Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver, 2010
Young adult RomanceFantasyContemporary fiction
A popular girl relives the last day of her life seven times, learning what her choices cost.
Feels like melancholy and serenity. About time, morality and identity.
A page from the book
A line crossed once does not stay a line for long.
Here’s one of the things I learned that morning: if you cross a line and nothing happens, the line loses meaning. It’s like that old riddle about a tree falling in a forest, and whether it makes a sound if there’s no one around to hear it.You keep drawing a line farther and farther away, crossing it every time. That’s how people end up stepping off the edge of the earth. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to bust out of orbit, to spin out to a place where no one can touch you. To lose yourself—to get lost.Or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe some of you already know.To those people, I can only say: I’m sorry. Lauren Oliver.Lauren Oliver worked in publishing before writing full-time and co-founded the literary development company Paper Lantern Lit.
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Questions readers ask
- What is Before I Fall like?
- Feels like melancholy and serenity. About time, morality and identity.
- What should I read after Before I Fall?
- If you liked Before I Fall, try First Lie Wins (Ashley Elston), Matilda (Roald Dahl) and That's Not My Name (Megan Lally).
A taste of the feed
Every book she read was a ship sent out by someone who felt alone.
So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.
Matilda · Roald Dahl
The person who saved you can be the one you can't face.
I ghosted the girl who saved my life because she looked a little too much like the girl I threw to the wolves.
That's Not My Name · Megan Lally
A question about leaving, answered with damnation and a wine list.
Where are you going?” I asked him. After everything it has taken to get to this point, he couldn’t just walk away. “To hell, eventually,” Jameson answered. “Probably to the wine cellar, for now.
The Inheritance Games · Jennifer Lynn Barnes
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