I am so pleased to be a part of the blog tour for the paperback release of Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. I read and reviewed this one back in April of 2104. Spoiler alert, I loved it!
This blog tour is a bit unique. In Love Letters to the Dead the main character writes letters to numerous dead famous people. Participating blogs picked one of these people to write their own letter to. Ava Dellaira then responded to the letters from the bloggers. What a cool idea, right? I chose to write to Jim Morrison of The Doors. Read on to see what I had to say and Ms. Dellaira’s response…
My Letter:
Mr. Morrison? Jim?
How do I even address this letter? The first seems so formal but the second implies a familiarity that isn’t there. I’ve never met you or had the chance to attend a concert. You died 11 years before I was even born. However, I feel like I’ve known who you are my entire life.
I’m sure there was a moment when I learned your name. When someone connected the picture of the man with the wild brown hair, unsmiling face, and no shirt to the name “Jim Morrison” for me. When “Jim Morrison” was then connected to “The Doors” and the songs I loved. This isn’t a moment I remember, but, like so many things we learn as children, it must have happened.
What I do remember is this: how much joy your music brought. “Hello, I Love You,” “Break on Through,” “Light my Fire.” These songs had me turning up the radio, dancing around like a crazy person, and singing at the top of my lungs. When they came on, I never turned the dial. And that hasn’t changed. The restaurant I work at pulls out a record player and a couple boxes of vinyl every Tuesday night. The first Tuesday I worked I was flipping through the boxes and knew immediately what my first pick would be: The Doors Greatest Hits. I was taken right back to listening to the radio as a kid. It took every ounce of my will power to not sing and dance along as I waited tables that night. So, so worth it.
All of that to say thank you. Thank you for your music. It has brought me much joy in my life.
With appreciation,
Heidi
Ava’s Response:
Dear Heidi,
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful letter to Jim Morrison. Your deliberation over how to address him made me smile, but you also point out something very true.
In Love Letters to the Dead, when Laurel writes to Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and others, she starts out addressing them by their full names, and then, as she develops a “relationship” with them—learning more about their works and their lives and opening up about her own—she starts to address them by their first names. When writing the book I made this choice almost unconsciously, but you made me think about it.
Laurel feels alone with her grief at the beginning of the book; at first, she’s unable to talk to the people in her life about what she’s gone through, and so she turns to famous dead people instead. Her connections to them give her a sense of belonging in a world that’s bigger than her own, and eventually they help her to understand herself and to come to terms with her own story. In short, she gains a “familiarity” with them, even if it’s only imagined. But it’s true, also, that while the celebrities and artists we admire may offer us a sense of belonging, they don’t belong to us. I think in the playful first lines of your letter to Jim, or Mr. Morrison, you get at this tension beautifully.
As you also point out, the connection to, the joy of the work matters most—and that’s something that can at once be our own, and can be shared by so many others. Thank you for telling your story about bringing Jim to life on a Tuesday night at your restaurant. And, I’m with you—not once, never, have I or will I turn the dial when a Doors song comes on.
Yours,
Ava
Is there someone you’d like to write a letter to? Readers can write their own letters and share them at http://avadellaira.com/
About the Book:
LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD tells the story of Laurel, a teenager who, in the wake of her older sister’s death, is assigned to write a letter to a deceased person. She writes her first letter to Kurt Cobain (her favorite artist), and soon she pens a notebook full of letters to the dead, including Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, and Amelia Earhart, among others. Each of them evokes a different emotion in her. Through these letters, Laurel grapples with not only the emotional trauma of losing her older sister, but also her experiences in navigating the turbulent world of high school—including friendships, love, and even abuse. Laurel finds that in writing down her truths, she is more able to come to terms with her sister’s death.
LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD is a miss-your-subway stop, stay-up-and-devour-all- night reading experience that pulls readers in with its heart-wrenching and beautiful honesty. The New York Times observes, “Dellaira has either experienced sibling loss or done good research, because her themes ring true.”
This standout debut garnered exuberant pre-publication praise from numerous YA heavyweights, including Laurie Halse Anderson, Jay Asher, Gayle Forman, and Lauren Myracle, and foreign rights have sold to 23 countries.
Love Letters to the Dead • By Ava Dellaira
Published by FSG for Young Readers | Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-374-34667-6
Paperback ISBN: 9781250062963 | Ages 12 and Up | Grades 7 and Up
Hardcover $17.99 | Paperback $9.99 | On Sale September 29, 2015
About the Author:
Photo Credit: Tom Dellaira
Ava Dellaira is the author of the YA novel, LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD, which was published in 2014 to much acclaim and is now out in paperback. It was one of Buzzfeed’s Best YA Books of 2014 and one of Bustle’s 10 Best Debut Young Adult Novels, and has been optioned for film by Fox 2000 and the producers of The Fault in Our Stars. Dellaira is writing the script, which is slated to be directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight). Ava wrote much of the novel while working as an associate producer on The Perks of Being A Wallflower movie. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. Ava grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she’s at work on her second book, whose publication was just announced for 2018.
Blog Tour Schedule:
September 21st: Forever Young Adult
September 22nd: Rebel Mommy Book Blog
September 23rd: Fangirl Feels
September 24th: The Reading Nook Reviews
September 25th: Alexa Loves Books
September 28th: YA Bibliophile
September 29th: Into the Hall of Books
Giveaway:
Thanks to the publisher I have one copy of Love Letters to the Dead to giveaway. US only. Must be 13 or older.
Eileen M.
That is such a hard question. I am very much into pop culture, so there would be many. The first person that came to mind was Robin Williams. I was stunned by his death, someone who could make the world laugh was suffering so much.
Autumn
I would write my letter Walt Disney, thanking him for showing the world that imagination and hope isn’t just for children.
Susan
Anne Boleyn
Rosie @ The Literary Hedonist
I’d write a letter to Walt Whitman to thank him for Leaves of Grass.