Product Description

Tessa has just a few months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is sex. Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out. "Before I Die" is a brilliantly-crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7426 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Sunday Times
'Dealing frankly with teenage life, Before I Die will be the year's most talked-about novel'

Heat
'A novel that won't fail to touch those who read it...will make you happy to be alive'

From the Back Cover
It's really going to happen. They said it would, but this is quicker than anyone thought.

Everyone has to die. We all know it.

With only a few months of life left, sixteen-year-old Tessa knows it better than most.

She's made a list though - ten things she wants to do before she dies. Number one is sex. Starting tonight.

But getting what you want isn't easy. And getting what youwant doesn't always give you what you need. And sometimes the most unexpected things become important.

Uplifting, life-affirming, joyous - this extraordinary novel celebrates what it is to be alive by confronting what it's really like to die.

Customer Reviews

Before I Cry...
I bought this book not realising it was aimed at the teenage market, but I thought I would read it anyway. And I am so glad I did, because this is a book for everyone, regardless of age. It is the story of Tessa, 16 years old and dying of cancer. Tessa seems bolshy and defiant on the surface but, as you read on, you peel away the layers and find a mass of compicated emotions so powerful they grab you by the heart and tug very very painfully.

The writing is economical, simple to read. I read the book in two days. On the first day I felt mainly anger at Tessa's seemingly uncaring, selfish best friend ("It's always got to be about you!") and Tessa's flighty mother who is never there for her. On the second day I felt so many emotions I cannot possibly begin to write them down. The last twenty pages or so of the book were read through a veil of tears.

It is not, however, a sentimental read. Tessa is spirited and her humour shines through, but the raw emotion towards the end can make the book a difficult read, though I guarantee you will not be able to put it down. Even after you have finished, you will likely read the last few pages again.

I urge everyone to read this book. It is raw and true, terribly sad and yet life-affirming, too. A marvellous achievement. Just thinking about it makes me feel like crying.

The best book I have read
This is an amazing book - I laughed, cried, it made me feel as though I'd lost a best friend by the end. But it isn't depressing - in fact it's a book about death that made me feel exhilarated at the end - amazing. It reminded me in some way of THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold - dealing with loss, death, love in the most incredible way. And when I remember what being a teenager was like I think the author has just put her finger on the extremes of feeling you have - let alone under such a life sentence. If there is any book you must read, this is the one! It certainly isn't just for teenagers - it's for everyone. Unforgettable.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
I devoured this book in two days. It called to me. Beckoned me across the room and begged me to pick it up and finish what I'd started. If I hadn't needed to eat and sleep, I'd have finished it in mere hours. It was that vital to keep going.

Tessa Scott keeps going, too. She keeps writing on the wall and adding to the list of things she wants to do before she dies. Tess's life is being driven from her by leukemia before she herself can even drive a car. It's not fair. She wants a boyfriend. She wants normal.

Tessa pushes. She pushes against the people who want to be near her. She pushes against the rules she's been forced to follow throughout her brief life. She pushes against death.

She keeps breathing. In and out. It's simple. Except, it's not that simple.

This book gives a promise. This book keeps its promise. This book is real. It is deep and winding and important. It is beautiful and strong and eloquent and everlasting. It is just beautiful.

Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince