Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Deciding on a rating for this book is difficult.  On one hand, I want to give the author props for her good writing.  She managed to be lyrical and stylistic, but not overdo it.  On the other hand, most everything about The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender made me want to argue.  I can't, in all honesty, say that I liked the book.

The novel is a family saga told with plentiful dollops of magical realism.  It's style and content reminded me a good deal of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits. Actually, "Allende Lite" are the words that come to mind.  Because, while Leslye Walton's prose is up to par with Allende, there was no driving political or socioeconomic message.  Nor, I thought, was there much of a message at all.

Kiera Cass, the author of The Selection, has a blurb on the back.  She writes: "The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender explores the real-life questions of why we love and how we choose to hold on to it."  Okay.

The cover blurb states, "Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and haunting mythology of what it means to be born with a heart that is tragically, exquisitely human." Sure.

Since we're all sharing opinions, I think The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender conveys that life is random and full of tragedies, but moments of quiet beauty and joy can come from the times when we pull our heads out of our asses, move onwards and upwards, and forge meaningful and lasting human connections.

I had to think long and hard before I came up with that English-major bullshit.  My point is, that the message of Ava Lavender is unfocused and kind of generic.  I think the story could have benefitted from a stronger and more eye-catching direction.

That would have given me some bearings while wading through Walton's thick, though pleasant, prose.  The plot meandered completely unapologetically throughout the Roux-Lavender generations.  (Conveyed to us by Ava.  She tells us that the point of the story is to understand who she is and how she came to be.)

Writing this review has made me more comfortable with giving this novel three stars.  I had deep issues with the book, but I admire that Walton's work raised so many questions for me to wrestle with.