Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
參賽者：曾〇菁（法學一）
名次：第二名
書名：Before I Fall
得獎作品：
Everyone must have some experiences about “death”, maybe through one’s beloved relatives, friends or even pets. Most of them caught this opportunity to ponder on some life issues. For instance, “What is the meaning of life?” “Is there really a heaven or hell?” “Is there any destiny target waiting us to achieve?” Moreover, some people may had thought about how will the fateful moment happened and how will they feel when they have to face their own “death”. If you had once thought about the issue above, you can never miss《Before I fall》.
The cover of 《Before I fall》 is a girl lying on a meadow, it made me inferred that it must be a teenagers’ romance. Actually, I don’t like this kind of story and I didn’t pay much attention on this novel. However, thanks to my friend’s highly recommending, I fortunately didn’t miss this interesting novel. Instead of the love between two adolescents,《Before I fall》is talking about a girl’s death and what she had realized in her “die process”. The girl, whose name is Samantha, was one of the most popular girls in her high school, she had a wonderful high school life with her friends. But just as no morning sun last the whole day, she died in the car accident when her friend drove her home after a party. However, it’s just the beginning of the story.
Samantha felt that herself had already been dead, but she then be woke up by her alarm clock and found that it was the morning of her doom day! She had to repeat that day again and again. At first, she tried to avoid things that may lead to her death, but what she had done was all in vain because she would still die in other ways. Even if she had successfully avoided it, she got in another repeat after she slept. Meanwhile, through experiencing her doom day again and again, she found out that even the smallest decision she made that day would cause a vast effect at the end of the day. Though it made her so confused and had tortured her so much, she discovered some hidden facts in her life, found out who really loves her and found out who only wanted to use her. Most important of all, she found out that the most significant thing in her life is her beloved family. After “practicing” so many times, Samantha found the best way for her to live the very last day of her life.
In《Before I fall》, the author used the element “the butterfly effect” to make the story more attractive. Because of the effect, Samantha had seven totally different February 12 to found out many secrets and amazing facts and finally realize what is the most important thing in her life that is worth it to catch the last chance to spend her last day on. But the heartbreaking thing is that she got the point too lately. At least she got the point at the last chance and made herself a better ending, but how about we normal people in the real world? Do we have the chance to regret and to change anything at the last day of our lives? In the story, Samantha had drawn a line in her room and forbad her mother to get through it for protecting her privacy. But in the morning of the last day of the repeating ones, Samantha almost gave up to deal with the confusing situation because she thought she had arranged all things in the right place. She thought that she deserved a great ending but what she found out after she opened her eyes was that she was on her bed with another February 12. Feeling Frustrated, She powerlessly lay on her bed. Samantha’s mother came upstairs to get her out of her bed to go to school and found Samantha was not right. Without hesitation, Samantha’s mother stepped over the line and hugged Samantha.
Though the author didn't explain why Samantha has this unbelievable experience, the story is delicate enough to inspire me. Once I get close to “death”, maybe do something dangerous or when some of my relatives passed away, I would think about the questions about meaning of life again. Sometimes I may not only think about the meaning of life but also what we should pursue and cherish. Moreover, I may think about why human beings should have to experience those complicated expressions and cope with those complex relationships. Are those above gifts or torment from god?
After finishing reading《Before I fall》, I saw the movie《Seven Days in Heaven（父後七日）》, another excellent movie which focus on the love between family members, the meaning of life and the rituals of traditional Chinese funeral. It's great by using a humor way to see those sad things, which made the audience have a stronger feeling to the ironical points by many intensive contrasts. Compare to《Seven Days in Heaven》,《Before I fall》has more focus on teenagers’ bullying issues and their rebelliousness in the gloomy salad days, which makes them neglect they family. I think that is the main idea that the author wants us to realize ── we should not only cherish our family but catch every opportunity to enjoy in our family love because life is always fickle.
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