The Letters Book

The narrative voice is stunningly beautiful. I fell in love with Anna just because she sounded SOOOO much like all the ten year old girls I know. The book made me violently angry. I think this was the writer's intent. I was so pissed off at what was happening to this girl and the fact that NOBODY saw it, not even her "loving" mother, that I just about threw the book several times. But then Anna would say something SOOOOOO insightful or just, normal, that I had to finish it. I am proud to say that I made it through the story without crying (I doubt that will be typical!) Then I read the "For Reflection" (which is really like the afterward, or something, just when the author wants to talk a little bit more about the subject) and cried until I drowned because I GOT IT: this shit HAPPENS.

This writer knows how to write. She knows how to write and tell a story, better than Ash does (which, I won't give it away, but SAYS A LOT). I think her strong point is in evoking EMOTION and I think it's an important read, if just only for the afterward part. I thought that the John bit was a bit much, but the afterward explained that and then I had an AHA moment and GOT IT, so I can't even say that against it. There were a few areas where she had tense shifts (sometimes even within a sentence) but she may have just been trying to pll a JD Salinger thing where she talks in a "real" way. I really don't care. I don't know that I will ever read it again, just because it's emotional impact is astronomical, but this is a book that I would highly recommend (in fact, I think I'll recommend it to my book group!)