Synopsis:
Samantha Kingston happens to be part of the popular crowd at her school. One day she wakes up and goes through her life like any other normal day. On this day though, she dies in a terrible car crash at the end of the night when leaving a party that goes wrong. Yet, the next morning she wakes up and everything is set back to that day again. Samantha realizes that even the smallest changes to that day have big impacts on herself, her family, her friends, and other people in her school. This goes on for a a couple of days, before Sam realizes that she must change something or be doomed to die and not repeat that same day over again.
Thoughts:
I didn't really love this novel, but I really liked the theme and message that Lauren Oliver way trying to convey to readers. I've read a lot of novels where the main characters are "mean girls" and they learn something that changes their lives, etc. This novel tries to reach young adults and show them that their decisions, how they speak, what they do or don't do really has an impact on their lives and the lives of others. The main character, Sam, gets to see other students outside her clique for the first time in her groundhog day-esque life, and it changes her perception of herself, her friends, and her life. This is what helps her finally make the decision which ends the repeating loop of that day for her.
Book VS Movie:
I read the book first in November of 2016, and then watched the movie when it was recently released in March of 2017. I thought the message of the book was really wonderful and very important for young adults to read and understand, but it wasn't a book that I really loved. I wondered how this would translate on to the big screen since I knew it was coming out as a movie. First of all, I think that the movie was well-made and they chose very good actors and actresses for the various roles. Zoey Deutch, who plays Sam, did a fantastic job portraying Sam who is on the edge of her group of friends and fighting between her instinct to be popular and her instinct to change and understand why she is caught in this time loop. Another stand out was Logan Miller, who plays the lovesick Kent McFuller. Kent is a wonderful character that loves Sam even though she has become one of the "mean girls." He is sweet and kind and constantly trying to show Sam who she really is and who she really can be. Kent is the ultimate reason why Sam changes and is able to change the events leading to the time loop. I thought that the movie had a difficult time conveying the small subtle differences that her time loop days had on other side characters. It was hard to see those in the movie, whereas in the book you are able to delve much deeper into those side character and really see how her choices changed their lives. The book allows you to explore those intricacies that the movie with a time limit must skim over in order to focus on the bigger plot events and climax of the story. Overall, the movie stayed pretty close to the book with only minor differences in events. Both the book and movie were quite powerful and did very well in sales.
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