The Book:
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano , 2020
The Characters:
Edward
His friend Shay
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them is a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured vet returning from Afghanistan, a septuagenarian business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.
Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a piece of him has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery–one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find yourself? How do you discover your purpose? What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?
The Ending:
The brother of one of the other plane crash victims sent Edward the $7M he got in the crash settlement. Edward used the money to try to make life a little easier for the other victims that didn’t get payouts and for other people that helped him get through the trauma.
The Review:
I thought this book was the perfect balance of heartwrenching and hopeful. From the description, I knew I was going to love this book and I knew it would give me a good cry. I wasn’t disappointed.
This wasn’t your average coming of age story. I really enjoyed following along with Edward’s personal growth as he struggled to cope with the crash. Not only did he have to figure out how to deal with the death of his family, he also had the eyes of the whole world on him as he did so.
I also got very attached to many of the other passengers on the plane. I loved hearing their stories. The timeline alternates between the present (Edward after the crash) and the day of the crash from the POV of multiple different passengers. I thought it was very well done. I might have enjoyed the passages from the day of the crash even more than the present-day chapters.
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