Pages: 470
So I wrote out exactly what I wanted to say during the book talk. I didn't necessarily stick to exactly what I wrote out but it was nice to have something to refer to if I got lost.
With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today's foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman's If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person's life can affect so many others.
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.
How many of you have heard the saying “live as if you’d die tomorrow”? Most of you, probably. How many of you have really lived your life that way? Probably not very many of you. How many of you can say you’d leave this world tomorrow with no regrets? It’s hard to think of a single person who would answer that question with a yes. Sam, the main character of Before I Fall, definitely can’t answer that way. That all changes the day she dies.
Samantha Kingston is a spoiled brat who wants for nothing in life. She’s self-centered and cruel. She’s the quintessential mean girl. All that changes when she dies. Her life is over, or so it seems. However, the next day, Sam wakes up in her bed and quickly realizes that she’s been given a do-over. Or more like seven. Sam has seven days to relive her last day. Maybe she’s meant to change her future, maybe she’s meant to change someone elses. Even if she can’t save herself, maybe Sam can leave her life with no regrets.
Lauren Oliver’s debut novel is a story of life and death but at its heart it’s so much more than that. It’s a novel about humanity, love, kindness, and finding the courage to say goodbye. It’s a story that makes you stop and think about life and death and how every action you make effects the world.
So let me ask you this again. If you were to die tomorrow, would you leave this life with no regrets?
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