Letters To The Lost

Letters To The Lost
Written by Brigid Kemmerer
Contemporary, Death, Romance
Publishing April 6th 2017
400 Pages
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia Digital
Add to Goodreads
★★★
Juliet Young has always written letters to her mother, a world traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother’s death, she leaves letters at her grave. It’s the only way Juliet can cope.

Declan Murphy isn’t the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court ordered community service at the local cemetery, he’s trying to escape the demons of his past.

When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he’s opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate.

But neither of them knows that they're not actually strangers. When real life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart.
Juliet enjoys the tranquility of the cemetery as she sits beside her mother's final resting place, writing her thoughts on paper to her mother. Four months have passed since her life was taken, survived by her disconnected husband and seventeen year old Juliet, drowning in grief.

Declan is a young man with a reputation that proceeds him, a violent alcoholic with a criminal record. Underneath the facade Declan too is consumed by grief, the destruction leading to recklessness in which the eighteen year old now is sentenced to community service.

When Declan intrudes on a personal moment by anonymous Juliet, the two teens begin to communicate anonymously with one another. Forming a tentative friendship of support and shared understanding, two strangers seeking solace and comfort in words.

My Thoughts

Juliet was judgmental, abrasive and incredibly entitled. Characters experiencing emotional turmoil aren't often held to account in young adult and as a reader, it's often appreciated when a character is shown tolerance. Juliet's narrative begins with comparing herself to a photograph of a child in the Middle East conflict zone. I wasn't impressed.

Throughout her narrative, Juliet speaks of her mother fondly, a political photographer who has explored significant world events through her camera lens. Her mother was wonderfully accomplished but absent throughout her daughter's life, leaving Juliet's father to raise her. Once her mother passed, her father becomes distant and emotionally absent and Juliet refuses to engage with him. Juliet's emotional support was wonderful although she was passive aggressively describing Rowan's mother as a young mother and negated why Rowan hasn't rebelled. An amateur photographer herself, Juliet hasn't engaged since her mother's passing but negatively critiques the work of her fellow peers. Her interactions with Declan were judgmental and often incredibly cruel.

Declan is completing community service at the cemetery as a result of driving under the influence and endangering lives while behind the wheel. Declan is bravado, his facade ensures he is emotionally abandoned, allowed to be consumed by his loss. With his father imprisoned, Declan's mother has since remarried and he despises his stepfather. Declan's narrative is confrontational and touches on issues of alcoholism, domestic violence, child and juvenile abuse. Declan also engages in antisocial behaviour, he deliberately attempts to intimidate Juliet in an aggressive manner.

The interactions between Juliet and Declan anonymously were wonderful, sharing their lives through the art of the written word. As communication becomes frequent, Juliet begun to spend less hours sitting beside her mother's final resting place. The two teens begin to gravitate towards one another. Although they're attracted to one another, the romance is incredibly subtle.

It was wonderfully written and captivating but Juliet was incredibly entitled and self indulgent. Letters to the Lost was poignant exploration of the many facets of the grieving process. Unfortunately not without it's issues.

24 comments

  1. Aw I have heard only amazing things about this, but yeah Juliet does sound incredibly entitled with that comment, because I'm pretty sure you can't compare the two???? Like what. Why would you say that.

    I'll have to keep all of this in mind if I read it! Though the more I think about it, the more I realize I don't think this is my type of book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can see the comparison she was trying to make as they were both essentially children who had lost a parent, but it was incredibly ignorant. The photo was quite graphic and showed the child who had just survived a roadside attack in a war torn country where the child had watched the parents die. It just really set the scene for me and I found her so difficult to like after that unfortunately.

      Delete
  2. I'm torn with this one. A book done well dealing with loss and grief can be a truly beautiful and moving thing. But I'm thinking there might be too many things in this book that irritate me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Juliet especially just rubbed me the wrong way. There didn't feel like there was any learning curve for her sense of entitlement and although I felt for her grief, she was impossible to connect with.

      Delete
  3. I can see how Declan and Juliet have a lot to talk about. I like the choice of characters. I have not read a book with a political photographer. Though I am not sure if the work aspect is explored in the book since it is Juliet's mother.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not particularly, just mentions of her travels and Juliet comparing herself to that of her mothers work really. It was still an entertaining read though and well worth picking up a copy.

      Delete
  4. Aww! I'm sorry you didn't like Juliet and the book more. I loved it, but I can see where you're coming from. I'm glad you liked the anonymous interactions though because that was one of my favorite parts of the story too.
    Great review, Kelly!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was by far my favourite aspect too. I think it allowed both characters to be themselves and explore their shared grief on a much deeper level.

      Delete
  5. That's how I felt about a book I recently reviewed (Sad Perfect). It's not that the characters need to be perfect but at some point the author has to point it out and hold them accountable - or show that it's wrong in some way - through another character....something.

    Karen @For What It's Worth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree Karen. I loved flawed and even messy characters but there needs to be a learning curve along the way for characters to center that moral compass. I think it's especially important when writing for teens. I still enjoyed it despite those issues though.

      Delete
  6. Aww...I'm sorry you found this to be a bit meh Kelly. :( It sounds like it has a powerful and emotional premise, but it's a shame the execution wasn't quite as good. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Zoe. It was still incredibly entertaining but I just felt a disconnection from the characters.

      Delete
  7. I'm always drawn to characters like Juliet because I had that streak when I was younger. I wish I would've grabbed this for review. Guess I need to add it to my wishlist instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It should be released very soon Christy, I'd love to see what you think of it.

      Delete
  8. Juliet is hard to like to say the least. Clearly there's much to like here, given what you said about their interactions, but Juliet... Can't quite get past her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I struggled with her character too Verushka. Readers tend to be far more tolerant with grieving characters as we should be, but she just felt incredibly self centered and ignorant. Still a wonderfully entertaining read regardless.

      Delete
  9. for a kid of a political photographer to be judgmental is interesting, although I wouldn't like it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She really did tend to look down on people, often stereotyping and believing somehow her grief allowed her to treat people with such contempt.

      Delete
  10. See I kind of just loved this book but I get where your criticisms come from. I get where Juliet's attitude comes from so I suppose I could get into her mindset and forgive her flaws but she definitely needed to be called out sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately I couldn't connect with her in the same vain Becky. I could feel her grief and understood why she felt so closed off to the world, but I couldn't move past her sense of entitlement sadly.

      Delete
  11. Oh, boy. Right off the bat, I feel like I'm not going to get along with this book. That sucks because I've been salivating for this book for the longest time. Entitlement is a big issue, for one and she sounds so sure of herself but not in a good way. I've officially toned down my excitement for this book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was too Joy and although it was entertaining, I just couldn't fully immerse myself because Juliet just rubbed me the wrong way.

      Delete
  12. This sounds like Dash and Lily's book of Dares a bit (except a graveyard is a slightly more grim place to leave letters compared to a bookstore haha). I'm glad the romance develops subtly, it would be really frustrating if it was super quick and in your face. Juliet does sound irritating, especially since it doesn't seem if she grows all that much.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was curious after reading the synopsis but after reading your review, I doubt I will enjoy reading this book. Thanl you Kelly :)

    ReplyDelete

© Diva Booknerd. Design by Fearne.