Love Letters to The Dead | Book Review

Love Letters to The Dead by Ava Dellaira

Publication: April 1st, 2014 by Farrar

Summary:

Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead—to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven’t forgiven?

It’s not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally 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 truly start to discover her own path.

In a voice that’s as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl’s journey through life’s challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty.

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My Thoughts:

I don’t really know how I feel about this book… It’s bad, but it’s not too bad. It’s good, but it’s not too good.

Plot:

“I think a lot of people want to be someone, but we are scared that if we try, we won’t be as good as everyone imagines we could be.”

The plot is very diverse and so are the characters. This book tells a tale of loss and how to deal with it. Ava brings up a lot of situations throughout the book that deals with real world problems like suicide, child abuse, rape, and substance abuse. It was absolutely heart wrenching reading what the characters had to deal with throughout their lives.

Characters:

“And maybe what growing up really means is knowing that you don’t have to be just a character, going whichever way the story says. It’s knowing you could be the author instead.”

I found the characters very immature. Laurel, the protagonist, being one of them. Laurel recently just started Freshman year of High school, I believe, and she thinks that if she doesn’t make friends or fit in, it will be the end of the world for her. She is one of those people who will do stupid things to fit in with a group of people like smoke, drink, or have sex. Throughout the novel, she keeps her sister being dead sort of like a “secret” and to me I think that’s plain stupid! holding in grief is not the smartest idea, it just makes you more upset! I’ve gone through that and believe me it makes your life 100 times more terrible. She thinks that she’s basically the only one going through this and I find her selfish in a way. Although she has a lot of flaws there are some traits that you can adore about her.

Her friends are exactly the same like Laurel, Immature.

Writing:

I found the writing style of this novel very unique. It is written in letters from the main character and what she feels or what has been going on in her life at the moment. Very well thought out.

Cover:

Not going to lie, the cover is what got me to read this book. I loved the ombre look of the sky and how there is a girl writing or reading a journal!

OTP:

NONE. The characters are like what? 12? 13?

Overall:

This was a hard rating for me. I disliked most of the book, but I also loved some parts.

Rate:

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What do you think? agree or disagree? read it? want to read it?

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