Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

8 reviews

carolined314's review

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Bizarrely inhumane

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wright_rendon_reads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The best way I can describe this book is it has "Big Fish" (the movie) vibes.

Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
All the main characters were pretty easy to like and all went through major changes, challenges, and development. Even side characters were fully fleshed out and had some of their own independent story.

World Building: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book is Magical Realism so it's set in our world but with a little touch of magic. I wish there was a little explanation on how this family became enchanted but other than that it felt well researched and anchored in our world.

Plot and Pacing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I read this book in like 3 sittings. It was a really easy read. I don't usually like fiction books that kind of just talk about daily or realistic life. But I was so invested in the characters and the writing flowed so well.

Themes: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The theme of this book centers around love in all its forms (good and bad) from infatuation, obsession, lust, passion, motherly, sibling, friends, young love, loss. The list goes on. I also felt this book hit on generational trauma before it was cool as there is some obvious handing down and dealing with trauma.

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ivan_levitt's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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uglycrow's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jimmcy's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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aneta's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.5

I've been struggling with my rating of this book.

I didn't want to be too harsh because this book is a wonder on its own, but also I didn't want to be dishonest since it also left me irrevocably angry.

Nevertheless, I decided to give it 3 stars (and a tiny half star)*. Let me explain why.

This review is going to be long and all over the place, but so was the book, so I think it's only fair.

I should begin by stating that I knew nothing about this book, except a title when I started to read it. Which is a good thing since the synopsis promises a slightly different story.

"...a magical realism novel for young adults follows a young girl and the family secrets she uncovers on her quest to better understand her identity."

There's wasn't really much questing done here as much as more of a retelling of secrets.

The story itself could be separated into three parts.

Part one focuses on the maternal side of Ava's family. Especially on the women (her great-grandmother, her grandmother and finally her mother) and their attitude towards love and the events that lead them to it. This is the part that actually got me hooked. The lyrical prose, the rawness and almost unlikeability of those characters was something I found quite refreshing in modern fiction. At times I even felt like I was reading one of Shirley Jackson books.

In the second part, we (finally!) get to meet Ava. Who, in my opinion, falls a little bit flat as a character on her own. There's nothing particularly distinctive about her, nothing that would make her stand out. But I suppose it could be said it was the author's deliberate decision to emphasize that Ava is "just a girl".

The third part starts with a strong bloody line in chapter 23.

When Nathaniel Sorrows first appeared in this book I knew he's going to be someone important. At first, I assumed he'll be some sort of a love interest to Ava (although. the age difference between them had me more than a little squirmish). And, oh boy, I couldn't be more wrong about that.

Once Nathaniel's journal entries started to appear it was easy to predict where the story was heading.

I'm just going to say what really bothered me here real quick.

The actual rape was unnecessary and it served as nothing more than a shock value. The attack wouldn't be any less horrible and traumatic if it involved only wing amputation. I know that from the plot point of view it made sense it happened, but I can't understand why someone puts something like that in a story and then never addresses it afterwards. We got plenty of talk about the wings and how that affected her, but nothing about the sexual aspect of the attack.

In fact, the author through the book seemed to be fond of dangling various implications of pedophilic acts performed upon characters such as Rene and that married man who shot him, Margaux and Satin, Gabe and that lady who came into his room when he was 13 (and don't get me started on Fatima and her brother).

Also, I wish this whole trope "in order to become who she's meant to be heroine must suffer terrible abuse" would die.

The other thing that left me docking another star from the rating is the ending itself. It felt rather abrupt and for some reason ambiguous, which was an odd choice to end this book with, since we know from the prologue that Ava lived at least till 2014. Then again maybe it's a prerequisite of magical realism and it's simply not my thing.

Would I recommend this book? I think it's the kind of book everyone needs to read on their own. A lot of people clearly love it and I'm not surprised. It's a wonderful work with a very unique kind of feeling to it. Not many books come with that. Sadly, in my case, this book missed me with its message and execution.

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binches's review against another edition

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challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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febeschoemaker's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A beautiful book that meandered slowly into a sudden and intense climax.

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