- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: DAVID FICKLING BOOKS (2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385654014
- ISBN-13: 978-0385654012
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 16 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Heartfelt,
By
This review is from: Before I Die (Paperback)
Sixteen-year-old Tessa has been diagnosed with cancer and its terminal-she IS going to die. Tessa decides to make a list of all the things that she wants to experience and do before her final day comes and first on her list is: sex!!As the story proceeds, Tessa continues to work off her list one by one interspersed with visits to doctor's offices, hospital stays for transfusions and other medical procedures. Keeping true to her list is her main priority. Her younger brother Cal can be a pain in the butt but deep down he loves his sister, and Zoey, Tessa's zany friend is a weird one for sure. Unfortunately, her parents are divorced but Tessa lives with her Dad who attends all her appointments with her and holds her hand during yet another lumbar puncture, a very painful procedure. Her mother is somewhat distant and Tessa doesn't ever remember her mother telling her that she loves her. In the mix she finds a love truer than she ever thought possible but at the same time realizes that it's not always easy getting what you want and that what you want isn't always what you need. By the end of the book I was literally bawling my eyes out. Her death was written beautifully but I was so emotionally involved in the story that I felt I was standing by the side of all the family members as she took her last breath. The book was uplifting and not written at all in a sad, cold, detached way that many novels about death are written, but it was rather life-affirming and happy if that's possible to believe. As with any death, it is painful, but that of a child or teenager is even more so. Great read!!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too,
By TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Before I Die (Hardcover)
I devoured this book in two days. It called to me. Beckoned me across the room and begged me to pick it up and finish what I'd started. If I hadn't needed to eat and sleep, I'd have finished it in mere hours. It was that vital to keep going.Tessa Scott keeps going, too. She keeps writing on the wall and adding to the list of things she wants to do before she dies. Tess's life is being driven from her by leukemia before she herself can even drive a car. It's not fair. She wants a boyfriend. She wants normal. Tessa pushes. She pushes against the people who want to be near her. She pushes against the rules she's been forced to follow throughout her brief life. She pushes against death. She keeps breathing. In and out. It's simple. Except, it's not that simple. This book gives a promise. This book keeps its promise. This book is real. It is deep and winding and important. It is beautiful and strong and eloquent and everlasting. It is just beautiful. Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (97 customer reviews) 99 of 104 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not an easy read, but well worth the time,
By Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Before I Die (Hardcover)
Before I Die by Jenny Downham was the most difficult book I've ever had to read. Ever harder to review. I finished it a month ago, but it's taken me this much time to allow some of the ache to go away before I could get it down. It's the story of Tessa, who is 17 and dying of cancer. She lives with her father and younger brother and occasionally sees her estranged mother. Tessa has made of a list of the things that she wants to do before she dies. Many of the things on the list are stereotypical of the average teen: have sex, try drugs. Others are deeper: fall in love, not say no to anyone for an entire day. She completes much of her list, but the ramifications of some of them aren't what she hoped for. Sex with someone she doesn't know or love doesn't fulfill her; drugs are strange and take away what little happiness she has in life. Tessa's father struggles with his daughter's impending death. He feeds her organic food and vitamins in the unspoken hope that somehow, something will change. He and Tessa fight each other as she tries to live what little life she has left to the fullest and he tries to protect her. How do you put limits on or ground a teenager who is going to die? How can you keep her from experiences when all she wants is to feel? She swoops in and out of depression, refusing the leave the bed for days, then suddenly wanting adventure. Her best friend gets pregnant, her parents start moving closer to each other, she falls in love with the boy next door; all sorts of exciting experiences show themselves just as she can't be there to see how any of it turns out. I was shocked to find out that the author of this book was a middle-aged woman; she speaks so authentically as a teenage girl. This book is heartbreaking and uplifting all at once. Tessa is so real that I found myself hoping against hope that somehow the ending would change. But her peace and acceptance toward death was moving. As Tessa's soul drifts away on the final page, so do the words. As the mother of teenage children, this was an especially hard read, but I'm glad I did. Tessa discovers that life is worth living the best you can, even if the best you can is only 17 years.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
daily life stripped of everything but life itself,
By Elvisettey "elvisette" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Before I Die (Hardcover)
Before I Die will truly knock the breath out of you. Tess, the heroine, is dying of leukemia. Rather than spending her final days in bed, she makes a list of things she wants to do before she dies and sets about to accomplish them.Such a simple premise, such a complicated book. Making a resolution to say "yes" to everything is hard work, Tess finds-- it brings priorities like friends and family into conflict. It does require some suspension of disbelief to believe that the boy who will love her just so happens to be the boy she doesn't know who lives next door, but, given his character, I'll take the suspension and run with it. This is truly a "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" book, except Tess does realize how valuable the people around her are-- they are the last voices she hears as she drifts off into the inevitable end. Oddly, the male characters are better drawn than the female supporting characters. One wouldn't expect such a sharp dichotomy, but it seems as if the author poured all of her narrative energies into Tess and didn't have enough for the other women: Tess' mom makes rare appearances, and the character of her best friend, Zoey, is rather flat. Zoey in particular should be drawn more strongly because she represents vitality and life but also consequences; she is a person living life chaotically, without a list, so to speak. The novel is heartbreaking (even to my rather gruff heart), but it doesn't bog you in depression; rather, it makes you want to find something to do and just do it. The spareness of Tess' life, made so by her illness, allows her to enrich her remaining time with meaning and fulfillment. In her final moments, we know that her plan worked. 19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Touching,
By Julia Flyte - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Before I Die (Hardcover)
Tessa is 16 and dying of cancer. She knows that she has only months to live and she creates a list of things she wants to experience before she dies: having sex, trying drugs and falling in love being just three of them. This is not your usual teen lit fare. It is a very moving book that feels like a realistic account of a teenager struggling to come to terms with the fact that her life will be over almost before it's begun. Sometimes Tessa is self-pitying, angry or apathetic - but she is also real and brave and you care about her.This is a quick book to read - it took me a day. It's fairly predictable and aside from Tessa, the characters are pretty sketchy. However its simplicity also makes it feels more genuine, as if it really was penned by a 16 year old. It makes you think about and appreciate your own friends, your family - your very life. Despite the subject matter it doesn't endorse casual sex (indeed, the potential consequences are very clear!) nor drug use. I wouldn't hesitate to give it to a teenager to read, although I would probably hand over a large box of tissues along with it. It's the kind of book that touches your heart. |
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