Epic Stacks and Before I Fall

Good afternoon awesome people,

Sorry i haven't been on in a couple of days, it wasn't my fault (mostly...okay maybe it was, but the ball takes the blame!). Alright, for those sane people for wonder what the frick i'm talking about, yesterday i had a bit of a face plant whilst playing basketball.
I was just dribbling down the court, cool as can be, looking as refreshed as if i had just gotten out of bed (NOT), when a THE BALL OF DOOM (yes, it does need that name) decided to hit the floor wrong and start rolling. I, with all my grace and elegance, then proceeded to step on it, and begin falling.
But no! That was not enough humiliation, because then one of the girls on the opposite team decided that it would be fun to bash right into me and land on me in an awkward position.
It hurt like hell, is all i will say, and yes, there was a lot of swearing and possibly a bit of crying and screaming before i got taken to hospital in the trusty vehicle that is a Ute with a knee almost as big as THE BALL OF DOOM itself.

As soon as i got there they dosed me up on morphine, and then i can't remember much but the doctor 'said' i had a partial MRI done. After waiting for 3 hours in my druggy, happy state, Dr. Dunc decided to come back and casually inform me that i've torn my cartilage and my medial ligament. So now i am stuck in this awful brace, with huge armpit bruises from the crutches and no hope of doing anything but wobbling pathetically for a few weeks. *fun*

And here it is, in all it's glory! What i like to call, the ugliest thing on earth. It's almost worse than a cast, but at least i can take it off when i want to (that comes especially handy in the shower).
For those of you who have been unlucky enough to sustain serious injuries you know how painful it is, and for those lucky souls who haven't, i envy you, majorly.
Anyway, moving on from my self pity, i have prepared a review on what was one of my favourite books of 2010, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.
If you haven't read it, then you most definitely should, and if you have, take a look at her new release Delirium, which i can also highly recommend.

Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver, is a captivating novel told from the point of view of the main protagonist Samantha Kingston. This is her story of an extraordinary day that was repeated seven times, giving her a chance to change her, and her loved ones lives, forever. Before I Fall conveys a powerful message that won’t be forgotten, and the reader will assuredly find this book a well-written, deeply thoughtful book, that is well worth the time and effort to read.

A key point of this story is the plot, which is highly unusual yet strangely appealing at the same time. Samantha is supposed to have the perfect life, but on Valentines Day 2009, everything begins to unravel. After a frightful confrontation at a party with a girl she once bullied, Sam’s friend Lindsay crashes their car into a tree on the way home and it is implied that Sam dies. But instead of moving on Sam wakes up to find it is still February 14^th, and she discovers that she has seven chances to relive the day she died. Over the course of that bizarre week, Sam learns that her life was very far from perfect, and she made many mistakes she can now try to undo.

Most of this book takes place in Sam’s school and her friend Kevin’s house, where the party takes place. It is told in first person by Sam, giving you an inside look into her private thoughts and feelings whilst these astonishing events take place. Whilst this novel would be classified as having a strong fiction or drama theme, there are also some supernatural elements that make it more compelling. A strong theme carried throughout this book is the theory of life and death, and if you knew you were going to die, what would you do?

Ms. Oliver has cleverly mixed both real issues and fantastical events to somehow make a believable and interesting novel, with the refreshingly down-to-earth narration of a troubled young woman. Sam is spoilt at the beginning, yet over the book she begins to change for the better, and becomes less selfish. She is someone easily understood and openly honest. Her best friend Lindsay, a victim of parental abuse, is another interesting take on an adolescent, and shows just how your childhood affects you later on in life.

Juliet is Sam’s counterpart, and the one thing that makes this story infinitely more real. Her constant torture in and out of school has deeply affected her, and she is a symbol of the deeper messages in the novel. The unravelling of her story is engrossing, and allows the reader access to both sides, the bully’s, and the victim’s, which is something most do not get to see and is unique to this novel.

Lauren Oliver has created a novel focussed on some of the darkest aspects of humanity, although she manages to find a positive and turn it into something inspiring. Sam’s emotional journey during the events of this book is a story that will captivate even the most disinterested audience, and will stick most firmly in my mind as an incredible book that I will always remember.

Read it! You won't be disappointed (unless your a party pooper, then go and spoil someone elses party, mines too epic :D)