So my two reading challenges are off to a good start.
The Just For Fun Challenge and the Books I’ve Won challenge that I decided to take a part of this year fortunately have over lapped for the month of January.
The book I won and read was Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.
I was super excited when I won this book. I wanted to know why everyone was so into this book and with all the good reviews I was eager to get in on the action.
It seamed like it would be a fun and enjoyable book.
Well I personally had the exact opposite reaction. This book about a teenage girl who dies and then relives her last day 7 times trying to make changes to save her self while not a happy little subject is not necessarily a bad read so when I started all I had in mind were the great reviews it had received.
I for one hated the main character. I didn’t start getting into the book until her 3rd day. Which is a bit into the book.
We are talking about teens here and I’m 30 so while it wasn’t yesterday it also wasn’t a million years that I was one. But geez is this what teens are like it was like mean girls times 10. Hell not even that as I liked mean girls a lot. But the characters in this book are stupid, selfish, arrogant brats who deserve to be smacked upside the head because they sure could use it. Maybe it’s the way I was raised but this is so not what I can even remotely relate to.
Isn’t it usual that you care about a character that they begin to mean something to you? Well that didn’t happen for some time and in the beginning not only did I not like the main character but I pretty much hated all the characters. It wasn’t just one but most who grated on my nerves. I found it to be a frustrating read for this reason and was wanting to put it down but I’m determined to read more this year so instead I forced myself to keep at it.
I will say that by her third day I was curious what would happen care no but curious yes. I was hoping she would grow and learn to be a better person but didn’t hold out much hope and while she did change I also kept wondering about her friends. What about them? She changes for the better great ok but what about the rest? Still stupid selfish brats not something the book addresses which I would be interested for the author to address in a future book. I would hope she would include these characters in a more mature place in their lives.
Lauren Oliver writes wonderfully and once I get past the annoying characters and the beginning when I couldn’t stand them and got into the story I loved her writing. So many beautiful ways in which she expressed; whether feeling a character was experiencing or a visual laid out for the reader. It’s nice when you have an idea in your head what the author wants you to see.
Over all I wouldn’t want to recommend this book it’s just not my taste. Having said that with the many reviews out there it sure appealed to a lot of people. Which really proves that one should really decide for themselves.
