love letters to the dead by ava dellaira

It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. And she'd certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people - Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia 's like she can't stop. 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. Out of the entire book, this is the message that I feel needed to be stressed the most, and it was only mentioned at the very end.It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. It is important for those who do read this book to understand that you should never allow yourself to be victimized, and if something happens that makes you feel uncomfortable or violated, you need to talk to an authority figure and someone who can help you make those actions stop. It just bothered me, because it seemed like she was doing it to herself, or letting herself be the victim of such actions. Maybe it was because she was just being a teenager that was experimenting, or going through a rebellious stage, or maybe something else entirely. Unfortunately, she is also a difficult character to fully relate to, and there were more times than one where I would get extremely frustrated with her thoughts and actions. Laurel does end up going through some character growth in the book, and while it does seem to take a while to happen, it eventually happens. The more the letters come, however, Laurel eventually makes her own memories and opinions about the people she writes to that don’t always involve her sister. Her choices of dead people to write to seem to revolve around her memories of May. Since it all started as an English assignment – write a letter to a dead person – Laurel ends up using this assignment as a grieving mechanism, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.

Throughout the book, we see if this plan of Laurel’s actually works, through her own words. She ends up transferring schools, trying to make herself into a different person where nobody will ever know about her sister and the fact that May is dead. This is exactly what happens with the main character Laurel, and the death of her sister May rocks her entire world. Imagine losing your best friend, your sister, and watching her die. Losing a family member, especially one that you are close to, can be the worst feeling in the world.

I mean, I know you’re dead, but I think there must be something in a human being that can’t just disappear. I wish you could tell me where you are now.

Love letters to the dead by ava dellaira