Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang: my new favourite book of 2014

Title: Falling Into Place

Author: Amy Zhang

Genre: YA contemporary

Length: 304 pages

Published by: HarperTeen Australia

Source: received for review (ONE MILLION THANK YOUS, HARPER)

Blurb:

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.

 

How…where do I start…

Okay, so let’s start with the first sentence. That seems like an excellent place.

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.

That, my friends, is not actually one sentence. It is two. BUT THAT IS HOW YOU WRITE YOUR FIRST TWO SENTENCES, PEOPLE. LEARN FROM THE ALMIGHTY AMY ZHANG.

Okay fine, I’ll stop with the caps. Okay. Okay. I’m trying to gather my thoughts into a coherent bundle. But you see, my thoughts are stars I can’t fathom into constellations…

Sometimes, when you start reading a book, you just KNOW. You just know that you’re going to love it, because we readers have a Rad-Read-Radar which tells us these things. My Rad-Read-Radar was positively BUZZING when I began reading Falling Into Place. I knew I was going to love it. I let myself be carried away by Amy Zhang’s writing.

So let’s make a list of why this book was incredibly awesome.

1) The writing.

The writing. Was. Incredible. And Amy Zhang is a young’un. I know this because teen writers have this little circle of awesomeness, and you get to know who lots of the teen writers in this circle. Some teen writers will not get published as teens, because everyone’s journey is different, but Amy Zhang isn’t just good for a TEEN writer – she’s amazing for ANY WRITER EVER. Like…okay, so, my favourite book this year is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. It is incredible. And, surprise surprise, it is also contemporary YA (can anyone see a pattern here?).

They both have utterly beautiful writing. They have quotes that I want to carry around with me and read from time to time. These two are books that I want to read EVERY SINGLE WORD OF, because I don’t want to miss a single thing.

So these are my two favourite books of this year so far. And the incredible writing is a big part of that.

 

 

2) The format.

Comparisons to Gayle Forman’s If I Stay are actually justified in this case, because there ARE a lot of similarities. Like If I Stay, Falling Into Place progresses in a non-linear fashion, going back and forth between different points in time. Which could have made it disjointed. But it DIDN’T. It just made it even better. I also loved how it was from the perspectives of lots of people – Liz’s friends and family.

Going into this book, I already knew who the narrator was (because when the book deal was announced, it was included in the pitch). But when you figure it out, it adds another layer of depth to the book.

 

3) The science-y references.

I don’t understand science. But when you put it in the context of a story, I can’t NOT understand it. The laws of motion are continually referenced throughout the novel, and I love how they’re incorporated into it.

 

4) Liz

I thought a lot about Liz when I was reading this book. She’s an incredible complex character, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to love or hate her. So I…love-hated her. I hated that she basically ruined the lives of many different people. I loved that she was depicted so complexly. Normally I would HATE a character like Liz, and I would probably hate the book as well, but Amy Zhang (through some sort of voo-doo, I’m convinced) made me more…thoughtful.

 

5) The ending (no spoilers, I promise)

So, this book is quite sad. And I mean QUITE sad. But I loved the ending. Seriously. It surprised me. It is one of my favourite endings ever.

So those are five reasons. Let me just finish up.

This book is a million times better than If I Stay.

It’s sad. It’s beautiful. It’s complex. It should be the next book you read.

I finished reading it in English class (what? It’s a book, it’s totally allowed…) and immediately wanted to read it again. THAT’S HOW GOOD IT IS.

 

You need to read this book.

 

Rating: 5/5 Wonderkitties

Oh, and tell me: do you also have a Rad-Read-Radar?