Sharon L

This will be a short review, or at least, i hope so. i have a confession to make- it is obvious right from the start how the book would end, as a result i was skeptical of my ability to feel for Tessa. i was wrong, [a:Jenny Downham|628636|Jenny Downham|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1247516890p2/628636.jpg] did a fantastic job breaking my heart, scattering it to pieces and still leave me begging that Tessa would live. yeah, that's right, that's how GOOD she is. before i die has a very realistic feel to it, because each and every character feels, in a way, from real life. the parent who stands by his child while the child suffers, and the parent that runs away, unable to support the child because the parent is simply afraid. while losing a parent is supposedly "natural" losing a child is not. both are painful, and both i wish no one to experience. sometimes, the death of a child can ruin marriage. sometimes it would be a sickness or some other things. but even when a marriage ends, love and family do not always end. and younger siblings are annoying but cute, little kids are full of harsh truths, honesty and optimism mixed with a tiny little cruelty. even best friends can be jerks at time, concered with their own problems. as for dying pepole- they experience all kinds of things, they are kind, and selfish, they accept it but they want to live, they want to be remembered, they want to leave something behind them in you and in the world- so they won't really disappear. and letting a dying person in, when you meet him for the first time yet you know he's about to die, is painfull and yet- you're grateful for meeting and extraordinary person. all of it exist in this book, each and every character is somplex, real, kind and annoying at the same time. sometimes i wanted to strangle Tessa, her friend and her parents, other times i was laughing so hard from what them or her brotehr said. and the love story made me smile like a stupid ignorant person with no care in this world and cry like a baby, begging for more time for Tessa and some Magical cure.a wonderful realistic story, that reminded me how slippery time is. how importanat it is to cherish your loved ones and say thank you for each and every "future" that becomes a "present".