by Ava Dellaira
Read: February 19, 2015
Published: April 1, 2014
Genre: YA, Fiction
Series: NA
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Why did you read this book?
Honestly, I put this book on my 'to read' list primarily because of the cover and the title. I didn't even read the synopsis in the front cover, which, in a way was an exciting way to read a book. Generally, I choose my books very carefully, researching it on Amazon and reading both positive and negative book reviews before I ever even pick it up. This one, however, I grabbed on a whim. The cover and the title drew me in and I lost myself in it's pages. And that is why I read the book.
Format:
This book was written completely in letters, from Laurel to famous dead people. At first, I was a bit put off by the letter format. I was worried that it would be too much like reading a diary and less like living through the protagonist (which is what I like to do). I was worried that I wouldn't really get to know the other characters, because I would only find out about them through Laurel's letters. Needless to say, I shouldn't have worried. If it weren't for the mini history lessons about who she was writing the letters to, I might have forgotten that she was writing letters in the first place. I think this story could have been written without the letters, but it wouldn't have been as poignant.
Loss:
Love Letters to the Dead is primarily centered around loss and what happens afterwards. Laurel lost her sister and then her mother moved away. She was left with her father, who tried to be there for her, but couldn't. Not only does she feel like she has to deal with this loss on her own, she also feels like it was her fault that her sister died. Can you imagine trying to live with that? The worst part about her loss, is that Laurel does what most people who have lost someone close to them do. She puts her sister on a pedestal, as this perfect person and remembers her as a much better person than she actually was. Throughout the letters, Laurel begins to realize that this actually wasn't the case.
Fearlessness:
Laurel looks up to many of the people she wrote letters to because she believed that they were fearless. She also saw her sister and Hannah (her friend) as fearless. I loved the progression of seeing characters as fearless to being stripped of their walls and seen as the vulnerable, scared people they really were. I also like watching Laurel realize that these people weren't fearless at all, but rather, they were full of fear, just like her.
Bildungsroman:
I felt that this was very much a bildungsroman novel for young girls. The protagonist in this story deals with much more than a kid should have to deal with. Awful things happen to her and she has to grow up before she's ready. There is also a huge element of loss of innocence that was written so well it felt real. I experienced this character lose her childhood and it was powerful. Good job, Dellaira.
Pain:
My favorite part about this book was, hands down, the pain of it. I don't know why, maybe I'm a masochist, but I love pain. I love to write painful scenes and I love to write about pain. I love books that are so painful they make me cry. This book turned me inside out and Laurel's pain felt so much like it was my own that I felt raw by the end of it. And although I had never lost a sister, my parents are both happily married, I've never felt the pain of a breakup, and I have led a truly blessed life, I knew her pain. I knew the pain that she couldn't talk to anyone about. In the book, she talks about feeling too much, she said, "I feel like I am drowning in memories." And I felt like she understood. Sometimes, you feel too much and you can't breathe. You drown. Dellaira did a marvelous job capturing that pain in words.
Love:
I suppose, where there is pain there must be love. And with the amount of pain in this book there was also so much love. Laurel loved her parents, her aunt, her friends, May, and Sky. She had so much love, but she didn't know how to handle it. There were so many relationships in this book that deserve to be written about, but I'm only going to write about Laurel and Sky. What I loved about their relationship is that it was a slow burn. It took them awhile to actually get going. And I loved that Sky saw what Laurel was doing to herself and he couldn't stand it. Although, I'm not a fan of how things were handled, I think it made their relationship much more realistic.
Bottom Line:
This book was beautifully written. However, I do not think I will be reading again it anytime soon. Right now I feel at loss with what to do with my life, because this book is over now and I don't get to be over with the characters. I have to keep going and find a new book with new characters. I just got very emotionally invested and I can't do that again in the near future. That being said, I would 100% recommend it to anyone who asks about it. It very much reminded me of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and (now that I've actually looked at reviews to see what other people thought) I've also heard it is reminiscent of Stephen Chobsky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is a book that I want to add to my shelf.
Quotes:
There were so many beautiful quotes in this book that I couldn't just pick one! So here's three of my favorites...
"[about Amelia Earhart] I know that's the wrong way to feel about someone who died tragically, but it wasn't so much the dying I was jealous of. It was the flying, and disappearing." -Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
"I think Hannah must be afraid like I get afraid, the way I did when I heard the river yesterday, the way I do when I don't even know where the shadow is, but I feel it breathing." -Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
"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." -Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
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