Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano - Review for Blog Tour
Today I have been invited to post my review of Dear Edward as part of the Blog tour.
Dear Edward is a coming of age with a difference. Imagine if your nearest and dearest were all wiped out in one tragic event – one which you miraculously survived, if this happened when you were just 12 years old how would YOU cope? Unimaginable? Yes, thank God, but the author has managed to put herself in this position and tell the story of survivor Edward and allow us as reader to walk in his shoes. It is done very well too.
In a series of flashbacks to just before the terrible tragic plane crash at the heart of this novel, we come to know Eddie as he was, when he had a loving Mother and Father and his older brother Jordan who was his hero, whilst we join Edward as he now prefers to be known as he emerges alone from injuries and trauma he sustained.
As would be expected the main after effects are deeply psychological and Edward finds it really hard to fit in anywhere and be just a normal boy. His miraculous survival have made him an overnight celebrity and it seems like he is being pulled in hundreds of different directions at one when all he wants to do is keep his head down and grieve.
But redemption comes in a new friendship. I enjoyed seeing the relationship between the girl next door, Shay. Truths emerge about the Aunt and Uncle who take him in and we see the hitherto childless couple adapt to losing their relatives and bringing up a deeply troubled pre-teen boy.
Also I liked hearing snippets of the lives of many who have also lost a loved one in the same incident, although I found it pretty unlikely that just about every single relative who lost a loved on would all independently write to a young boy, these letters form the Dear Edward of the title and actually play a big part in his recovery.
The book is heartwarming yet deeply disturbing and I would advise it may prove a difficult read if you have experienced loss of a loved one or have a teenage boy yourself.
Emotional and uplifting.
The Blurb
A heart-wrenching, life-affirming novel about a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a deadly plane crash
One summer morning, a flight takes off from New York to Los Angeles. There are 216 passengers aboard: among them a Wall Street millionaire; a young woman taking a pregnancy test in the airplane toilet; a soldier returning from Afghanistan; and two beleaguered parents moving across the country with their adolescent sons. When the plane suddenly crashes in a field in Colorado, the younger of these boys, 12-year-old Edward Adler, is the sole survivor.
Dear Edward recounts the stories of the passengers aboard that flight as it hurtles toward its fateful end, and depicts Edward's life in the crash's aftermath as he tries to make sense of the loss of his family, the strangeness of his sudden fame, and the meaning of his survival. As Edward comes of age against the backdrop of sudden tragedy, he must confront one of life's most profound questions: how do we make the most of the time we are given?’
The Blurb
A heart-wrenching, life-affirming novel about a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a deadly plane crash
One summer morning, a flight takes off from New York to Los Angeles. There are 216 passengers aboard: among them a Wall Street millionaire; a young woman taking a pregnancy test in the airplane toilet; a soldier returning from Afghanistan; and two beleaguered parents moving across the country with their adolescent sons. When the plane suddenly crashes in a field in Colorado, the younger of these boys, 12-year-old Edward Adler, is the sole survivor.
Dear Edward recounts the stories of the passengers aboard that flight as it hurtles toward its fateful end, and depicts Edward's life in the crash's aftermath as he tries to make sense of the loss of his family, the strangeness of his sudden fame, and the meaning of his survival. As Edward comes of age against the backdrop of sudden tragedy, he must confront one of life's most profound questions: how do we make the most of the time we are given?’
