Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
ISBN: 978-0062295040
Source: BEA 2014 ARC
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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.

I knew before reading Falling into Place that I would love this book but nothing could prepare me for just how much I ended up being blown away by every single word, line, paragraph, and chapter of this book. This is Amy Zhang’s debut novel but it’s clear that she is a wordsmith and very well could possibly be one of the most influential young writers of this decade. Her words are poetry. Her words are emotions. Her words carve out the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts. She’s not afraid to dig deep and show the ugly sides of human beings and that is so refreshing. So rewarding. Liz is at a place where she is willing to lose it all, let it all fall, let herself fall so that the world she’s impacted can become better. A twisted sacrifice but that’s only the beginning and it’s not just Liz that we’re watching on the hardest leg of this young girl’s journey.

When Liz fails to instantly kill herself in a car crash, her family and closest friends are hit hard. The immediacy of the emotions as each character finds out, as each character makes their way to the hospital and wrestles with the thoughts in their heads… it was all so perfect.

These characters are so real and raw and really, this is a master class in creating three dimensional characters that each have such strong and distinct voices. Following our main character, Liz was one thing but being able to follow her best friends, Julia and Kennie, who live such different home lives but bond all the same, hurt all the same, are broken just like the next person. And yet. What a treat. The way that these young girls see themselves, their families and friends, their peers and interact with all of the above is truly an incredible sight. And then there’s Liam who loves Liz more than Liz’s boyfriend, Jake ever could. There’s Liz’s mother and father. There’s a seemingly small network of people who are genuinely on Liz’s side and seeing the dynamics between them all, at one of their own’s most challenging points in life was so important because it was a reminder that people do see us.

Because Liz Emerson held so much darkness within her that closing her eyes didn’t make much of a difference at all.

When we don’t think that we’re being seen or heard, it’s amazing the times that we actually are and don’t even realize it. It was a reminder of so much more than that though. So much that I can’t even begin to list what else because I don’t want this to become a ten page essay. To put it simply, the relationships, old and new were at such fractured and yet complete places here in this story and every single interaction, the things said and left unsaid resonated with me in ways I hadn’t thought about – wanted to think about in years. I can relate to these characters all too well. The execution was so perfect.

By the end, she was just another girl stuffed full of forgotten dreams, until she crashed her car and she wasn’t even that.

This book is so beautifully structured, jumping back and forth between before Liz Emerson crashed her car and after Liz Emerson crashed her car, whether it be minutes before or after or days, sometimes even much longer before the crash. If you’re not sure about the back and forth, don’t fear. The pacing is dynamite and the writing is so fluid and clean and cohesive which makes for a read in one sitting kind of experience. The book’s narration might be a mystery at first but some might catch on early as to who is telling this story. I did. Anyway, the narration appears to come so naturally even though looking back, I can see that this was quite a bold move. But so is every line of this page. Because it goes there. In every aspect of the storytelling and it far exceeds whatever goals the author initially had, I’m sure. Amy Zhang is a remarkable storyteller. She knows how to write. This girl has got talent and on top of that, knows her craft and that is a recipe for brilliance.

She had hoped to have one of those connecting moments, to look around and remember that the world made sense, that some things fell apart so better things could fall together.

Falling into Place will grip you in your place and won’t let you go until the very last word. Falling into Place is a moving story about choices and clarity and strength and love and oh so many things that are so very dear to all of our hearts. I don’t care who you are, Falling into Place will wreck you and have you evaluating your place, your mark on this world for a long time after reading.

This book has stayed with me every single day since I’ve read it and I don’t mind at all. What a heartbreaking story that truly crushes you to pieces and then bit by bit focuses on why each piece is placed at the place that it is and what can or cannot be done about it. Falling into Place is divine. Every single facet of this story falls into place so magnificently. Truly. I’m telling you, you want your copy now. Don’t read this later. Read this now. You’ll be so glad you did.

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang is available today.