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Before I Die | 
| Author: Jenny Downham
Publisher: Definitions
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £4.36
You Save: £2.63 (38%)
New (32) Used (14) from £0.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 505
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1862304874
EAN: 9781862304871
ASIN: 1862304874
Publication Date: April 10, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 44 more reviews...
 Unforgetable October 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of the best books i have ever read. I am thirteen years old and this was very easy to read but still hard to put down. I raced to bed every night just to read it. In one word - amazing. =)
 Something NOT to read before you die... October 25, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was recommended this book by Amazon whilst searching for other books to read. Although it sounded good at the time, I didn't buy the book and forgot about it for a few months. When I saw the book on a shelf at work whilst on a break, I immediately remembered all the praise and good reviews it had recieved, and bought it there and then.
I began reading on the way home but the first few pages didn't really grab me - the main character, Tessa babbled on about every small detail of what was happening to her at that moment, how she could hear people unzipping their coats and such. I'm all for details and hanging on, but it was overdone.
As I continued reading, in the hope things might get better, it became clear that Tessa wasn't particularly developed as a character and I was finding it very difficult to see how people had cried over her eventual death at the end of the book - there's nothing to get attached to. She wasn't particularly nice as a person, was rude to her family constantly and although she was dying, didn't want to be her own person or find herself and what she wanted - she was still wrapped up in pleasing her "friend" Zoey. This alleged friend seems to forget that Tessa is terminally ill and takes her out to go clubbing with the main aim of finding her a guy - any guy for Tessa to lose her virginity to. Strangely enough, Tessa doesn't seem to mind all that much about the way Zoey treats her; doing anything Zoey tells her to. This even includes walking up a man in the street and telling him she loves him; yet another seemingly pointless task designed to amuse her so called friend and revealing the sort of teenager Tessa would have continued to be, had she not become terminally ill.
For the first 20 or so pages it mostly leads up to this final scene where Tessa goes go home with a stranger Zoey picks out for her in a club; after debating about whether to go home with him and get on with number one of her list, Tessa goes. What followed next was with a complete lack of emotions and feelings - the whole event itself was over with the exact words "This is it. It's really happening. I'm living it now. Sex.". Not only that, but previously, Tessa hadn't even kissed anyone, making this whole escapade highly unlikely, and had it occurred, I would have expected her to show a lot more emotion - she's dying, this is it, this is supposed to be her one chance to go out into the world and discover, learn, find out.
All in all, it feels like the author had a good idea for a plot, but the characters are cold, empty and I really couldn't have cared less whether or not Tessa died, whether she completed her list and what filled the 300 pages in between. Although Tessa's father gets upset on some occasions the way it's described you just can't feel anything for him.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone and I can't wait to get rid of it - its no reflection of what cancer is really like at all.
rubbish October 18, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book as I read a lot of great reviews on it.I totally wasted my money as I found it boring and was extremely dissapointed.
The most wonderful, insightful book I have ever been lucky enough to read! October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is one if the best books I have ever read! It is well written, sensitive, insightful, emotional and very moving.
It is the story of a 16 year old girl called Tessa who is terminally ill with leukemia; she is not ready to die and wants so much more from life. She makes a list of things that she would like to achieve before she dies, and what follows is a story of her trying to live life to it's fullest, trying her hardest before she gets too weak. It makes for such a heartwarming read as you are willing her on, wishing her to feel all the things that she should feel in her life. This could have easily become a depressing book but it is not at all, it is uplifting, positive and life affirming.
I defy anyone who reads this book to not...a) cry or well up.........and b) feel blessed to be alive!
I would definitely recommend this book, it is absolutely amazing!
 Beautiful September 13, 2008
This is such an amazing book. It only took me 3 days to read, but I loved it to pieces. It is written in the most delectable way, and makes you just want her to carry on living and breathing along with her family forever. This moved me tears, gorgeous book. I'd recommend it to all who have read the synopsis but are not too sure whether to spend money on it. It's amazing, do it.
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