Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Review: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 323
Received: Received an e-copy from Raincoast in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: April 1, 2014
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Goodreads Synopsis:

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path.

My Review:

I absolutely adored this book, there is so much raw emotion flowing through the pages that you can't help but feel for Laurel. In her writing to all these dead people, Laurel eventually comes to terms with her sister's death, and finally lets out the truth of what happened to May.

Through the letters, readers can really see how Laurel is struggling with the aftermath of what happened to her sister, and she is trying to right a lot of things in her life. Ava Dellaira has a special way with words that you really believe this story and can see someone really letting things out in letters that will never be sent. Laurel writes to people who in a way have affected her life, through their movies and their music she grows and makes new friends.

Laurel is definitely a damaged person and you can see that in the way she writes her letters, not only has she lost her sister but it feels like she has lost her mother as well. No one is the same and they are all grieving in different ways. I really love how Laurel grows and learns about herself over the year, and she learns through trying to be her sister how to be her own person. Laurel learns that she needs to stop holding things in so that she can finally live her life the way she wants to.

This is a book that touched me in so many ways, honestly I want everyone to read this book, just to feel the depth of emotions that Ava has written here. A beautiful book with interesting characters, ones who are flawed and they are trying their best to get through life and hoping for the best. 

2 comments:

  1. OMG the synopsis. I'm absolutely hooked. Great review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I absolutely loved this book as well. Great review!

    ReplyDelete

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