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A review by thecontrarybookworm
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
2.0
All these two-star books are killing me!
I thought there was a good chance I’d enjoy this one, as I tend to like books about death and grief. But Dear Edward annoyed me and fell flat.
There are two alternating parts of this novel: the first is told through the eyes of the plane’s passengers that are about to meet certain doom, and the second is in the perspective of Edward, the lone survivor of the crash, as he processes the event. I personally hated the former - there are about seven named passengers and they are all shallowly written, unlikeable, and they added nothing to the story at all. I couldn’t care less about them dying.
The latter part is more interesting, as the characters here seem more realistic and human. But the whole story is written in such a cold, detached manner, it wasn’t much better.
Also, it felt to me as if the author was trying to be overly “woke” and it backfired majorly. Being white seemed to be the “default” for characters, and anyone who was non-white was identified solely by their race. It was also mentioned several times that women’s main job is to make babies, and that is what defines them. I hated both of these things. There was an unnecessary obsession with sex in the storyline as well, which made me cringe.
I thought there was a good chance I’d enjoy this one, as I tend to like books about death and grief. But Dear Edward annoyed me and fell flat.
There are two alternating parts of this novel: the first is told through the eyes of the plane’s passengers that are about to meet certain doom, and the second is in the perspective of Edward, the lone survivor of the crash, as he processes the event. I personally hated the former - there are about seven named passengers and they are all shallowly written, unlikeable, and they added nothing to the story at all. I couldn’t care less about them dying.
The latter part is more interesting, as the characters here seem more realistic and human. But the whole story is written in such a cold, detached manner, it wasn’t much better.
Also, it felt to me as if the author was trying to be overly “woke” and it backfired majorly. Being white seemed to be the “default” for characters, and anyone who was non-white was identified solely by their race. It was also mentioned several times that women’s main job is to make babies, and that is what defines them. I hated both of these things. There was an unnecessary obsession with sex in the storyline as well, which made me cringe.