Book Review: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
Blurb:
"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. 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." - Ava Dellaira's Love Letters to the Dead
***
This is not my type of book. I knew it already as I read the blurb, but the title is so catchy so I decided to give it a try.
I like how the author narrate the story through a letter-writing style. I thought I'll get bored, but yaaay, because I didn't.
This story kind of reminds me of Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower. Honestly, I enjoyed reading Love Letters to the Dead because of how it was narrated. But story-wise, Perks of Being a Wallflower is still better.
Character wise... I don't love Laurel, the protagonist, but I don't hate her either. Let's just say that she's okay. As for Sky, he is okay... at first. He's that mysterious guy most girls love in a fictional character. I just expected more from his character. But like they say, expectations lead to the disappointments. As for the other characters, they are relevant no matter how small their roles may be. They are not the type of characters which were put in a story just to add more characters.
To be honest, I expected too much from this story. (You could put the blame on me.) I'm not disappointed at the outcome but I'm not amazed either. It lacks something. Maybe it lacks story about May or May's reason why she did what she did. I don't know.
Still, I enjoyed reading this book.
***
“Why are some things harder to lose than others?” “Because of love, of course. The more you love something, the harder it is to lose.” “I think it’s like when you lose something so close to you, it’s like losing yourself."
"The universe is bigger than anything that can fit your mind.
"You know when you think you know someone? More than anyone in the world? You know you know them, because you’ve seen them, like, for real. And then you reach out, and suddenly they are just.. gone. You thought you belonged together. You thought they were yours, but they’re not. You want to protect them, but you can’t."
"I think a lot of people want to be something, but we are scared that if we try, we won’t be as good as everyone imagines we could be."
“There are two most important things in the world – being in danger, and being saved.” “But if those are the two most important things, what about being in love?” “Why do you think that’s the most profound thing for a person? It’s both at once. When we are in love, we are both completely in danger and completely saved.”
“Why are some things harder to lose than others?” “Because of love, of course. The more you love something, the harder it is to lose.” “I think it’s like when you lose something so close to you, it’s like losing yourself."
"The universe is bigger than anything that can fit your mind.
"You know when you think you know someone? More than anyone in the world? You know you know them, because you’ve seen them, like, for real. And then you reach out, and suddenly they are just.. gone. You thought you belonged together. You thought they were yours, but they’re not. You want to protect them, but you can’t."
"I think a lot of people want to be something, but we are scared that if we try, we won’t be as good as everyone imagines we could be."
“There are two most important things in the world – being in danger, and being saved.” “But if those are the two most important things, what about being in love?” “Why do you think that’s the most profound thing for a person? It’s both at once. When we are in love, we are both completely in danger and completely saved.”
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Ate Ai, maganda po ba 'to? I am planning to buy po kasi if ever na may meron pa :)
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