Before I Fall  Response Susan Lester 809

                  Teens have many relationships, with their friends, their boyfriends or girlfriends, their parents, and sometimes all of these relationships, aren't good ones. In the book, Before I Fall, written by Lauren Oliver, is about a girl named Sam who lived a life of an unpopular girl until she was in 7th grade. In 7th grade the most popular girl, Lindsay took her under her wing and made her popular. That meant she was able to have any boy of her dreams, and live the life she wanted. Her three best friends, Elody, Ally, and Lindsay rule the school, and to go along with her perfect life she has a perfect boyfriend, Rob. Well thats how it seems anyway. Throughout the book you realize that Sam's relationships with her friends and boyfriend, aren't that great. There are many flaws in them.


                Sam and her friends are the most popular people in the school. Every girl envy's them, their popularity, their friendship, but really, they don't have any idea how bad their friendship is. Before Lindsay and Sam started becoming friends, she teased Sam constantly. She teased her and chanted, "Whats white and red all over? Samantha Kingston!" She even got the other kids to tease her about it.   Lindsay also sometimes, even though they are friends now, teases her about when she use to go horse back riding. Lindsay would say, "Oh, you love the woods, right Sam? You and your little horsie would go there a lot." Even though she was joking, it still really hurt Sam. She loved horseback riding. Throughout the book she would have flashbacks of when she was younger, and it would be her and her horse. She would mention how it would be so peaceful with her and her horse, and she said how much she enjoyed it, it sounded like she liked it more than her real friends. That shows how there relationship was bad, almost as if it is a fake relationship. Its better to have real friends, than fake ones that are popular.  Her friends aren't the only bad relationship she has, she also has a very bad relationship with her boyfriend, Rob. Sam use to be obsessed with Rob ever since she was in the 3rd grade, and when they started dating, it felt unreal. But as she started to get to know him more and more, she started to realize he isn't such a great guy. He gives sloppy kisses, always accuses her of cheating, and takes her for granted. But she stays with him anyways because he has been her life long crush. I think that Sam definitely liked her life a lot better before she was popular, but she hasn't realized it yet.



           Overall, although some teenagers may think that their relationships are great, they may not realize how much pain it causes them emotionaly. They don't realize that they could be so much happier without the things that they think make them happy. For example Sam thinks that her boyfriend and friends, keep her together and make her happy. I feel that a lot of teenagers could learn from this book and realize that many teenagers have bad relationships, but maybe not realizing it. Everyone has bad relationships, you have to be able to figure it out whats wrong in it, and fix it.