Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer
I enjoyed Kemmerer’s fantasy series, so I thought I’d try her contemporary fiction.
Description
Juliet is trapped in a fog of grief after her mother’s death.
Declan is trapped by people’s negative expectations.
Juliet can’t stop writing letters to her mother and leaving them on her tombstone, but one day, Declan writes back anonymously. She feels an instant connection to the stranger who seems to understand her pain, and Declan discovers someone who finally sees his side of his difficult past. Soon, they are revealing their deepest secrets and most painful memories to each other, but their realities are too close for comfort, and the truth threatens to destroy the relationship they rely on.
Characters
Juliet can’t stop obsessing over her mother’s death, even though her anger and grief are destroying her remaining relationships. Her one passion, photography, now reminds her too much of her mother, and she struggles in normal teenage interactions. Overall, she comes across as a three-dimensional character whose flaws drive her mistakes.
Declan is the typical misunderstood “bad kid,” the one teachers dismiss as prison-bound and peers avoid. His character arc is less anchored in his personal flaws as it is in the failures of his family members, which makes him a little less personable than Juliet.
Both characters have best friends that are too perfect to be realistic. I know the author was trying to set up a series, but she made Rev too likeable. I can’t imagine why Juliet didn’t guess Rev was her anonymous penpal. The author’s failure to address this felt like an obvious blunder and a wasted opportunity.
What I really appreciated, however, was how each character had one teacher/adult mentor who reached out to them. Often in teen fiction, the adults are all idiots, superfluous, or bad guys, so I liked that some of them, even the flawed ones, were trying to help.
Plot
The plot follows the two characters as they grow closer together, both in their anonymous writing and in their real lives. Each event flows well from the last. I never felt cheated by cheap twists.
Writing Style
Kemmerer excels in the all-absorbing first-person narration quintessential to contemporary young adult fiction. She captures the teenagers’ angst and perspective perfectly. I especially admired her descriptions of how each teenager felt their emotions physically—so much more than the cliched butterflies in the stomach.
Miscellaneous
The book’s central concept is saddening in its realism. Juliet and Declan form a strong bond because they feel safe sharing their deep feelings anonymously. In the social-media age, I can see how many teenage relationships remain surface-level. I wonder how many teens nowadays are suffering because they have no genuine friendships.
Conclusion
Letters to the Lost is You’ve Got Mail for the modern teen. The story delves into the depths of grief, guilt, and prejudice while maintaining a realistic teenage perspective. The story is all-encompassing in its narration, and delivers a satisfying ending while still driving interest in the next book in the series. I’d recommend this for fans of Laurie Halls Anderson.
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C.C. The Word Nerd 