Reviews

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

giorsinwonderland's review against another edition

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5.0

Non sono il tipo di persona che solitamente piange per i libri, si possono contare sulle dita di una mano quelli che mi hanno fatta emozionare a tal punto, e questo romanzo è fra questi. Consiglio vivamente di leggerlo.

readwithkiekie's review

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1.0

“I think 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.”

Oh, Mother Mary of Christ! This book was absolutely dreadful. The writing was too slow paced for a Contemporary, the characters were flat and dry and the blurb by Stephen Chbosky was completely biased.

Would I recommend this book to anyone? Fuck, no. You'd be better off reading something else because it literally felt like the author had no idea who her characters were until after 80 pages. She also wrote about a very stereotypical lesbian relationship/friendship, which offended me so much.

But the sad thing about my review is that I so badly wanted to love it. I can be critical about any book, but this book for me had so much potential and I was so disappointed when it became the Titanic, hit the iceberg, split in half and sank to the bottom of the ocean.

“I know I wrote letters to people with no address on this earth, I know that you are dead. But I hear you. I hear all of you. We were here. Our lives matter.”

katireads321's review

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4.0

this was pretty much Perks of Being a Wallflower, but narrated by a girl who is writing letters to various famous people. not the best thing I've ever read but it held my attention and was entertaining enough

hibashakes's review

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3.0

Rating: 3.5

"'But no one else can save you, not really. Not from yourself.'"

I loved this book, yet I also hated it.

Before picking this book up to read, I read a few reviews and I didn't think I would like the story. Turns out I was wrong.

This is the type of a book that you just have to pick up and read and decide for yourself whether it was good or not.

This is the story of a very weak girl who is coping with the dead of her sister. This isn't a fairytale ending. This book deals with serious issues.

I didn't like the main character Laurel, and I believe that the author purposely made her unlikeable, because the Laurel in the story is not the real Laurel. She's a weak, asily influenced girl who just wants to find someone who can save her from herself.

I didnt like the whole writing letters to the dead idea. I wished at the end of the book the book that it was just a long letter to May. But I realize now that each of the dead people she sent letters to helped her cope and move on. They were important to her in a spiritual way.

This really wasn't a happy story. This is a story about a girl named Laurel, overshadowed by her sister's memory, is learning to cope and find herself.

One of the most importan things to take away from this book is that you cannot rely on finding someone to save yourself, you must rely on yourself.

goodem9199's review

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5.0

Fantastic writing. Some of the most authentically raw human insight that I've seen in a book in a long time. Warning... this book is sad. I am not typically a cryer... this book made me cry.

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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3.0

Ik vind het lastig mijn review van dit boek te beginnen. Ik vind het lastig om überhaupt woorden te vinden voor mijn leeservaring in dit geval. En dat klinkt wellicht negatiever dan ik het bedoel en vooral negatiever dan het boek verdient.

Laten we bij het positieve beginnen. Het boek gaat over een aantal hele actuele, zware thema's. Het gaat vooral over dingen waar de tieners van nu erg mee bezig zijn en het is opgeschreven op een manier die deze thema's toegankelijk en begrijpelijk maakt. Ik kan me daardoor voorstellen dat veel tieners die dit boek lezen het boek geweldig vinden, diep geraakt worden en er echt wat mee kunnen.

Voor mij persoonlijk was het boek dan weer minder interessant. De problemen waarmee de diverse karakters in het boek worstelen worden slechts heel oppervlakkig aangestipt. Dit komt mede door de gekozen vertelvorm. Het hele boek is geschreven in de vorm van brieven aan diverse sterren die dit leven te vroeg verlaten hebben.

Het is een originele manier van vertellen, maar ik had wel het idee dat er daardoor veel minder uit het verhaal werd gehaald dan er eigenlijk in zit. De laatste 100 pagina's waren op zich wel interessant, maar ook daar ontbrak de echte diepgang, de doorvoeldheid. Het bleef afstandelijk en daardoor kwam het bij mij geen moment echt binnen.

Maar het is denk ik vooral een geval van: Lees en oordeel zelf! Ik zie vaak mensen klagen over hoe saai een boek wordt als er te veel aandacht aan de emotionele ontwikkeling van karakters wordt besteed. Voor die mensen is dit wellicht een schot in de roos.

micagalvn's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5/5
Creo que "Carta de amor a los muertos" es un libro bastante confuso en un principio.

