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A review by bookkatbaddie
The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I made it through a very good amount of this book without getting too emotional. The end ruined me. I do feel like in the end it was a bit forced but it was also devastating and beautifully horrible. I don’t think I can even talk about this book out loud yet without crying. This book makes me furious for Ella and felt so real to me that I mourned her heartbreak like my own.
My issues lie mainly in the dialogue of this book and is the main reason I couldn’t give 5 stars. The twins especially -though I understand they are meant to be wise beyond their years- are seemingly just there to give these deep, teaching moment dialogues even though they’re 6. They don’t lash out or argue with the mom or behave in anyway normal to 6 year olds to the point of diminishing their character realism. The second main reason is the lack of focus on Beckett’s grief and trauma from his unit and his life. He’s not given any focus really on how he actually copes and pulls himself from grief. Especially with the ending, I feel he was robbed of being allowed to fall into the grief that any person in his position would have fallen to.
My issues lie mainly in the dialogue of this book and is the main reason I couldn’t give 5 stars. The twins especially -though I understand they are meant to be wise beyond their years- are seemingly just there to give these deep, teaching moment dialogues even though they’re 6. They don’t lash out or argue with the mom or behave in anyway normal to 6 year olds to the point of diminishing their character realism. The second main reason is the lack of focus on Beckett’s grief and trauma from his unit and his life. He’s not given any focus really on how he actually copes and pulls himself from grief. Especially with the ending, I feel he was robbed of being allowed to fall into the grief that any person in his position would have fallen to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment