Sunday, April 13, 2014

Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira

                  
  Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira                  Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on April 1st
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 323

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.



I have been anticipating this book since last year. I thought the premise of the book sounded amazing & it was!  Now I will say if you are fan of Stephen Chbosky's 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower', you will LOVE this book! Fun fact, Ava actually worked for Mr. Chbosky for awhile & gave him some of her writing and he urged her to write a novel. So as you can tell he was a big influence over this book.

I thought the book started off a little slow so I was very hesitant at first but then it quickly picks up and then before you know it your finishing the book in your car before a photography gig that very night you started it. Oh wait, was that just me? 

I quickly fell in love with Laurel & her innocence and all of her heartbreak. Laurel is somewhat an outsider, we've all been there right? She makes a couple of new friends and is thrust into some crazy things if you ask me. I was very weary of that in the book because of Laurel's age but then I realized well this is America and honestly kids much younger do far 
worse than the the things she did.

Overrall I loved this book. I loved how it was told all in letters and the fact that we learned about the celebrities she was writing to.  We learned their back stories and who they were before they were famous and pretty much their downfall. I thought that was so interesting!

This book will make you feel things. Sadness, happiness, anger , resentment and a ton of other emotions. I loved the way Ava told the story, it was just so beautiful. I loved learning more about Laurel's family & how her sister May's death came to be. May had a HUGE effect on Laurel's life and this book is all about learning that their is no such thing as a perfect person even if she is your sister & best friend.

VERY PROFOUND BOOK! 
LOVED IT!


If you have read this book please comment below & let me know what you thought about it!

5 comments:

  1. I think I want to read this book now too! Thank you for the review!

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  2. loved this review, think it convinced me to break my bookbuying ban! will you be making a video review on youtube about it?
    I just started a blog, check it out? :)

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  3. I need this in my life for real! :))

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  4. I loved this book. By far my favorite of the year. Cried like a little baby!

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  5. Thank you for the review, I already thought about picking it up but this post really makes me want to start reading it! Now I will have to get it :)

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