Se sabe que Laurel, la protagonista, ha comenzado la escuela secundaria luego de haber perdido a su hermana mayor, May, de la cual tenía una imagen de perfección y grandeza y era su mayor inspiración. Laurel comienza a escribirle las cartas a personas difuntas debido a una de sus primeras tareas en literatura.
Laurel es una persona que está comenzando a descubrir su identidad, mientras intenta escapar del ideal que tenía de su hermana, en la medida en que comienza a enterarse de aspectos de la vida de su hermana que, hasta esa edad, eran inimaginables para ella. Pero al no saber abrirse con las personas, siendo una persona sumamente reservada, ella aleja a todos quienes se interesan en ella e intentan conocerla, y hasta ayudarla. Ella debe hacer un largo proceso de autoconocimiento y de liberación para entender la vida y concentrarse en vivir el presente.

A pesar de los sentimientos de culpa y la notable tristeza y probablemente depresión de la protagonista, podemos notar el gran cambio de perspectiva que tiene ésta de la vida, desde que empieza el libro hasta que termina. Una buena evolución del personaje.

La manera en la que la autora construye a los personajes me parece interesante, y más que nada cómo construye a alguien que ya no está presente en esta vida, pero si sus vivencias y parte de ella en quienes la conocieron.

Algo bueno que también se puede destacar, es que el libro deja enseñanzas que pueden servirle a cualquier adolescente en crecimiento que haya pasado por alguna situación similar y los inspira a no quedarse callados.

Le doy 3.5 estrellas, porque, a pesar de que me gustó el libro, se me hizo un poco densa la lectura y no fue para nada lo que esperaba que fuera; considero que fue un libro que me provocó bastante tristeza, lo cual creo que es la intención, pero siento que le falta algo que le dé "el toque".

saritaroth's review

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5.0

BEST! BOOK! EVER!!!

The balance between serious topics and humorous, well-liked characters is exquisite! I admit that I truly love books about serious topics, like depression or death (weird, I know), but the way Ava Dellaira tells the story of Laurel is high above what is expected, even for her genre.

After I read this book, I immediately looked at reviews of what others thought, expecting to find an assortment of everyone's applause and gratification that an author wrote this brilliant book. However, instead I found many upset reviews that this 14-year-old female would act and write like an 11-year-old. Perhaps this might be true, but what the writers of these reviews failed to mention is that Laurel experienced many tragedies in her short life so far that most people could not even imagine. To name even one of these unfortunate instances, to put it lightly, would be an enormous spoiler, so I will not specify the types of hardships she had to go through. I will say, though, that these difficulties generally stunt a child's mental and emotional growth, and therefore, Laurel was unable to act or write at an internal age of older than 11 (as the aforementioned struggles first started when she was approximately 11.

I will conclude this review by saying that everyone I have physically talked to have loved - LOVED - this book. I talk to my friend almost daily about how this book is phenomenal to the point of rambling on and on and ON. I also talked to a close family member of mine, who read this upon my request, who said that this is an absolutely amazing book. Absolutely. Amazing.

Words do not begin to describe how fantastic this is.

lucamelion's review

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3.0

When I read this book for the first time, I liked it and would have given it 4 stars, but then I read "The perks of being a wallflower" and realized it is basically the same story. So I couldn't rate it that high anymore. Nevertheless, it is a nice read, I liked the letters and the lesbian side story. Laurel seemed an okay main character although it was a bit unrealistic that she'd spent her whole life wanting to be her sister, so much that she doesn't have any own personality in the beginning. But maybe I just don't know that feeling because I'm the oldest sister myself and never experienced having an older sibling as your role model. And Laurel seemed to me a bit too much like a child and her thoughts and writing are a bit too naive and childish for a girl her age.
Nevertheless I enjoyed reading it and it's quite good for a debut novel.

codymorris's review

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4.0

4.5
really beautiful book, it was full of love and it showed the side to death that many forget; grief. I loved everything about it however i have an issue with books that are only narrated through letters, hence the 4.5 stars. nevertheless a stunning debut