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P.S. I Love You
by Cecelia Ahern
A messy yet tender story of love and loss, grief and survival. P.S. I Love You is a love letter to us all about the strength of carrying on under the weight of loss, especially with the help of friends and family.
Full Book Review
"Nobody's life is filled with perfect little moments. And if it were, they wouldn't be perfect little moments. They would just be normal. How would you ever know happiness if you never experience downs?"
After the death of her husband Gerry, 30-year-old Holly is reeling and drowning in her loss and devastation. And then the letters arrive from Gerry...the letters for each of the ten months following his death, instructing her on how to move on little by little. With the help and support of her friends and family, Holly strives to hold on to Gerry, while at the same time still trying to live and love.
My Thoughts... 3.5 Stars
First of all, this sweet book is SO much better than the movie! Why they Americanized this Irish story of love and loss is beyond me. What the movie probably gained in American viewers, it lost in location, culture, and warmth. But I digress...
Cecelia Ahern beautifully and painfully portrays loss and grief in this novel. It's heartfelt and messy, tender and full of anguish. It's not a story of a quick rebound from loss to new love, it's not a story of processing grief in record time, it's not even a story of moving on. What Ahern does is show how grief and loss will still live in you, will still hold you and suffocate you, but will also become a part of a new you that is survivable. Ahern really shows how Holly has to find a way to carry all her love and loss with her while still finding a way to live.
Some of the characters were a bit annoying, but sometimes that helped to show how people not fully suffering your same loss can get frustrated when you don't move on in a timely fashion, or they don't know how to support you. Overall, there were surprising moments of tenderness between characters who were all flawed, but were trying (and failing, and trying again).
The flow of the book could have benefited from an edit to shorten it, but it did allow for lots of backstory and secondary character development. Also, the Daniel/Holly tension throughout the book was resolved in an unexpected way that would have been disappointing if not for the very last scene. I thought Ahern tied it up well.
Full Book Review
"Nobody's life is filled with perfect little moments. And if it were, they wouldn't be perfect little moments. They would just be normal. How would you ever know happiness if you never experience downs?"
Synopsis:
After the death of her husband Gerry, 30-year-old Holly is reeling and drowning in her loss and devastation. And then the letters arrive from Gerry...the letters for each of the ten months following his death, instructing her on how to move on little by little. With the help and support of her friends and family, Holly strives to hold on to Gerry, while at the same time still trying to live and love.
My Thoughts... 3.5 Stars
First of all, this sweet book is SO much better than the movie! Why they Americanized this Irish story of love and loss is beyond me. What the movie probably gained in American viewers, it lost in location, culture, and warmth. But I digress...
Cecelia Ahern beautifully and painfully portrays loss and grief in this novel. It's heartfelt and messy, tender and full of anguish. It's not a story of a quick rebound from loss to new love, it's not a story of processing grief in record time, it's not even a story of moving on. What Ahern does is show how grief and loss will still live in you, will still hold you and suffocate you, but will also become a part of a new you that is survivable. Ahern really shows how Holly has to find a way to carry all her love and loss with her while still finding a way to live.
Some of the characters were a bit annoying, but sometimes that helped to show how people not fully suffering your same loss can get frustrated when you don't move on in a timely fashion, or they don't know how to support you. Overall, there were surprising moments of tenderness between characters who were all flawed, but were trying (and failing, and trying again).
The flow of the book could have benefited from an edit to shorten it, but it did allow for lots of backstory and secondary character development. Also, the Daniel/Holly tension throughout the book was resolved in an unexpected way that would have been disappointing if not for the very last scene. I thought Ahern tied it up well.