The strange and
beautiful sorrows of Ava lavender by Leslye Walton
Publisher/ year: 2014
Walker Books
Genre: Magical
realism, contemporary
What is it about?
Pain in Love appears
to be a Roux family birthright, and for Ava Lavender, a girl born with the
wings of a bird, it is key to her inheritance. Longing to fit in with her
peers, Ava ventures away from home, ill-prepared for what awaits her in a world
that does not know whether to view her as girl or angel.
Ava’s quest and her
family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo until, on the summer solstice,
the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air and Ava’s fate is revealed
The Review
‘To many I was myth incarnate,
the embodiment of a most superb legend, a fairy tale. Some considered me a monster, a mutation. To my great misfortune, I was once mistaken for an angel.
To my mother, I was everything. To my father, nothing at all. To my
grandmother, I was a daily reminder of loves long lost. But I knew the truth –
deep down, I always did.
I was just a girl.’
I have one word for
this novel guys and it’s not at all as wonderfully thought out as the magnificent
work of art that is The Strange and beautiful sorrows of Ava Lavender, because well that is simply not possible but
it does do the trick I suppose. To this novel I simply have to say WOW! I had
difficulty putting this book down and I was amazed at the fact that it was
Lesley Walton’s debut novel because of it’s beautiful prose and well thought
out plot where we are exposed to not just one character’s life but the lives of
almost every character we meet which was refreshing and unexpected. I wanted to
pick this book up because of all the buzz that surrounds it but as we all know
buzz is not always the best indication of a well written book. In this case
however the buzz is well worth it and I am truly grateful that I received it
from the folks at Pan Macmillan publishing or I might not have picked it up and
that would have been a huge loss on my part.
The Characters: Ahh how
bruised and lovely all of these characters were. I honestly felt deeply for
each and every heart break! I laughed
and I cried multiple times with each and every one of them and the best was
that Walton made it possible for you as a reader to understand how each of them
thought and felt which allowed you to understand their actions no matter how
blatantly stupid, careless or cruel they seemed. Ava Lavender is the narrator
and the Main character of the novel. She is the girl born with a beautiful set
of white and brown wings. The reincarnation of an angel, or so some thought.
The book starts with her telling her story from beginning to the end or at least
to the end of a part of her. The story doesn’t begin with Ava, it begins with
her great grandfather and grandmother which at first threw me a little I won’t
lie but once I got into it I wanted more and now I wish she could have started
even further down the family tree because the family Roux definitely had some
interesting tales to tell about life love, family and betrayal. There are way
too many characters to go into the whole list but they are all well worth
getting to know!
The Setting: What even??? I
felt like I was right there with the family through each and every one of their
moves. From Beauregard Roux and Maman in their Manhattan apartment to Emilienne
Rouw, Viviane, Ava and Henry in the white house at the top of the hill of
Pinnacle Lane In the blossoming city of Seattle Washington. I could smell the
baked goods from Emilienne Roux’s bakery from which the syrupy sweetness
dwindled at each summer Solstice celebration. The descriptions made me want to
delve head first into this novel and steel Ava Lavender’s life even with all
the heartache that comes along with it.
The prose: Leslye Walton has a
way with words that grabs you and never lets you go until it’s over and you’re
having sickening withdrawal symptoms. Haha It’s intense guys but I can say without a doubt that if this story
was written without Walton’s prose the magic would have been lost. I fell in
love with her writing just like I fell in love with the characters that fill
the tale that is Ava Lavender’s life.
Romance: No comment. My heart
was broken and mended more than the humane amount of times tsk tsk I’m pretty
sure I need a band aid after this one.
Final Thoughts: Yes I basically spent this whole review raving about the beauty that is this novel and I stand behind each gushing moment. I want to criticise this novel a little but I came up short guys there is nothing bad to say really I just want everyone to read it and love it as much as I did! This was not a YA book and it wasn’t an adult book this is a book for everyone! Mostly YA and up haha it can be a little adult but not at all explicit. This book was tasteful and relied on suggestion more than anything else so if you were afraid of steamy scenes don’t be! There are none. There are a lot of bakery scenes though that will leave you craving baked goods like it’s no one’s business! I had more than one cookie when I reached the end of the novel and even though they were drenched in tears of joy and sadness they were delicious! YUM!
Final Thoughts: Yes I basically spent this whole review raving about the beauty that is this novel and I stand behind each gushing moment. I want to criticise this novel a little but I came up short guys there is nothing bad to say really I just want everyone to read it and love it as much as I did! This was not a YA book and it wasn’t an adult book this is a book for everyone! Mostly YA and up haha it can be a little adult but not at all explicit. This book was tasteful and relied on suggestion more than anything else so if you were afraid of steamy scenes don’t be! There are none. There are a lot of bakery scenes though that will leave you craving baked goods like it’s no one’s business! I had more than one cookie when I reached the end of the novel and even though they were drenched in tears of joy and sadness they were delicious! YUM!
Who should Read this book?
Okay I know I do this
a lot but guys if you can breathe, read and you know love and loss than you should
pick this up! Even if you don’t know love or loss pick it up! Even if you can’t
breathe or read PICK IT UP! Haha okay no don’t. I’d rather not run into any
zombies in my local book store so maybe buy it online? Okay thanks hehe. Okay
so seriously now. This book would be loved by those who loved The Book Thief by
Marcus Zusak, Death and Ava Lavender make great narrators! Claps for them! Both
of these books have the ability to pull you in and like a masochist leave you
breaking your own heart unable to put it down! It’s not just sad though don’t get
me wrong. This book has a little of everything I even found myself creeped out
a hell of a lot while reading it. Another word should be inserted here... GHOSTS!
Lots of them!
Memorable quotes
‘Love makes us such fools’
‘Children betrayed their parents by becoming their own people’
‘Just because love don’t look the way you think it should,
don’t mean you don’t have it’
‘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.’
‘I loved you before, Ava. Let me love you still.’
About The Author
Leslye Walton was born in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps because of this, Leslye has developed a strange kinship with the daffodil--she too can only achieve beauty after a long, cold sulk in the rain. Her debut novel, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, was inspired by a particularly long sulk in a particularly cold rainstorm spent pondering the logic, or rather, lack thereof, in love.
Leslye has an MA in writing and lives in Seattle, Washington. When she's not writing, she teaches middle school students how to read and write, and most importantly, how to be kind to each other, even on days when they really don't feel like it. She is currently working on her next novel.
Tell me have you read this yet? What did you think? Amalzing right??? If you haven’t picked this up let me know if you might want to and let me convince you! Sharing is caring guys
Leslye Walton was born in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps because of this, Leslye has developed a strange kinship with the daffodil--she too can only achieve beauty after a long, cold sulk in the rain. Her debut novel, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, was inspired by a particularly long sulk in a particularly cold rainstorm spent pondering the logic, or rather, lack thereof, in love.
Leslye has an MA in writing and lives in Seattle, Washington. When she's not writing, she teaches middle school students how to read and write, and most importantly, how to be kind to each other, even on days when they really don't feel like it. She is currently working on her next novel.
Tell me have you read this yet? What did you think? Amalzing right??? If you haven’t picked this up let me know if you might want to and let me convince you! Sharing is caring guys