
Before I Die
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Narrated by:
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Charlotte Parry
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By:
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Jenny Downham
For the many who love The Fault in Our Stars, this is the story of a girl who is determined to live, love, and to write her own ending before her time is finally up.
Tessa has just 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, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time runs out.
©2007 Jenny Downham (P)2007 Random House Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing GroupListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
Review, NYTBR, October 14, 2007: "This may sound too depressing for words, but it is only one indication of the inspired originality of Before I Die, by Jenny Downham, that the reader can finish its last pages feeling thrillingly alive ... I don't care how old you are. This book will not leave you."—John Burnham Schwartz
Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007
"Lucid language makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent."
Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly, August 6, 2007
"The eloquent dying teen can seem a staple of the YA novel, but this British debut completely breaks the mold. Downham holds nothing back in her wrenching and exceptionally vibrant story."
Loved it!
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What did you love best about Before I Die?
I loved how Tessa was portrayed as a human being. She wasn't noble or virtuous. She wasn't selflessly helping everyone around her come to terms with her disease. She was trying to come to terms with her diagnosis. I thought this made her seem more tangible. I really believed in her, which made the inevitable ending that much harder to get through.Who was your favorite character and why?
All the characters were realistic and very well written and Charlotte Parry did an excellent job with all the different voices.What does Charlotte Parry bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Hearing it read made the emotional connection that much stronger. It wasn't flat and dispassionate.Any additional comments?
By the time I made it too the end of the book I was crying hard. You will cry too, but, the book is well worth the investment of time and credit. Trust me.Real characters
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What I found was so poignant was the family dynamic. Although this is a fictional tale there are many families who, sadly, are experiencing these terrible truths on a daily basis.
Beautifully written as it was not at all pretentious and was written in the British vernacular plus enhanced by a very impressive performance by Charlotte Perry.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
A dying teenager's bucket list
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