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emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a lovely slice-of-life book.
Check trigger warnings, as there are some heavy topics in this book — though they’re handled with sensitivity and delivered in a light enough way that keeps the overall tone of the book from being too heavy or dark.
Check trigger warnings, as there are some heavy topics in this book — though they’re handled with sensitivity and delivered in a light enough way that keeps the overall tone of the book from being too heavy or dark.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Infertility, Dementia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Cancer
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
This book is the perfect reminder of why I love an epistolary novel. It's like catnip to me that the reader has to piece together the cast of characters, the background drama, and the current goings-on of the main character's life, simply by using context clues in the letters she writes to...well, everyone. I really enjoyed Sybil as a character. She is deeply flawed but reflective, stubborn but tender. I laughed out loud at some of the crochety letters she wrote, and I found her tenacity (for example, with the Dean of the English department) admirable, if brazen. Her relationship with Harry was such a bright light in her world, and I find it so interesting how Sybil could be such an amazing grandmother figure to him while having a tense, tenuous (at best) relationship with her own child. Sybil's ex-husband Daan's letter to her at the end of his life moved me to tears; I was devastated that she could not bring herself to attend his funeral. You always attend the funeral. Despite that, I do think Sybil grew enormously (sometimes even against her will) over the course of the decade or so that we followed her. It was so satisfying to see her set down some of her grief, forgive herself for some very heavy things she'd been carrying, and start to embrace new relationships and new ways of thinking, even as she aged and her precious sight was stolen from her.
That Sybil's life (and the lives of many of her loved ones) could be reconstructed from thousands and thousands of missives sent through the years really gave me pause to consider what really IS left of us when we're gone. I'll be thinking about this book for awhile to come.
That Sybil's life (and the lives of many of her loved ones) could be reconstructed from thousands and thousands of missives sent through the years really gave me pause to consider what really IS left of us when we're gone. I'll be thinking about this book for awhile to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent
Minor: Infertility
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
Epistolary novel, book about books, utterly charming characters, why am I crying?
"Grief shared, I think, can produce two outcomes. Either you bind yourselves together and hold on for dear life, or you let go and up goes a wall too high to be crossed."
"Grief shared, I think, can produce two outcomes. Either you bind yourselves together and hold on for dear life, or you let go and up goes a wall too high to be crossed."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Infertility
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love a good epistolary novel so when I started to hear buzz about Virginia Evan's debut novel "The Correspondent" early this summer I immediately went to my local bookstore and ordered a copy. I was not disappointed. From the first page I was immersed in the intriguing world of Sybil Van Antwerp. Such an intelligent, opinionated, complicated woman. Her correspondence - with lifelong friends, with family, with various authors, with customer service representatives, with the gifted but troubled son of a co-worker, and more all brought rich depth and focus to her full but flawed life. There is an intimacy in correspondence. This is a very intimate book. Sybil doesn't reveal her true self easily, but in the decade covered by the correspondence in this book, she finally succeeds in revealing and letting go of much of what had burdened and inhibited her throughout her life. We see her final decade as a time of coming to terms with the ghosts of her past, and an opening up to the gifts of the present.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Suicide attempt
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Grief
Minor: Cancer, Infertility
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book based upon a recommendation and I’m so glad I did. The format was so unique and I was engaged from page 1. I encourage readers to find time to read this wonderful book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Miscarriage
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quiet, lovely. Sybil is such an appealing protagonist: smart and kind and stubborn and committed to connecting. All the characters felt as real to me as any I’ve read: trying hard to love one another well, messing up, staying the course.
I also love an epistolary novel, and a nuanced look at getting old. And: the way Sybil’s life gets bigger and more complex despite the predictability and equilibrium she has created resonates with me in my own life right now.
I also love an epistolary novel, and a nuanced look at getting old. And: the way Sybil’s life gets bigger and more complex despite the predictability and equilibrium she has created resonates with me in my own life right now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Cancer, Sexism, Terminal illness, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt
Minor: Infertility, Infidelity
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book! Written only through letters that Sybil writes and receives with maybe different people. It’s not disjointed where it could be. It’s honesty and self reflective in a way that comes only through writing letters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Grief
Minor: Suicide attempt
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Grief
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Mental illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Abandonment