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One theme of the book is bullying and its impact, and I thought the treatment of bullying was well done. Another was living your life to the fullest. Thoughts?

I think the bullying was portrayed very well. It showed the impact from the viewpoint of both the victim and the bullies. It was also very realistic. I'm not sure if this book was a good representation of living life to the fullest. Sam didn't actually do much on the day she relived. She was mostly in school all day. I think it was more about living your life better and continually trying to be a better person. Also, she was trying to get others to be better as well.

gali wrote:One theme of the book is bullying and its impact, and I thought the treatment of bullying was well done. Another was living your life to the fullest. Thoughts?

I agree with both of these. And I think another is that people can always change.

I can see the living life to the fullest. However, I think the book explores the complicated question of what that really is. Over the course of reliving the same day a few times, Sam progressively turns into someone who chooses to live her last day to the fullest in a way that doesn't involve getting drunk and just fooling around. Living life to the fullest can mean taking your sister out for a quiet hike to a secluded spot. Living your life to the fullest can mean showing some gentle appreciate or love to your parents on your way to school. It can mean going through the tough process of apologizing for mistakes and having mature conversations. Living life to the fullest doesn't mean one has to act like a wild, immature, and probably kind of foolish teenager.

I like a book like this because it leaves the reader to consider these different ideas. The books asks questions more than it provides answers. I like that.

Scott wrote:I can see the living life to the fullest. However, I think the book explores the complicated question of what that really is. Over the course of reliving the same day a few times, Sam progressively turns into someone who chooses to live her last day to the fullest in a way that doesn't involve getting drunk and just fooling around. Living life to the fullest can mean taking your sister out for a quiet hike to a secluded spot. Living your life to the fullest can mean showing some gentle appreciate or love to your parents on your way to school. It can mean going through the tough process of apologizing for mistakes and having mature conversations. Living life to the fullest doesn't mean one has to act like a wild, immature, and probably kind of foolish teenager.

I like a book like this because it leaves the reader to consider these different ideas. The books asks questions more than it provides answers. I like that.

-- February 3rd, 2016, 4:48 pm --

Thimble wrote:I think the bullying was portrayed very well. It showed the impact from the viewpoint of both the victim and the bullies. It was also very realistic. I'm not sure if this book was a good representation of living life to the fullest. Sam didn't actually do much on the day she relived. She was mostly in school all day. I think it was more about living your life better and continually trying to be a better person. Also, she was trying to get others to be better as well.

I thought another theme was that things you think you want may not match up to the reality of having it (e.g. Rob, Daimler). This also shows up when Sam goes to Kent'state party sober and ends up with a completely different perspective on how the party goers all look from an outsider's point of view.

anonanemone wrote:I thought another theme was that things you think you want may not match up to the reality of having it (e.g. Rob, Daimler). This also shows up when Sam goes to Kent'state party sober and ends up with a completely different perspective on how the party goers all look from an outsider's point of view.

Yes! That was probably my favorite thing about the book. When she started seeing everybody in their drunken stupors having a good time, the way she saw it was perfect!
I agree though that the bullying theme and living your life to the fullest theme were both well portrayed.

I enjoyed the perspective they had on bullying and the outcomes portrayed.

I thought the author did an excellent job portraying the harmful effects of bullying. I was very lucky in high school in that I was never really bullied. I definitely got teased a little bit by some people but at that time I never really thought about what life was like for the kids who were constantly bullied. There were some mean people back then and this book definitely gave me insight into the hell that they must've gone through.

You know it's funny but until someone actually mentioned something about one of the themes being appreciating life, the actual theme didn't even really stick out to me. It's really interesting though because I definitely agree with it. I guess I got caught up in Sam's world of being the classic "Mean Girl" instead of focusing on her getting her life back, even though that was the main . Just focus of the actual story. The more I think about it, however, the more I realize how cohesive that theory is. Even looking at it from a bullying perspective, a bully is never really satisfied with life. The victim of said bullying isn't any better. As we see with Juliet, being bullied makes your life awful and not seem to be worth living. You can't appreciate life whether you are bullying or being bullied because the world seems so dim. It takes the appreciation of life away in so many different ways and perspectives, and this novel seems to capture all of the ways in which life is being taken away from each character beautifully

I like that the theme of being a better person and having a new perspective on "old friends" (Sam's group of friends) and "old situations" (the same schedule over and over at school) came up. I believe another theme that ties into those ones is owning up to one's mistakes. Especially during the teen and young adult stages of life. Sam is seeing how the bullying effect Juliet and how ditching her family makes her younger sister feel. She becomes more mature about her decisions and sees the consequences her actions have.

Bullying is mentioned here quite a bit. While bullying is a main focal point of the book, I do not agree that bullying is really portrayed here well at all. What we really see here is the viewpoint of a bully (within a group of bullies) who starts to realize what bullying can do to a person. I believe to really see the full effects of bullying, the story must be written from Juliet's perspective. What we are able to see is the culminating effects of bullying without further insight into the mental damage bullying can do.

Regarding themes of the book, I believe the underlying theme is making selfless decisions throughout every day and recognizing mistakes make and trying to correct them.

I think...other than Bullying, the book also focuses on the everyday choices you make and how it affects the people in your life. Spending time with your family and telling them how important they are...not forgetting your old friends just because you have new friends...

Sam changes after each death - to me change is the theme (one of the main themes, at least). I think we need to consider the title, too. Before I Fall, not After I Fall.

anonanemone wrote:I thought another theme was that things you think you want may not match up to the reality of having it (e.g. Rob, Daimler). This also shows up when Sam goes to Kent'state party sober and ends up with a completely different perspective on how the party goers all look from an outsider's point of view.

This definitely stood out to me too! Not just Rob, but other things that she was content with before she died -- including her friendships -- are brought into question throughout the course of the book.