Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang | Blind Date With A Book Via My Public Library

source via printed version of The Napanee Beaver

My local library hosted a BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK in February and I was lucky enough to pick one from their YA section. It had been a while since I'd read a young adult book, so I figured this was a great chance to read something new and possibly out of my comfort zone, because I went into this one blind.

At first I wasn't sure about the book, but in the end I actually really enjoyed it. I received Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang. It's written from the point of view of someone close to Liz (but I'm not saying who because that part was interesting to figure out). The timeline flips back and forth between different ages in Liz's life and different times leading up to the accident. I actually enjoyed the switching and watching the story unfold like flashbacks in a sense.

Liz is a popular girl in school, but also one of the mean girl type high school students. She has her little clique and they pick on so many people in school. She has lost the person she used to be

and has been replaced by someone who doesn't care who she hurts, destroys or abandons. Then suddenly she starts to think differently and feel differently - but not in a good way. She becomes suicidal and it's an emotional journey through the flashbacks of how she came to be that girl and how she feels helpless to change. 

“Liz looked back and counted the bodies, all those lives she had ruined simply by existing. So she chose to stop existing.” 

Her two friends, Kennie and Julia seem to follow her lead in everything they do - rudeness to others, the kind of guys they date, the attitudes, etc. Only when the incident happens do either of her friends really wake up and see what they've been doing. They were too oblivious to the things happening around them that they didn't even realize that Liz needed help. Liz believes she is the cause and effect of everything around her, but she doesn't seem to believe that she change any of it.

And the only other person that's worth mentioning is Liam. The one boy who has loved Liz since fifth grade, who still sees more in her than she sees in herself. The one boy who wants nothing but the best for her even though she almost ruined his life. Even her best friends realize what a good guy he is and whisper to give Liam a chance. I think every girl needs a Liam in their life....

“Please," he whispers. "remember the sky.”

I was an emotional basket case during the last quarter of the book. I wanted so many things for the characters and was worried I'd not get my way. You'll have to read it to see what I mean.... 

“It struck him that perhaps she thought just as many thoughts in a minute as he did, felt just as many emotions, inhaled and exhaled just as he did. And it was then that he began to fall in love with her for the second time, for the same reason that he had picked up his flute again: because he believed in broken things.” 

Side note: I dislike the cover so much - I don't find it interesting at all. Yes it pretty shows the accident on the cover and all of the math needed to understand Newton's Laws like in the book, but it's just meh. And as much as everyone says don't judge a book by it's cover...it is so hard to not judge at first glance. I'm glad I gave this book a chance. 

ETA:
You can check out an amazing review of FALLING INTO PLACE over at Little Birdie Books. 

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang

Published: September 9, 2014

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Pages: 304

Received: from library as a blind date

Find Online: Goodreads | Amazon

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.

About the Author: 

Amy Zhang used to have lots of imaginary friends. When people told her to grow up, she turned her imaginary friends into characters and started telling their stories. When she isn't writing, she can be found playing piano, hitting balls on the tennis court, or struggling through her weekly existential crisis. She lives in Wisconsin with her family.

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