Format: e-ARCSource: Publisher via Edelweiss
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: September 9, 2014
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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? Amy Zhang’s haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.
My Thoughts:
I’d be lying if I said this book was easy to read. The writing style is so unique and it bounces between multiple POVs and from past to present, that in turn made it a little complicated to keep up with what was going on and at times I got a teeny bit confused. However, I can see why Zhang wrote this book in such a way, it worked for this story.
Liz Emerson has it all, at least it looks that way to everyone who knows her. But Liz is good at hiding her thoughts and her feelings from everyone. One day Liz decides that the world would be a better place without her so she makes a plan for her suicide.
At the beginning of this book Liz seems like your typical mean girl, she gets what she wants no matter who she has to step on to get there. But, as the story unfolds we realize that there is more to her than meets the eye and Liz is just a troubled girl who wants to do better, but can’t.
I have to give Zhang props for the unique narration, I spent a good deal of this book racking my brain, trying to figure out who it could be, but of course I was completely off track. There’s no way I could have guessed the narrator in a million years, because it’s something that I’ve never seen before.
Overall, Falling Into Place is a wonderful and heartbreaking story and I can see fans of If I Stay and Before I Fall (I loved both of them) falling in love with this book. If you’re looking for a unique and emotional read, then you should definitely give this one a try.
