Dear Edward was my very first Book of the Month subscription selection! I signed up for an annual subscription during last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials. After reading the description for this book I knew I had to read it!
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Review & Thoughts
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Dear Edward was a fantastic pick for my first Book of the Month selection. The writing was profoundly beautiful, emotionally jarring, and thought provoking. The book was thoroughly enjoyable despite the heavy topic. Although you go into the book knowing that the entire group of passengers (shy of Edward) would die in the plane crash, I thought it was interesting to get a glimpse into their lives and their individual stories. People’s stories and the way they live their lives are so profoundly interesting and this book was jam-packed with perspectives on life.
One of the biggest surprises for me was that I found myself enjoying the present-to-past chapter format. I don’t like books that are formatted in present to past but over time I’ve come to realize it’s not the format that I dislike, it’s when an author’s writing is too messy and confusing or too detail heavy to remember all the story lines. Dear Edward was wonderfully written and not the least bit boring or confusing.
In a Nutshell: The writing was profoundly beautiful, emotionally jarring, and thought provoking. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy literary fiction.
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My Rating: 5 / 5 Stars
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Dear Edward was my first book selection through my new ‘Book of the Month‘ subscription box. I treated myself to an annual subscription and it’s by far one of my favorite purchases. Each month there’s 5 books and you get to pick one as your book of the month and you can add-on additional books. If you don’t like the selection you can skip that month and your book credit will roll over. If you’re interested in joining please consider using my referral link. You’ll get your first month for only $5 and (disclaimer!) I’ll earn a book credit, which means more books for me to review and recommend on my blog!
Details From the Book Jacket
Published: January 6, 2020 by Dial Press
Book Blurb: Inspired by a true story of one child’s incredible survival–riveting, uplifting, unforgettable.
After losing everything, a young boy discovers there are still reasons for hope in this luminous, life-affirming novel, perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett.
In the face of tragedy, what does it take to find joy?
One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them is a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured vet returning from Afghanistan, a septuagenarian business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.
Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a piece of him has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery–one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do find yourself? How do you discover your purpose? What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?
Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.
Book Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Books by Ann Napolitano
Meet the Author: Ann Napolitano
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Ann Napolitano’s new novel, Dear Edward, was published by Dial Press in January 2020. She is the author of the novels A Good Hard Look and Within Arm’s Reach. She is also the Associate Editor of One Story literary magazine. She received an MFA from New York University; she has taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and for Gotham Writers’ Workshop. In November 2019, Ann was long-listed for the Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize.
Dear Edward has been published by Dial Press in the United States, and by Viking Penguin in the United Kingdom. The novel currently has twenty-one international publishers.
A Good Hard Look was published in the United States by Penguin Press. The novel appeared on the Southern Independent bestseller list, on one of NPR’s Best of 2011 lists, and was also an Indie Next Pick and an Okra Pick.
Her first novel, Within Arm’s Reach, was published in the United States by Crown Publishing, in the United Kingdom by Time Warner Books/Virago, in Spain by Ediciones Salamandra, and in Germany by Verlagsgruppe Droemer Weltbild. The novel was adapted and staged as a theatrical production in New York City in 2014.
Ann lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Thank you for the recommendation. I’d like to read that book