The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender in The Under-Hyped Readathon!

Dec 03, 2014 lookingforabura rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary

"I found it ironic that I should be blessed with wings and yet feel so constrained, so trapped. It was because of my condition, I believe, that I noticed life's ironies a bit more often than the average person. I collected them: how love arrived when you least expected it, how someone who said he didn't want to hurt you eventually would."

Beautifully written. It delivers lyrical prose and magical-realism kind of story line. I will read the future books from this author! ...more

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Apr 06, 2015 Brianna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, young-adult, 2014-release-date, cover-love, read-in-2015, top-books-of-2015, magical-realism, to-re-read, high-school-favourites

TRIGGER WARNING: THOSE SENSITIVE TO DEPICTIONS OF RAPE MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS BOOK… Even though it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read <3 ...more

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Sep 11, 2014 Bettielee rated it it was amazing

I just want to say that this may or may not be YA – that is how it came up on my library feed. Some places, be they stores or libraries, automatically call something YA if it has teenage protagonists. I consider this more for the older range of YA – there are sexual situations and a sexual assault, not that any of it is explicit – just for those that need to be aware of trigger warnings.

This story isn’t like most modern stories – and I’d really like to take my hat off to the publishing company t I just want to say that this may or may not be YA – that is how it came up on my library feed. Some places, be they stores or libraries, automatically call something YA if it has teenage protagonists. I consider this more for the older range of YA – there are sexual situations and a sexual assault, not that any of it is explicit – just for those that need to be aware of trigger warnings.

This story isn’t like most modern stories – and I’d really like to take my hat off to the publishing company that printed it for stepping outside the “three acts and a twist” box. This is like an old story, where before they tell you the story, they tell you the history of those in the story, going back to great-grandparents, who came over from the old world. Most of the story takes place between the two world wars and a little after. A lot of people may not have patience for this type of beginning – it is a slow, gentle beginning, full of beautiful language but not all difficult to read, and I really suggest you bear with it if that sort of thing isn’t your preference. It’s not a lot of dialog and plot development in the beginning, it’s giving you background and telling you a story, almost like a family member would. I really enjoyed it.

This is probably the first book I’ve read where I can call it magical realism and not sneer. Usually, that is just a snobby way of saying fantasy. I have little patience for people who think so badly of genre they have to call it by another name when they read it. But it is a book about a girl named Ava Lavender who was born with wings, of course it’s magical, of course it’s fantasy…but the story isn’t about figuring out how she got the wings, why she got the wings, the world’s not in danger because of her wings, the wings simply are. So what is the story about? The story is about family and tragedy – but it’s mostly about love.

It seems like each generation of Ava’s family (remember, we start with great-grandpa) has a tragic history with love. Each generation is more heartbroken than the last. It takes the premise of love and shows how it can make things: two people can make a life of their own, through marriage, or making babies or businesses to take care of those lives and babies. Also, the destructive and damaging side of love, even how love can transform people, for better or worse, and sometimes, the transformation is literal. A lot of it focuses on obsessive love and the levels to which it can form or destroy someone’s life.

Ava is the focus character – of course, though her family plays a big part. She was born with wings, as I said, but as everyone seems to forget, she was not the only child born that day. She has a brother, Henry, who at first, is only remarkable in his silence. He doesn’t cry. As he grows up, he doesn’t speak, but he makes the most perfect maps, and shows flashes of psychic insight. They live with their mother, Vivianne, and grandmother in a dollhouse type Victorian with as colorful a past as the one they came from and the one they are making. Due to their mother’s romantic disappointment and fear of rejection, the twins and their mother live in the solitude of their house, with their grandmother who can see spirits and owns a bakery, and resident gentle giant, Gabe, who is a boarder in their house, handyman, and hopelessly in love with Vivianne. Sadly, she is still in love with the twin's father and he is not in the picture. Then another figure enters the scene: a pious nephew of a neighbor comes into town and he forms an obsessive love of his own.

This reminded me a little of Chocolat (or the movie Like Water for Chocolate – if that is a book, I haven’t read it) and to a lesser degree, Salmon Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (I am not comparing the book to those works, I am just saying it felt a touch like them, it has small elements that are similar, don’t be offended or say I’m crazy, I know Midnight’s Children is an untouchable epic to some people). However, this book is far more accessible. I know a lot of readers, especially younger readers, don’t have patience for beautiful language, but the style of this is so easy to read and I think if you are an action adventure person, if you give this a chance it could be that gateway book that encourages you to read beyond plot. And that is no dig at plot driven books – a lot of those also have deep themes and symbolism but people don’t always read for that or think about those things. If you don’t believe me, watch Thug Notes about The Hunger Games on Youtube. I thought I read that book pretty critically but Dr. Sparky Sweets showed me real truths.

Anyway, can’t say enough good about this book. There’s a lot of romance, some of it sad and tragic, it’s a historic setting but it feels very modern. Strongly recommend this one.

started as alibrary book and then I bought a copy ...more

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Nov 15, 2014 Jen Eure rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own

Wow. This story completely snuck up on me. Of course I enjoyed following the lives of these 3 extraordinary women from the beginning, but the story arc took me by surprise. Every word was perfectly placed, there was nothing superfluous in it. Every little detail had a purpose. I felt so much empathy toward these characters and that ending nearly broke me. This book definitely warrants a reread and I can see this being a 2015 favorite!

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