A review by lifeonasofa
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

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

3.0

“A queen

offers her hand to be kissed,

& can form it into a fist

while smiling the whole damn time.” - Elizabeth Acevedo 👑

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 Stars

My first time reading a book written in verse, and I will say it was a very speedy read. It was a beautiful story about grief and found family. I found myself welling up towards the end. I really enjoyed reading from the 2 sisters separately and then together at the end, very clever. 👩🏿‍🤝‍👩🏾

I went into this book expecting it to be all about what happened to the flight, a bit of mystery, maybe a twist? But it focused mainly on the two siblings left behind, living two different lifestyles and how they come together. The book also looked at class inequality, ethnics minorities, lgbt relationships alongside the death of a parent so some pretty important content! 👍🏻 

I found the book a little difficult to start with due to being written in verse, the different perspectives that sounded so alike and it being very different plot wise to what I expected. I personally don’t think being written in verse added any magic, in fact it sometimes felt forced. Because of all this, I nearly DNF’d, however I’m so glad I continued because the second half, I adored. 📖

It’s a unique read, I can see why it has such a good rep on Bookstagram but I personally expected more plot due to the hype 🥰

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, and Stalking