Love Letters to the Dead
A Novel
Book - 2014
When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister's mysterious death, her mother's departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.
Publisher:
New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014.
Edition:
First edition.
ISBN:
9780374346676
0374346674
9781250062963
0374346674
9781250062963
Characteristics:
327 pages ; 22 cm


Comment
Add a CommentA great read. It shows the complexity of a young woman coming of age surrounded by loss and grief. Strong recommendation
Very clever approach used in telling this story. I loved reading the letters to all the dead people who meant something to her and how she used them to help her understand her sister's death. A compelling book.
Cleverly done and very well-written. One of the better YA debut novels I've read recently. And the author is currently writing a screenplay--this would make an excellent film!
Laurel starts a school assignment to write a letter to a person who has died. She keeps writing more stories to work out her feelings of all the events she has had in her life. The story reminds me of Speak. The events slowly reveal what happened to her and she learns how to help herself.
This book was Heat breaking.
Told solely through letters to different famous dead people, Laurel explains her life after her older sister dies. After the accident Laurel wants to start fresh so she starts at a new high school, meets new friends and starts to act like her sister to feel like she's still there. Through the letters she begins to be able to talk about what happened and Laurel finds out who she really is. Although this book seemed interesting it didn't really keep my attention and I only read about half way before stopping. Might come back to it later and try and finish it. Rating 2 out of 5 stars.
- @Fallenangelhushhush of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library
When I bought this book I thought that I would love it because of how interesting and different it seemed. The entire story is written as letters to famous dead people that influenced Laurel’s life. After her life is turned upside down writing to the dead helps her to cope. Although I did enjoy this book and I loved the characters I don’t feel like it met my expectations. I found that at some points I was bored and didn’t think I would finish it but then things would get interesting a couple pages later and I felt like I had to keep reading. Overall I think it was a good book, it’s worth the read. 3 Stars
- @bookworm of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library
This book was stunning in every single aspect. Its honestly as it deals with grief and growth struck me as wholeheartedly beautiful. Not only that, but this book gives some really great music suggestions! Fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and any John Green novel should definitely give this book a try!
I definitely liked this book. A good read
Not sure if I can say I finished it because I ended up just skipping around and then giving up. I don't like whiney voices or the epistolary style, so this book was not for me. It's a bit of a knockoff Saving Zoe. It's similar to Perks, but if you're looking for a coming-of-age novel I would recommend This Song Will Save Your Life instead. I wanted to like Love Letters and tried to like it, but it was just too boring and repetitive. Nothing special.
What a tear-jerker! I was definitely crying through a lot of this book. There were times when it was difficult to read this because of the immaturity of the narrator (she sounded much younger than high school to me and there were times when the author clearly expected the audience to be more mature than the character), but that gave Laurel plenty of room to grow and grow up throughout the novel. There were times when it really made the novel drag on and on, though, because Laurel's problems or her perceptions of them seemed so unimportant. The idea of letters to the dead was a bit gimmicky, but it was a successful gimmick, as it created a lot of connections between overcoming trauma and valuing life.