Love Letters to the Dead

By: Ava Dellaira

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person.

Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead - to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse - though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven’t forgiven?

It’s not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was - lovely and amazing and deeply flawed - can she truly start to discover her own path.

In a voice that’s as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl’s journey through life’s challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty.

©2014 Ava Dellaira. Published by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved. “One Art” and excerpt from “The Armadillo” from The Complete Poems 1927– 1979 by Elizabeth Bishop. © 1979, 1983 by Alice Helen Methfessel. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Moving storyline, amazing audio performance

In the beginning of this story, I was disappointed at how it seemed to fold out. I was expecting something much deeper than a girl writing to famous dead people about her high school problems. However, as the story continues and it got deeper, the story intrigued me more and more. While it still had typical YA tropes, it was a moving tale and one that captured my attention until the end.

Odd but okay

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend the book to YA readers, but many of them won't know who Kurt Cobain or the other "dead" people the narrator is writing to are.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Let down

What about Julia Whelan’s performance did you like?

She was a good reader.

Was Love Letters to the Dead worth the listening time?

The premise was odd, and I like how it developed, but there were a few things about the plot that were just...meh.

Any additional comments?

Nope!

<3

I don't think I have ever read (listened) to a book that made me "feel" like I did... I recommend whole heartedly!

Good teller, but confusing

I love the narrator, but you need to pay alot of attention to under stand it, its confusing. But still love it

A wonderful Read, no matter what age

Although I am a grown man, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It brought back memories once so far removed. I will definitely listen again, to stir my emotions and memories. I highly recommend for any age. The narration was an additional pleasure.

A Fantastic Book.

The most amazing story weaved with beautiful language and the poetry of life and loss.

A healing journey book.

Such good advice for any kind of trauma, really. I laughed and cried and will listen again to this book. I loved it.

13 year olds diary

It's diary entries that are real and raw but it's kind of irritating and dramatic. It's all teenage drama. Boys, dating, friends, blah blah. It was rough to get through. The ending was cute. But that's it

Feelings

To me the book is about feelings and coming to terms with them. It made me think would I be the same way or worse?

Perfect narration

4.5 of 5 stars
Six months ago Laurel's older sister May died. Then her mom moved across the country to "find" herself. Now Laurel spends her time between her very sad Dad's house and her religious fanatic maternal Aunt Amy. Now a sophomore in a new school, Laurel is making friends and opening, which she recounts in letters to famous dead people who died tragically- River Phoenix, Jim Morrison, Judy Garland, and Amy Winehouse, to name a few.

LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD started slowly, and I wasn't sure I made the right choice with my Amazon gift card. I usually read books in a day or two. After two days Kindle told me I had only read 25%, but not because the book didn't hold my interest. Debut writer Ava Dellaria wrote such a realistic, remarkable voice for Laurel I found myself re-reading the letters, often out loud, just to hear the words again. Dellaria allowed Laurel's story to unfold organically, as she slowly learned to trust herself through the letters to the dead. Then Laurel slowly began trusting her peers, and the adults in her life as she took scary emotional risks. Though not always likable, I loved Laurel's character. I wanted her to be more open, but she, like almost anyone in her circumstance, wasn't ready. I don't usually like relaxed paced books, but LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD, a true character story, couldn't have been written any better.

This novel has both teen and adult appeal, because many of the letters are to those who lived and died in prior generations and some of the irony may lost on those who haven't lived through it. The insights in Laurel's letters, simplistic, yet profound, often have universal, transferable meanings. I will definitely reread LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD while I eagerly await Ava Dellaria's sophomore novel.