Review: Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang

Book Title: Falling Into Place

Author: Amy Zhang

Publish Date: September 9th, 2014

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Greenwillow Books via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Okay, let's see if I can get my thoughts all written down before I start crying. Holy cow, this was such a powerful book. Emotional punches were packed tightly within this book so it was akin to a roller coaster, albeit, an emotional one. Knowing a teenager wrote this, seriously makes me feel like a big fat slacker.

I cannot say enough amazing things about the prose. Oh my goodness, it was beautifully written. It was emotional, it was easy to relate to and it was written in a way that would ordinarily confuse the heck outta me. But this time, I wasn't confused. I was too drawn in to be confused by the fact that the timeline of the book wasn't straightforward. There were flashbacks and a lot of jumping around to different parts of the story.

Sometimes when the writing is really beautiful, character development suffers. Happily, that was not the case with this book. Liz, her mom, her friends and even the boy she bullied, were all well rounded, complex characters which was another thing that I loved. No, the characters as a whole were not likable characters, but each of them had their own redeeming moments.

This book also had some tough subjects attached to it. Rape, Suicide, bullying, teen pregnancy, drug & alcohol use. These subjects were weaved into the story well which was great to see as often it feels as if the author has bit off more than she can chew. Clearly, that was not the case with this author.

Books like this tend to be on the preachy side, but thankfully this one was not. It did make me think a lot about my own life and what it means to be a friend, to love someone. Life is complicated, messy and like this book, it rarely goes in a linear fashion. I absolutely adored this book and I cannot wait to get my hands on a finished copy of it. 5 stars to this beautifully written book about life and the choices we make every single day.