Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
31) The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
This multi-generational tale tells the strange and gripping story of the Roux family, a tribe that seems to be cursed with bad luck in all matters of the heart. Ava Lavender was born with a pair of wings, yet she can't fly-- not yet, at least as we meet her as narrator-- and for her own protection her secretive mother keeps Ava and her seemingly autistic (though he's never actually labelled that) twin brother behind closed doors in their home on the coast near Seattle. Ava tells the story of generations of her family as she searches for meaning in her own life, starting in France with her great grandmother who emigrated to great heartbreak in the U.S. Ava's grandmother, Emilienne, sees the ghosts of dead relatives, and with her daughter Viviane she moves to the coast of Seattle where initially no one will buy the offerings from the bakery they set up near their home, believing the women cursed. Walton's writing is lush and luxuriant, unlike anything most teen readers will have experienced. It reminds me of Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus in its descriptions and mood, but that novel wasn't necessarily marketed to or billed as a young adult novel. Some YA readers might struggle with the mythology Walton is creating in Ava Lavender, but this is a wonderful novel to bridge students to the wider world of adult reading. It is a wonderful novel, period. A vicious act of intolerance and cruelty near the end is both gruesome and tragic, but also is the device through which so many of the matriarchal stories come together, and the key to Ava's redemption. Ultimately, this is a magical tale that ponders what it means to love in any of its various ways, what it means to be loved, and the price you pay for all of it. Highly recommended for 9th grade and up.
This multi-generational tale tells the strange and gripping story of the Roux family, a tribe that seems to be cursed with bad luck in all matters of the heart. Ava Lavender was born with a pair of wings, yet she can't fly-- not yet, at least as we meet her as narrator-- and for her own protection her secretive mother keeps Ava and her seemingly autistic (though he's never actually labelled that) twin brother behind closed doors in their home on the coast near Seattle. Ava tells the story of generations of her family as she searches for meaning in her own life, starting in France with her great grandmother who emigrated to great heartbreak in the U.S. Ava's grandmother, Emilienne, sees the ghosts of dead relatives, and with her daughter Viviane she moves to the coast of Seattle where initially no one will buy the offerings from the bakery they set up near their home, believing the women cursed. Walton's writing is lush and luxuriant, unlike anything most teen readers will have experienced. It reminds me of Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus in its descriptions and mood, but that novel wasn't necessarily marketed to or billed as a young adult novel. Some YA readers might struggle with the mythology Walton is creating in Ava Lavender, but this is a wonderful novel to bridge students to the wider world of adult reading. It is a wonderful novel, period. A vicious act of intolerance and cruelty near the end is both gruesome and tragic, but also is the device through which so many of the matriarchal stories come together, and the key to Ava's redemption. Ultimately, this is a magical tale that ponders what it means to love in any of its various ways, what it means to be loved, and the price you pay for all of it. Highly recommended for 9th grade and up.
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