Love Letters to the Dead was a book I’ve been hearing about for a few weeks now, all good things from people who I respect. When it came out this week I decided to use some of my Amazon Kindle credit and pick it up. I found out pretty quickly I couldn’t put it down.
Told entirely in letters, this is the story of a 14-year old girl, her first year of high school, and the shadow of her dead sister. It’s the kind of book that slowly unfolds and you learn more about Laurel’s life, the lives of her friends, and what happened the night her sister died. Information is meted out slowly, letter by letter. I guessed a few things early on, but that didn’t take away from the way the story unfolded in the book.
What I liked about this book was the exploration of relationships. Though told strictly from Laurel’s point of view, you get a really good look at the relationships of her two closest friends, of a couple who knows senior year will bring an end to their romance, and of two parents who are dealing with the grief of losing a child and the struggle of caring for the one they have left. I would have liked to see more of the two mom’s in the story–Laurel and Sky’s–because I think there was more to the story in both cases that could have been further explored.
This is another one of those books that you want to rush through and savor all at the same time. I found myself using the Kindle highlight function liberally as I went though and it’ll be getting a re-read soon so I can pick up on things I know I missed. It was a beautiful story and I really enjoyed watching Laurel’s journey throughout the year the book spanned.
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