Monday 19 May 2014

Review: Love Letters to the Dead



Love Letters to the Dead
Author:

Publication Date:  May 1st 2014
~A copy was provided by HotKeyBooks in exchange for an honest review~








 
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It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain - he died young, and so did Laurel's sister May - so maybe he'll understand a bit of what Laurel is going through. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people - Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart... it's like she can't stop. And she'd certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. She writes about what it's like going to a new high school, meeting new friends, falling in love for the first time - and how her family has shattered since May died.

But much as Laurel might find writing the letters cathartic, she can't keep real life out forever. The ghosts of her past won't be contained between the lines of a page, and she will have to come to terms with growing up, the agony of losing a beloved sister, and the realisation that only you can shape your destiny. A lyrical, haunting and stunning debut from the protégé of Stephen Chbosky (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER).

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Love Letters to the Dead is as personal as it gets and for me I had a hard time detaching myself from it because in all retro respect, Laurel could've been me. Or you. Or everyone else. A lot of shit happens in this world, and by the synopsis, you don't even get half of it. And that was the shocking thing because while I was reading it, I picked up a few little hints here and there but I still wasn't expecting it.