Weekly Reads: Falling into Place

Falling into Place is the debut novel by writer Amy Zhang. I received an e-ARC of the book to review as a librarian and the YA title received some strong buzz, so I was excited to tear in to it.

The story is told in a unique way. We find out about Liz's attempted suicide on page one, and then spend the rest of the book uncovering all the moments in her life leading up to that moment. It's also told from an interesting perspective. It was a fairly quick read, and I wanted to find out how it ended, but I didn't really connect with any of the characters, which was perhaps the intention? I'm not sure. I was floored to finish the book and read the author's note that it was written by a high school student in Wisconsin. Impressive.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

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.