the STRANGE and BEAUTIFUL SORROWS

of AVA LAVENDER

by Leslye Walton

magical realism

 

 

 

“Are you a bird, an angel, or what?”

“I think I’m just a girl.”

 

 

 

This is the most exquisitely crafted story I have ever read.  I've come to expect disappointment hiding behind beautiful covers, so I'm still sitting here two days later, dumbfounded by how absolutely stunning this book is, inside and out.

 

Ava was my first adventure into the genre of magical realism, and what a way to begin.  I wasn't even clear on the concept of magical realism until I picked this up.  Wasn't it just a fancy way of saying "fantasy"?  Now I can see the distinction.  The magic in this realistic world is not explained, not even truly noticed by anyone surrounding it.  It is simply accepted as fact.  Here you are going on about your ordinary life when a girl turns into a small yellow canary.  No big deal.  She's just a little "strange".  The way all of these magical things were presented was fascinating.  I love that there were no explanations, no questions.

 

The captivating, intricate writing is what makes this story.  In other hands, the whole concept could have completely fallen apart.  I'm a sucker for lyrical prose, which is promised in the blurb of this story and one of the main reasons I picked it up, and it did not disappoint.  I savored every sentence.  There wasn't a single wasted moment.  Every character, every paragraph, every word served a purpose.  Everything connected.  The writing was so moving, and it made me extremely emotional at one point in particular.  I'm awed by how short this book is because of what it was able to accomplish in such a limited space-- the complex characterization, the heartbreaking humanity.

 

This story spans generations of Ava's family, which is probably something important to take note of before picking this book up.  I have seen some mild complaints from readers who claim the title is misleading, that they wanted more Ava and less family.  This baffles me, honestly.  It's like wishing the story was not as well thought out, not as well constructed, not as rich and full as it was.  But anyway, the sorrows of Ava come at the end of a long line of family sorrows, and this book is not short on sorrow.

 

It's violent, dark, painful, eerie, and so very sad, but I also found myself smiling every now and then.  It was never so bleak that I was entirely drained of hope for these people.   

 

To me, Ava is like an original Grimm fairy tale-- dark and fantastical, doesn't shy away from sex or violence, written for young people, but not.  Ava is a book that makes me hate labels, because slapping a Young Adult label on this does it a great disservice.  It is so much more.

There is a small collection of books I love so fiercely that it kills me inside to hear a negative word about them.  And Ava has immediately become something I feel protective of.  I'm already cringing at any less than favorable reviews because how can anyone dismiss this story?  How can it not crawl inside of every heart it touches?

 

Strange and Beautiful perfection. 

 

 

“He came to appreciate that there were worse ways to live than to live without love.”

 

 

PS: I'm assuming this is a stand-alone, but I need more Rowe.  Please, Leslye Walton, please.