Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach
So I was still recovering from Rich and Pretty, which lead me to read more than one book of my preferred genre before attempting another foreign genre. The Family Upstairs was fair enough, but Dead Letters may have set me back even further and I am extremely glad that my book club is reading a Stephen King novel for this selection because I am in need of some good literature.
Ava Antipova has been living abroad since a disagreement with her twin sister, Zelda. It also helps that the distance keeps her away from her mother with early onset Alzheimer and her father who is now on his third family. But when she gets word that Zelda has died in a fire, Ava must return to settle affairs. And then the letters start coming - letters from Zelda toying with Ava, and making her relive some of her most horrific memories. But if Zelda is sending letters, she can't be dead. And if she's not dead, then what game is she playing at?
I'm going to break my rule about being coy with spoilers and tell you all right now, there are going to be a bunch of spoilers because we have a lot to talk about here. If you don't want spoilers, you really should just stop reading this.
Let's start off with this, I know Ava (and Zelda) are young, but they are so freaking immature and irresponsible and just the most obnoxious characters I have read about in quite some time. Granted, some of it isn't their fault; their parents do not seem fit to be parents. Everyone is always drunk, or hungover, or drinking to forget their hangover, even the mother who is on every medication under the sun for her Alzheimer (we'll get to that). Even prior to all the drinking, the parents seem to have a pretty toxic marriage. Dad has mistresses and a gambling addiction, mom has severe mood swings, and the girls are caught in the middle picking up all the bad habits. Ava as an adult refuses to acknowledge that she has picked up any of these bad habits, but she comes to recognize them throughout the book, although they are very obvious - she has intimacy issues, drinking problems, definitely some sort of mental health disorder. When all is said and done, she never returns to Paris and leaves her boyfriend who she claims to love with no word from her ever again, but she does imagine them having an affair when their in their 50s. Zelda is reckless in every aspect of her life, which leads her to owing close to half a million in debt and selling drugs.
But here is what drove them apart - a boy. A sweet, innocent country boy named Wyatt who loves Ava completely, but because of her obvious intimacy issues, she never fully lets him in and when her mom gets sick, she runs away which pushes him into the arms of Zelda. Of course Ava found out, how could she not. But if that's not bad enough, they have a threesome. What kind of porno is this?! For Ava, it was bad enough that Wyatt slept with her sister, but after they all had relations, she had to run away to Paris because she couldn't look at either of them. I don't blame you. But one, who does that? And two, who writes that in a book?! I called this pretty early on. Dolan-Leach isn't the best at burying the lead.
So Zelda really is dead, but the clues she leaves behind for her sister to find are disturbing and to make anyone question if you really are dead or alive or that you may have killed someone and you have this elaborate plot to steal your twins passport and life is even more disturbing. And the fact that Ava really believes that Zelda would do those things doesn't speak highly of either of them. The reason for all of this is that Zelda believed that she had too developed early onset Alzheimer and did not want to become what their mother was, so she planned to kill herself, but made it look like she was murdered so Ava could get the insurance money. And someone does take the fall for her "murder" because "he's a bad guy." Okay, maybe he is, but he didn't kill you. Maybe he should be in jail for the things he has done, but not for murder. And Wyatt lets Ava go down this path and neither of them tell the cops anything because Ava wants to play the game and Wyatt is going to let her.
Lets talk about mom now, because I really do have an issue with this. I realize their mother had a drinking problem before she was diagnosed. But after the diagnosis, they do nothing to limit her alcohol in take. They encourage it! If she was good that day, they let her drink more, or if she was really good, they let her drink liquor, not just wine. And she is drinking while popping all of her pills, which I'm sure all have a warning about taking with alcohol. Look, I know we're all flawed. I also know that scenarios like this really do happen in the world. It is rare that I make a statement like this, but I feel like the book praises drinking away your problems and combining alcohol and narcotics. No remorse is felt for their drinking behavior. In fact, there is even a part in the book where Ava admits it's not a problem. And I feel like the author tries to make it okay by saying, no it wasn't really Alzheimer, it is Wenicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which is a form of dementia caused by thiamine deficiency. Yes, Ava says that drinking excessively can cause it, which was probably the case for all of them, but Ava does not seem the kind of person to give up drinking completely just because of that, especially when she gave her mom bookoos of alcohol when it was something worse.
Really, this book was just frustrating. Between annoying characters, lax views on alcoholism, lies that don't hold up, and a weak plot, I struggled to get through it. And I'm sorry, but you will lose me anytime there is incest, especially willing incest.
Rating: 3/10
Author: Caite Dolan-Leach
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Dates Read: November 7-11, 2019
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| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
I'm going to break my rule about being coy with spoilers and tell you all right now, there are going to be a bunch of spoilers because we have a lot to talk about here. If you don't want spoilers, you really should just stop reading this.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
Trigger Warning: This post and book contain themes of drug and alcohol abuse and incest.
Let's start off with this, I know Ava (and Zelda) are young, but they are so freaking immature and irresponsible and just the most obnoxious characters I have read about in quite some time. Granted, some of it isn't their fault; their parents do not seem fit to be parents. Everyone is always drunk, or hungover, or drinking to forget their hangover, even the mother who is on every medication under the sun for her Alzheimer (we'll get to that). Even prior to all the drinking, the parents seem to have a pretty toxic marriage. Dad has mistresses and a gambling addiction, mom has severe mood swings, and the girls are caught in the middle picking up all the bad habits. Ava as an adult refuses to acknowledge that she has picked up any of these bad habits, but she comes to recognize them throughout the book, although they are very obvious - she has intimacy issues, drinking problems, definitely some sort of mental health disorder. When all is said and done, she never returns to Paris and leaves her boyfriend who she claims to love with no word from her ever again, but she does imagine them having an affair when their in their 50s. Zelda is reckless in every aspect of her life, which leads her to owing close to half a million in debt and selling drugs.
But here is what drove them apart - a boy. A sweet, innocent country boy named Wyatt who loves Ava completely, but because of her obvious intimacy issues, she never fully lets him in and when her mom gets sick, she runs away which pushes him into the arms of Zelda. Of course Ava found out, how could she not. But if that's not bad enough, they have a threesome. What kind of porno is this?! For Ava, it was bad enough that Wyatt slept with her sister, but after they all had relations, she had to run away to Paris because she couldn't look at either of them. I don't blame you. But one, who does that? And two, who writes that in a book?! I called this pretty early on. Dolan-Leach isn't the best at burying the lead.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
Lets talk about mom now, because I really do have an issue with this. I realize their mother had a drinking problem before she was diagnosed. But after the diagnosis, they do nothing to limit her alcohol in take. They encourage it! If she was good that day, they let her drink more, or if she was really good, they let her drink liquor, not just wine. And she is drinking while popping all of her pills, which I'm sure all have a warning about taking with alcohol. Look, I know we're all flawed. I also know that scenarios like this really do happen in the world. It is rare that I make a statement like this, but I feel like the book praises drinking away your problems and combining alcohol and narcotics. No remorse is felt for their drinking behavior. In fact, there is even a part in the book where Ava admits it's not a problem. And I feel like the author tries to make it okay by saying, no it wasn't really Alzheimer, it is Wenicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which is a form of dementia caused by thiamine deficiency. Yes, Ava says that drinking excessively can cause it, which was probably the case for all of them, but Ava does not seem the kind of person to give up drinking completely just because of that, especially when she gave her mom bookoos of alcohol when it was something worse.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
Rating: 3/10
Author: Caite Dolan-Leach
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Dates Read: November 7-11, 2019
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