Reading log #1

Reading log #1 

Title: Before I fall

Text: Extended text

Author: Lauren Oliver

Before I fall is a book written by Lauren Oliver that follows from the perspective of Samantha Kingston , a popular high school student. She has a 'happy' relationship with her boyfriend Rob, and four of the best friends a girl could want. Sam is very unsympathetic and quite a dis-likable person , she is open about how it is ' It's a good feeling knowing you can basically do whatever you want and there won't be any consequences ' In before I fall.  After a car crash , and she begins to repeat Friday over and over , she comes to the conclusion that she must be lying in a hospital somewhere comatose. And the book describes Sams journey of reliving that one day perfectly, so that she can finally wake up. This has her hopeful throughout the book.

Before I Fall  has a theme of change. We see this as Sam learns more about herself and begins to see things from new perspectives. I really enjoyed her character development. From the beginning Sam is very hostile and there are often moments that had me cringing , like because Sams popular and she knows it she looked down on her peers and her old best friend Kent because they're 'unpopular'. As each time the day repeats , she is very emotional and wonders why this is happening to her of all people , she only did what any other popular person would do , stuck in conformity. But the more she sees people and really looks at herself and others she cares more and more about people she wouldn't of given a second glance before. She realizes that she isn't the only important person on this planet and that she isn't that much better than anyone else. She tries so hard to change and she notices how much of an impact one small detail or change can have. My favorite quote from her about this was

"It amazes me how easy it is for things to change, how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new. Just one false step, one pause, one detour, and you end up with new friends or a bad reputation or a boyfriend or a breakup. It's never occurred to me before; I've never been able to see it. And it makes me feel, weirdly, like maybe all of these different possibilities exist at the same time, like each moment we live has a thousand other moments layered underneath it that look different.” 

 Sam takes a thoughtful look at herself and her friends , she realizes that they are so wrong about everyone and everything. Sam really begins to appreciate the people around her , and tries her best to finish the day with as many good deeds as she can for everyone , proving that people can change. 

I felt like I could relate to Sam with this. There have been times where I reflect on what kind of person I have been and wanted to make a change.  And as I learn more about myself  ,it doesn't seem like such a scary idea. We don't always recognize when change is needed , it often takes some big event or epiphany but what we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change , we can start again if we need to. It is so easy to make a change , to say it's too late is so wrong.
Even a change of something so small can have a butterfly affect, whether it's for the good or not. So I admired Sam for recognizing that and her character gives me hope. 

I thought Sam and her friends Lindsey , Elody and Ally had an interesting friendship. Although they weren't perfect people , and they bullied Juliet Skies just cause they could, they really did care about each other. In the book Sam says " A good friend keeps your secrets for you. A best friend helps you keep your own secrets. " And it made me think about how they avoided certain truths to protect each other because they couldn't handle it. Like that Ally has issues with food and that Lindsey was date raped while visiting her brother in New York. I had hoped they would address these serious issues a lot more , although this book is fiction, I  think this is  actually believable,the decisions these girls make aren't perfect but realistic. 

In conclusion , I think this is a very enjoyable book about change and I would recommend it to other teenagers as well.