I didn't cry when I finished this book.
I don't know why, because it certainly warranted a good cry.
I think I felt a little bit overwhelmed - like, past the point of crying - when I finished. I became Sam more and more throughout the book until I felt lost in her character, who is one of the most dynamic characters I've read in a book ever.

I think what Same does in her 7 days is go through the stages of grief - for herself. There were high moments and low moments, but what she realizes and I think what is most important is that life is better when it has depth. She has to give depth to Lindsay, to Juliet, to Kent, to her math teacher, to fully understand how each of them impact her life. She starts to see people outside of the bubbles she had spent her life putting around them. It confuses her at first, but by the end she has become such a beautiful and empathetic person. My heart broke for her.

I'm going to talk about her last day, so I guess there will be spoilers.

I loved Kent. I wish we had gotten to know him better, but I know that this book was about Sam, not about him. And there's only so much you can learn about another character in a 1st person POV where one day repeats over and over. I also loved (in an appreciative way) how well we got to know both Juliet and Lindsay. They are such different girls whose lives turned out so differently simply based on how they each respond to situations. Sam learns from each of them why you can't lash out at people because of fear, and alternatively why you can't just ignore others when they throw their problems on to you.
I wish Sam's last day had gone a little bit better, toward the end. But I understand that what Oliver is showing us is that we can never truly dictate a perfect day - even if we know it will be our last. As I said, there were wonderful parts of each day and terrible parts. That's life. Not everything can go according to plan. I wish Sam's last day with Kent had been more like the days before. I wish she'd gotten to tell off Lindsay a little more, and Ally and Elody as well. I wish she'd spent more time with her family. I feel like I'm mourning her in a way I've mourned few other characters. I wish we could have seen the after effects of Sam's death - to see how the butterflies dispersed and led different people to different walks of life. Sam became such a beautiful girl by the end of this book. And for so short a time.
I think Sam's most important day was the 6th day. It was the last day that she spent the whole time thinking about herself, and realized that she had to think instead about someone else to escape the loop. And I think what the purpose of all of our lives.

One last thing - I liked this book SO MUCH MORE than the Delirium series. In fact, I may have liked the series more if I'd read this one first because I would have been biased toward Oliver. I wish they would have been written a little more similarly, at least in tone. The end.