Book #12: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Rating: 
Cover- B-E-E-U-T-I-F-U-L
Characters (Narrator)- Not fully developed 
Plot- Stunning with a bold new literary voice
Overall- Massive tearjerker, excellent 

(Summary from goodreads) 
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.

          Just look at that cover! It is absolutely stunning. It could be approximated that we spent at least an hour alone staring at the cover. But anyways... this book was actually one of the few, along with The Fault in Our stars by John Green, that made us cry our eyes out. And we'll be the first to admit that! The concept of the narrator getting over her sister's recent death and learning to be an individual, was simply genius. 
          In the beginning of the story we had Laurel come into play, who was trying to cope with her sister's (May) recent death. It was especially unbearable for Laurel because May was her best friend, her only ally. All her life, Laurel had desperately yearned to be more like her sister. She wanted to hang out with her at all times, dress the same way as her sister once did, and hang out with her sister's friends. Although in the end, Laurel has some sort of an epiphany where she learned to finally be an individual and had friends of her own. The book actually started off when Laurel entered a new high school and made new friends. She meets Laurel and Hannah who, in all honestly, weren't good influences. 
          Over the course of her first year in her new high school, she has been writing letters to inspiring dead people and collecting them in a notebook. It all started  as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person. When she first started writing her letters, Laurel had realized that there were some things that she couldn't tell anyone, except the people who weren't here anymore.
          This book was everything you could ever want in a frank tearjerker. It was surprisingly morbid. We actually felt pity for the character, Laurel. We honestly couldn't explain what it's like to loose someone since it's never occurred, but this book was painfully detailed. We could imagine Laurel's pain, her agony. We understood her reasoning- the reason for smoking pot, sneaking out in the middle of the night, and lying to her Aunt. She had done it to get closer to her sister. 
           No complaints although, the story line got a bit dull and monotonous through the end. If you're sucker for a sad story, this is unquestionably the perfect book. Without further ado, let us get on to the character analysis. 

Character Analysis: 
Laurel- Her letters were superbly written filled with sorrow, regret, and of course, pain. We wish life wasn't so hard for her. She was so morose, though. As the narrator writing letters to all these dead famous people, she wasn't afraid to share her sins and especially, talk about her sister. Laurel didn't realize it but, she was actually braver than she though she was. 

May- May had never been rebellious on purpose. When her mom divorced her dad, May never forgave her. That's when all the insubordination and unruliness began. She began drinking, smoking at the alley, sneaking out of the house, and she even dated older guys. She died a tragic death. 

Sky (Skylar)- Sky was a rather enigmatic character. Throughout the story, he fell in love with Laurel but then revealed that he had had a crush on May. Honestly, we think he's with Laurel because he still loves May. We don't know, that was just our guess. 

Meaningful quote from the story: 
"For so long, I just wanted to be like you. But I had to figure out that I am someone, too, and now I can carry you, your heart with mine, everywhere I go." 





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