Bogormen

Title: Falling into Place
Author: Amy Zhang
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~5.5hrs
Date read: October, 2014

On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road.

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High's most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force - Liz didn't understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn't understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect?


I had this recommended very highly by a friend of mine who works for the publisher. I downloaded the sample from Amazon, and liked what I read, so purchased it from Audible.

I'm glad I did. It's a really, really good book! It made me go on detours to continue listening, which is always a good sign :) With shades of "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher and "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman it is obviously a very sad read, but I didn't find it as emotionally manipulative as it could have been. It was horrible to read about the kids being bullied, and how Liz Emerson slowly got convinced that suicide was the only way out.

I liked the way the book jumped in time - the chapter headers kept it from getting confusing, and the patchwork style of the book really worked for me.

I also liked that the ultimate outcome was kept under wraps until the very end. Just like in "If I Stay" it isn't made obvious right from the start, but enough hints are given that the reader is prepared for it to go either way.

The author was 18 when she wrote this! I'm terribly impressed!