From AudioFile
Sixteen-year-old Tessa Scotts surrender to cancer unfolds through Charlotte Parrys unrelenting performance. Tessas list of 10 things to accomplish before she dies is chronicled through first-person narration and strong secondary characters. Parry pulls no punches as she portrays Tessas involvement with sex, drugs, hospital treatments, and a best friends pregnancy. Well-timed dialogue and imagery add to the quality of the recording. While most characters are fully realized, Tessas brothers accent slips in and out of Cockney, and her mothers voice isnt always distinct. Nevertheless, Parry builds the books momentum with professional skill. Listeners should stock up on tissues for this heartrending story. C.A. 2008 YALSA Selected Audiobook © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine--
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Review
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."
Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 21, 2007
"Bound For Glory: This fall, five young authors deliver breakout books packed with razor-sharp writing."
Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 28, 2007
"In luminous prose that rings completely true, Downham earns every tear she wrings from her readers. I trust there will be many of them—many readers, and of course, many tears.
A-"
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