Adam is there when Tessa takes her last breath and is the love of her short life. Adam Tessa's boyfriend and neighbour, who spends most of his time attending to his mother, who after the death of his father became depressed. Tessa says to Zoey on occasion "Are you telling me to?", Zoey's answer is always "yes". I don't mind." Zoey Tessa's best friend, who in the beginning of the novel is her biggest advocate for living on the wild side, until she becomes pregnant. Even in her last moments Cal makes jokes such as "Bye, Tess. Cal Scott Tessa's 11-year-old younger brother, who is stuck in the position of jealousy of his sister's attention and his sadness of her unavoidable death. Has a bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies, and makes Zoey and Adam help. The book, written in first person from Tessa's point of view, follows her last few months of life, explores her relationships with her loved ones, and her personal feelings about being trapped in a failing body.Ĭharacters Tessa Scott 16-year-old battling leukaemia. Adam is shy, and his main priority is taking care of his sickly mother after his father died.
One of Tessa's last wishes is to find love, of which she thinks she has with her neighbour Adam. In the beginning of the novel, Cal says to his sister "I'm gonna miss you" during a joking situation. Tessa's brother, Cal, is a brutally honest individual who has mixed feelings throughout the novel ranging from lack of care to jealousy to sadness. She mentions that he spends hours on the computer looking up possible treatments for her even after the doctors have told her that the cancer has consumed her body. Her father's main mechanism for coping is denial. He is resistant to Tessa's behaviour from the start, but realises he has little influence and can only enjoy the time they have left. Tessa's father is timid and just wants to spend time with his daughter. Her mother is loving and joking about the situation and seems supportive however, she has not been present in Tessa's treatments, nor involved in her life at a deep level. Tessa's parents are divorced and have very different views on her desire to experience the dangerous side of life before she passes. Zoey is excited and supportive of the outrageous bucket list until an unplanned pregnancy test comes up positive. Tessa, with the help of her best friend Zoey, comes up with a list of things she wants to do before she dies, including some risky behaviours that she deems necessary to have "lived". Despite four years of chemotherapy, she has discovered that her cancer is terminal and her doctors give her a short time to live. Tessa is diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
The novel follows the shortly ending life of Tessa, from her perspective. Before I Die is a young adult novel written by Jenny Downham, first published by David Fickling Books in 2007.
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