A review by yvo_about_books
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

3.0

Finished reading: May 10th 2016

“There are a lot of human experiences that challenge the limits of our language,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons that we have poetry.”

Spoiler

I've heard a lot of mixed things about this book ever since it first came out, so it's easy to say I was a bit hesitant to read it myself. To be honest I wasn't sure whether to read this book at all... But since I already had an e-copy and it came up as one of my TBR jar picks, I decided to just give it a go and see how things turn out. Love Letters To The Dead didn't end up being a particularly bad read, but I wasn't blown away by it either. While the whole 'chapters in the form of letters' idea seems rather original, it does look quite similar to The Perks of Being A Wallflower. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but as always with a comparison there is a winner and a loser and things aren't looking good for this Love Letters To The Dead. What I did enjoy is that the main character Laurel writes her letters to famous deceased people that are related to whatever happens in the story: Kurt Cobain, E.E. Cummings, Janis Joplin, Amelia Earhart, Amy Winehouse... Those elements (especially the music and poetry references) were a nice touch to an otherwise quite repetitive story. Because that is what the rest of the plot basically is: a repetition of the same letter idea where Laurel is trying to figure out how to deal with the death of her sister. Laurel blames herself for her death, although she takes a long time revealing why that is. This was actually quite annoying, both because it made the story drag and the actual plot twist was not that great either. (Why did she never tell anyone before?!) In short, while I liked some things of the story, there were other elements that made me enjoy this story a lot less than I would have hoped.



Laurel has been struggling to deal with the death of her sister May, and even decided to go to a different high school to avoid the stares full of pity. Laurel blames herself for May's death, but isn't ready to tell the truth about what happened yet as much as she doesn't really know how to grieve for May either. An English assignment marks the beginning of a journey where she starts writing letters to famous dead people about both her feelings and what happens to her during her days. Slowly Laurel starts to accept the past and how life can go on without May... Starting high school, new friendships, learning to live with the new family situation, falling in love; life does go on even after such a terrible experience. But how do you really mourn for someone you haven't forgiven yet? Can Laurel finally make peace with what happened?



I was almost afraid to read Love Letters To The Dead after hearing so many mixed opinions. And while I didn't think it was a particularly bad read, I wasn't blown away by it either... Some elements like the music and poetry references were really interesting, but others (repetitive plot, 'big secret' plot twist) made me enjoy this story a lot less than I thought I would. Would I recommend this novel by Ava Dellaira? With all those mixed reviews out there, I guess I would leave that up to your own decision.

P.S. Find more of my reviews here.