Love Letters to the Dead

Love Letters to the Dead is written exactly the way it sounds – as a series of letters. I’ve had a disconnect from epistolary novels since I was younger, mainly because so many of them are plagued by a voice that strikes me as very juvenile. While it’s still a flawed book in some ways, Dellaira’s debut was a refreshing deviation from that norm, and that definitely enhanced my enjoyment of it. My feelings are sort of divided into two firm camps: the good and the bad of this novel. But in the end, the good does outweigh the bad, and Love Letters to the Dead is an enjoyable read.

The Good:

I can’t help it – I will do anything for a good writing style. And Laurel’s voice, while slightly inconsistent at times, comes through powerfully in her simple, honest letters. It’s poetic in a way that takes you by surprise, finding the magic in ordinary spaces and transforming it. It knows what it’s doing, and it is quietly beautiful. It reads quickly and pleasantly. In fact, if I weren’t such a stickler for well-done prose, I might not have noticed it at all. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is, and I know that any reader of contemporary YA can appreciate that. It takes the shapes of people and holds them up to the light. I admit that it took me a while to warm to this style’s quirks, but once I got into it, I was enthralled. This was the main factor in my four-star rating, because a book’s writing style is such a large part of whether I like it.

I was intrigued by the supporting characters. Laurel’s parents and her aunt, each coping with their grief over May in very different ways. Tristan and Kristen, the so-in-love boy and his girlfriend who also know they must break. Natalie and Hannah, Laurel’s friends who know they’re in love but don’t know what to do about it. (Natalie and Hannah were actually my biggest ship in the book.) I loved learning more about these people, and I loved how realistic they were. They held up the book’s plot – or lack thereof – so that the storyline wasn’t really first and foremost on my mind. The only problem I had was their inexplicable, instant acceptance of Laurel, whose flaws I’m discussing in the “bad” section.

I adored the portrayal of May throughout. May is, in my mind, an odd combination of Ruby from Nova Ren Suma’s Imaginary Girls and Margo from John Green’s Paper Towns. (Both are wonderful books, by the way.) May is being idealized by someone close to her, and this ends up hurting everyone. Laurel’s initial I have to be like May mentality is heartbreaking, and May’s personality is a force of nature, even when told through flashbacks. It’s obvious that these sisters had a very complicated relationship, and Dellaira’s handling of that relationship is superb.

I really liked the fact that this wasn’t an “issue book”. It certainly covers a hugely important topic, but it doesn’t overemphasize it or preach about it. Issue books definitely have their place in contemporary YA, and it’s a vital place that should be recognized and respected. But I feel that if Love Letters to the Dead tried to squeeze into that place, it would fall flat. I appreciated that Dellaira knew how far to the take the issue in this instance, and that’s a powerful testament to her skills as an author.

The Bad:

Laurel made less of an impression on me. This is a shame, because too many YA books I’ve read recently have supporting characters who are more interesting than the protagonist. Laurel certainly does grow and change throughout the book, coming to terms with many of the loose ends in her life. That development was traceable, and it worked pretty well. But the one thing that I wanted her to grow out of the most, her lack of independence, stubbornly remained the same. She spends much of the story following her friends around and doing illegal things just because they are, with no real sense of why she’s drinking and going to parties. Much of the abuse she suffers could be avoided if she just took control of her own life and steered herself away from these activities. Laurel may have some of the most lovely writing I’ve come across in ages, but she’s pretty darn spineless.

Sky (the reason for the “falling in love” mentioned in the synopsis) was also a letdown for me. Reason? He’s a jerk and Laurel refuses to see that. I could not ship this ship. From the beginning, Sky and Laurel’s relationship seems contrived – she likes him without knowing anything about him beyond the fact that he’s cute and mysterious. The chemistry really isn’t there, and I could feel myself thinking insta-love every time I read that they were sharing a glance or some such thing. Then – although I’ll try not to spoil anything – the two go through all of this horribly angsty I love you so I’m leaving you stuff, and this, frankly, doesn’t make any sense. I wanted to shake my fist at Laurel and say “See? He doesn’t deserve you if he’s going to treat you like that.” But unfortunately, she falls prey to his looks and his “steady driving” (yeah, that was a thing) time and again, which left me annoyed.

All in All:

Despite the shortcomings mentioned above, Love Letters to the Dead is really a special debut. I’ve done a monstrous amount of analysis and nitpicking in this review, and my feelings are definitely mixed. But do give it a shot, because it is meaningful and imperfect and eye-opening. It has a great deal of courage, and I can admire that.

For a school assignment, Laurel must write a letter to someone who has passed away. She chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister May loved him and they both died too soon. Laurel finds herself writing letters to many dead celebrities, revealing everything from a new crush, new friendships to secrets like what would happen when she and May were supposed to be at the movies together. Through the letters, Laurel starts to accept what happened to her sister and maybe she can finally move on.

I was really excited for this book because the concept sounded interesting. The whole book written in the style of letters to dead celebrities as a way to cope with the main character’s sister’s death? It sounded different and I like reading different narration styles, especially when they work well. Unfortunately, for me, there was a lot about the style that didn’t end up working.

The two major issues I had with the letter style narration. First, there was a lot of explaining the celebrity’s life to them that just seemed strange. They lived through it, they don’t need to be told they’re parents divorced or they were in a movie. It was hard to lose myself in the story when all I could keep thinking was Laurel was listing off facts about their own lives to them. Second, because the whole story was in letters, a lot of the time it felt like we were getting a short recap of her day or a moment instead of something that felt a little more complete.

That said, I did like how Laurel could take parts of what she knew or learned about the celebrities and apply it to her own life, and watching her slowly come to terms with what happened the night her sister died. Writing can be therapeutic and this was the first time I’d seen a character use it to such an extent. The side characters, and the depth they showed, was also really nice. I was worried about how characters other than Laurel would fare in a letter narration but Dellaira still managed to give them depth and show growth.

While the narration didn’t work for me, I think there’ll be readers out there who will fall in love with it and with Laurel and her friends.

I have conflicting feelings for this book. Love Letters to the Dead was great while I was reading it, but now that some time has passed it has faded from my mind.This is going to be one of those books that either blows you away, or blows right passed you.

One thing that did impress me was the amount of research that went into the content of the letters. I am a product of the 90s. I remember River Pheonix and Kurt Cobain. I remember my crushes on them both, and how crushed I felt to learn of their deaths. But because I was young in the 90s, I don't remember much about the mysteries surrounding those events. The author did a great job of digging around to find those details (like Cobain's suicide letter and Pheonix's very troubling childhood). Most of the "characters" Laurel writes to has a troubling past that is explored.

Along the way, Laurel learns a good bit about herself and her new friends as well. The letters become very therapeutic. If you ever kept a diary when you were young, you'll know what I mean. Laurel's deepest thoughts and fears start pouring out onto the pages. Eventually, the pages cannot contain everything and she opens up to the world. There are so many things going on in this book that make it hard to sum up in a few short paragraphs. If I tried to box it in, I would not be doing this book justice.

Even though I felt very passionately about this book while reading it, it didn't linger in my mind. There are some books that you just cannot move beyond. They echo in your soul. Love Letters to the Dead was not one of those books. I thought it would be. I went into this book expecting it to be the next "big thing" for me-- the book I would tell everyone about. But I have to be honest. I haven't given it much thought since finishing it.

Do I think it's worth reading? Sure. It's a pretty good coming of age story. The plot is full of layers that slowly peel away. Laurel learns some tough life lessons too. Love Letters to the Dead really deals with the heavy hitters of YA fiction: divorce, suicide, relationships, depression.