Falling into Place is the story of Liz Emerson. Liz has just driven her car off an icy road and tumbled down a cliff. Everyone believes it was accidental. It wasn't. Liz planned her suicide in such a way that no one would know that she actually wanted to die. Even her best friends didn't know how unhappy she was, how much she loathed herself and her life. Liz is the pinnacle of popular at her high school. She is THE beautiful, mean girl. Liz has left immeasurable ruined reputations, relationships and lives in her wake. Some she has ruined through ignorance and self-centeredness, some she has ruined with determined, precisely executed purpose. And now Liz is lying in a hospital bed in the ICU and doctors are not at all sure that she will pull through.
The book describes events taking place at the hospital, while flashing back to various pivotal points in Liz's past. Flashback chapters are titled in terms of the time before the crash, for example "Five Minutes Before Liz Emerson Crashed her Car" or "Two Months Before Liz Emerson Crashed her Car." As the story progresses, the reader develops an understanding of how Liz arrived at the desperate place she found herself. With this understanding comes a little, just a little, bit of sympathy for the character. Liz is not a likeable character, she is not meant to be, but she is a tragic character.
I really liked this book, despite not really liking the main character. The author has done a great job of describing the tragedy behind the bully, which is so often overlooked. She nailed the desperation, the inability to ask for help despite a deep desire to have it, the self loathing. Liz hates who she is and what she does, but she lacks the skills to change the patterns of her behavior. The identity of the story's narrator adds an interesting little twist. I was pretty sure I had the narrator figured out before the end, but that did not detract from the power of the book. Recommended for those who liked If I Stay and 13 Reasons Why.