September 2, 2007 at 5:29 pm
· Filed under Teen Tearjerkers
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Scott has incurable leukemia. She is going to die, probably before next spring. “It’s really going to happen…I really won’t ever go back to school…I’ll never go to college or have a job…I won’t travel, never earn money, never drive, never fall in love or leave home or get my own house. It’s really, really true.” But Tessa isn’t about to take the matter of death lying down. Instead, she composes a list of all the things she wants to do before the cancer takes her. Have sex. Spend a day saying nothing but “yes” to every question she’s asked. Shoplift. Try drugs (besides the kind she takes for her cancer treatment). Drive a car. And maybe, if she’s lucky, fall in love. Meanwhile, her surrounding family and friends each struggle with their own feelings about Tessa’s impending death: her desperate father, who spends his days searching the Internet for alternative therapies; her distant mother, who copes by pretending everything is alright; her little brother Cal who fusses over her one moment and taunts her the next; her best friend Zoey, who manages to be both selfish and supportive; and finally, her next-door-neighbor Adam, who, in the last months of Tessa’s life, unexpectedly becomes the love of her life. But no matter how much they all care about her, Tessa will have to finish the list–and her life– on her own. My adolescent friends, I never thought I would find the book that could knock my much beloved and oft-read copy of Norma Klein’s sob-inducing Sunshine (also on this list) out of the top tearjerker spot in my heart. But Before I Die has done it. Like Sunshine, it’s not sappy, corny, or saccharine. It’s just a very clear-eyed, realistic portrayal of what it means to die young, and how it feels to die from this particular disease. Downham pulls no punches, she takes you with Tessa right to the very end, an ending that you won’t forget, now or ever. To heck with the box of tissue, you’re gonna need stock in Kleenex to finish this one. But believe me, I’m not crying when I say this is one of the best books of 2007! (4 weepies)
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ashley said,
October 9, 2007 @ 8:55 am
this book sounds really sad i really want to read it i started to cry when u first started to read the summary!!!
ashley said,
October 9, 2007 @ 8:56 am
this book sounds really sad i started to tear up when i first read it i really wanna read this book i will cry:(!!
Helen said,
November 19, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Read “Deadline” by Chris Crutcher .. outstanding book, too.
Jen Hubert said,
November 19, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
I have to say, Helen, Deadline was not my favorite, although a good one to recommend along with this title. I think you either connect with that book emotionally and just unabashedly love it, or you end up picking apart all the improbably parts (I’m a picker). My favorite Crutcher is still Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, although of his newer works, I’m a fan of Whale Talk, which I included in my Reading Rants book.
Beth said,
December 1, 2007 @ 6:41 pm
I just finished reading this — it took big pieces out of my last 3 days because I didn’t want to put it down. Kleenex yes, but there’s so much to feel good about in this book. And it has absolutely the best scenes for “first sex” and “first time making love” that I’ve ever ever read.
Diane said,
January 23, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
Downham’s Before I Die is an honest portrayal of a teenager with a terminal illness. She’s scared, irrational and wanting to experience life fast-the good, the bad and the ugly. Is she self-centered, absolutely. Does she whine? Yes. Who wouldn’t when their life is going to end in a matter of months. But she fines love in an unexpected place and has one real friend. This book has award winner written all over it!
mitzi said,
July 11, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
i really want to read this book.
this is my first time hearing about the book, but im glad that i did know about ie. im definetly gonna be going to library tomorow morning!!
thanks jen!!