Why is book insurance not a thing?? Pfft if my house burns down you think my top priority will be finding a new place to live? Nah man, the first place you’ll find me is at the bookstore trying to recreate my library
<p> <b>Me:</b> I wanna read this same old book<p/><b>Also me:</b> But there are lots of new books here and you have already read this one<p/><b>Me:</b> Yeah, you're right<p/><b>Also me:</b> Of course, it won't be the same thing. Like, you won't read about your favorite caracter and stuff<p/><b>Me:</b> Shit, I'm confused. What should I do?<p/><b>Also me:</b> I don't fucking know, I'm just as confused as you are<p/><b>Me:</b> Fuck... *pic up the same old book* Just once more<p/></p>
To be fair, I’m only on page 32 of Before I Fall, but so far the protag is really pissing me off. It kind of goes back and forth- She’s cute and daring -but there’s so many superficial things I’ve found and I //just// started.
I’m not usually one to hate on literature, though, so hopefully I’ll keep reading and she’ll grow on me.
“Special ed kids sit all the way down, at the tables closest to the classrooms, and then there are the freshmen tables, and then the sophomore tables, and then the junior tables. The senior section is at the very head of the cafeteria. It’s an octagon lined completely with windows. Okay, so it only looks out over the parking lot, but it’s still better than getting a straight view of the short-bus brigade dribbling their applesauce. No offense.”
Saying “no offense” will never take away the offense. Ever. “No offense” is an after thought, a safety net.
That last sentence? Was not okay.
Oh, that was terrible
That’s awful. Unless the author is trying to write a villain protagonist and make us actively dislike her, but I thoroughly doubt that’s the case.
Also also, I feel like that’s really inaccurate for teenagers nowadays. There may be some jerks out there, but in all of my experience as a high school student and then as a substitute teacher, I have never met a student who looks down on special ed kids. Every interaction I’ve ever seen has been accommodating and kind. That sentence makes the author seem out of touch with how teenagers actually react their peers.
Yes!! I agree. Here’s some other things the protagonist has narrated ((referenced when I was calling her superficial))
So in a scene on pages 23 and 24, the protag is taking a pop quiz which she cheats off of the girl next to her. She cheats off her without her knowing for the first two questions, but on the third, she can’t see the answer. Protag asks the girl for a pen ((even though Protag already has one)) and steals the last answer without the girl knowing. What really pisses me off, is that the girl ends up getting in trouble for talking during the quiz ((“‘The pen. Does it work?’ she whispers a little louder.”))
“It’s pretty shocking for a lowerclassman to have the balls to speak to a senior, and it annoys me for a second.” ((Page 28))
((About a boy named Kent)) “but as soon as he hit middle school, he started getting weirder and weirder.” “But the real deal breaker is this: he actually wears a bowler hat. To school.” “The worst thing is he could be cute. … But he has to screw it up by being such a freak.” ((Pages 31 and 32))
O____O I just don’t have words. What an awful protagonist.
I’m very optimistic that she’ll have a complex character arc and even if she doesn’t become a great or even decent person, the character arc can be complex enough to be interesting.
I have to give props- The storyline is hella interesting so far. Interesting enough for me ignore how much I dislike the protag and keep reading.
From what I’ve seen of the synopsis and the movie, which I’m kind of looking forward to seeing, is that we’re supposed to hate the protagonist. The whole point of the story is her reliving one part of her life until she gets it right and then she dies or something.
Yeah, she may not be realistic to the majority of teenagers today but unfortunately I have met a few who are like that.
Anyway, i think the whole point of the story is her later finding redemption or something, I don’t normally like stories like this because I feel the writer’s focus so much on the making the character terrible and hated at first but I saw the trailer so I kind of want to see the movie.
When you’re finished with the book, can please let me know how it is? Does it get better or stay terrible? Thanks.
What the actual h*ll?
I sincerely hope that the entire point of the book/movie is that she realizes what a garbage person she is, and actively works to make amends…and even then, I think I’d like her to get a nasty comeuppance…
But it always seems like in stories like these, the people being treated horribly are basically just props for the protagonist to bounce their character arc off of. They’re used as proof that the character is awful, and then again as proof that the character is now “a good person.” They deserve better than that, and the people who identify with such characters sure as h*ll deserve better representation.
That is the point of the book/movie. At leas that’s what I’ve seen from the trailer. It’s a redemption plot.
It’s sort of like Groundhog Day, where she has to redeem herself to make the loop stop, so she has to actually be a good person to achieve her goal–hence, the horrible character throughout chapters one and two. The narrative and everything about it is driven by Sam’s actions and the ways she changes, which is definitely noted through her actions and comments from her friends. I think the reason this story works so well because it’s not a plot with characters, it’s a plot about characters and characters that change it. I honestly can’t say much other than it gets better and you find yourself rooting for her in the end?
