Review of DEAR EDWARD by Ann Napolitano (New Release)

3 Stars

Twelve-year-old Edward Adler is the sole survivor of a plane crash in which 191 people die, including his parents and his brother Jordan.  The book focuses on Edward’s struggles after the crash:  he has to recover physically and cope with paralyzing grief, overwhelming guilt, and unwanted celebrity.  He is taken in by an aunt and uncle who try to support him as best they can, but it is Edward’s friendship with Shay, the daughter of a neighbour, which becomes his anchor and helps him find meaning for his life.

Interspersed throughout are sections telling the story of the flight from boarding to impact, including the background of some of the passengers and crew on the ill-fated flight.

The book is an emotionally exhausting read.  As expected, Edward’s grief is staggering.  He initially copes by detaching from the world:  “Edward feels unmoored, like he might be anywhere in space, anywhere in time.”  He cannot eat and has difficulty sleeping.  As the only survivor, he feels “He had to carry the burden of so many lost lives.”  He describes the grieving process as swimming in pain and loss for years.  Three years after the crash, he feels like he “’should be over it’” but finds that he “’still [thinks] about it all the time.’”

A book blurb describes the book as a “luminous, life-affirming novel” but this is not accurate.  How can a book detailing the emotional and psychological effects of unimaginable tragedy be anything but serious and dark?  Edward does learn that there can be life after loss but that life after great loss is a life which includes always learning to live with that loss:  “’What happened is . . . not going away.  It’s part of you and will be part of you every moment until you die.  What you’ve been working on . . . is learning to live with that.’”  Discovering after many years that life can still have value does not mean that the journey to that discovery, the journey described in this book, is luminous or optimistic.  There is no disguising the fact that the book is a heavy, bleak read which offers signs of hope only near the end.

I was disappointed with Edward’s decisions concerning money at the end.  His choices are rather shallow, almost self-serving.  More growth on his part would have been shown if he had been more imaginative in his selections, options showing him directly addressing the needs of the loved ones of the lost. 

Some might argue that there is some relief from Edward’s constant misery in the descriptions of the other passengers.  The problem is that we know they are all going to die and their plans and hopes and goals will never be attained, so more sadness is added.  There is a further issue with some of these people.  Veronica, for example, is a cliché of a flight attendant whose unprofessional behaviour is unrealistic.  She is the senior attendant but doesn’t know how to deal with a situation that arises?  Mark is a cliché of a Wall Street player, and Linda’s discovery mid-flight is just plot manipulation.

The relationship between Edward’s aunt and uncle needs more attention.  Though they try their best, Lacey and John do not really know how to help Edward.  John is supposedly overly protective, but no real boundaries are established for Edward’s behaviour?  There is repeated reference to marital difficulties but few specifics are given.  John’s explanation that Lacey thought he was too protective and obsessive does not seem sufficient.  Then there’s an almost immediate “softening between Lacey and John”? 

This is anything but a light and easy read because it meticulously details one boy’s struggles to recover emotionally and psychologically from unbelievable trauma. 

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.