Welcome back to another CC Book Club discussion! For the first month of the school year, we read Love Letters to the Dead, Ava Dellaira’s debut YA novel. As per usual, there are spoilers throughout!
Laurel is given a simple assignment by her English teacher at her new high school: write a letter to someone who is dead. Laurel picks Kurt Cobain because her older sister, May, who also recently passed, was a big fan of his. In Laurel’s opinion, Kurt understands a lot of the emotions that May was experiencing prior to her death. Laurel realizes that this outlet is a powerful one for her and continues writing to a host of celebrities who are deceased including Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, and Amy Winehouse, while never actually handing one in to her teacher.
I liked the concept of a book composed of letters and have loved this style before, but I feel like it fell short in ‘Love Letters to the Dead’. Sure, the process of writing these letters to dead celebrities who Laurel related to was very cathartic and healing for her, but I feel like I also didn’t get to know her or have a chance to connect with her. The letters ensured the protagonist kept her distance from the audience and, overall, that didn’t work for me. What did you think of the style of this novel? Were you able to connect with Laurel?
Despite YA novels being written for a slightly younger crowd, some of my favorite books fall into the YA category. Good YA authors can send themselves back to adolescence and perfectly describe all the confusion and (often) heartache that goes along with finding your way in the world. I felt like Dellaira’s writing conveyed a lot of these typical adolescent emotions, but in a totally disorganized fashion. Her whole relationship with Sky was just too juvenile for me to relate to and I ended up metaphorically rolling my eyes at Laurel a lot of the time. Statements like, “You remind me of the feeling of wanting to make something” are so abstract and, when I actually think about it, I have no idea what that means. Sure, I’ve wanted to bake cookies or knit a scarf before, but I’m not sure how that relates to teenage infatuation and/or love. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the writing!
Thanks for joining in everyone! For October I’ve picked a book I feel like I’ve been waiting an eternity for: Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham! It’s being released September 30th, so pick up you copy and join in!
Let's Talk About "Love Letters to the Dead" by Ava Dellaira [CC Book Club]
