Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo | Reviewed by Michelle

 

Clap When You Land | Elizabeth Acevedo | Harper Teen | Pub: 5/1/20

“How bittersweet a realized dream can be flavored.”

My second book of the year and my third Elizabeth Acevedo book. Clap When You Land was just as amazing as the other two books. It is written in verse, similar to how The Poet X was written. Which I really enjoyed that style and I wasn’t sure I would but I think I actually prefer it. It’s captivating in a different way than full on paragraphs are…

Clap When You Land is about two girls, Camino who lives in the Dominican Republic and Yahaira, who lives in New York. (This next part might seem like a spoiler but it’s not, it’s in the synopsis) Neither girl knows the other exists until their father is killed in a plane crash on his way to visit Camino in the Dominican Republic.

After the plane crashes, you see how both girls and the family that surrounds them react and cope and process. But so many things go on while both are grieving, and it just makes you realize that life doesn’t slow down or ease up just because we are grieving.

This book made me feel scared during some parts but also made me feel love and happiness and regret and guilt. An absolutely beautiful book.

If you haven’t read her other books, I suggest you do so. They are brilliant and will forever grace my shelves. You can buy The Poet X here and With the Fire on High here. I also recommend the hardcover versions because the actual covers under the dust jackets are beautiful. I just need to replace my paperback of The Poet X with the hardcover edition.

One last quote to wrap up:

“I tell her that when we land some people on the plane might clap. She turns to me with an eyebrow raised. I imagine it’s kind of giving thanks. Of all the ways it could end it ends not with us in the sky or the water, but together on solid earth safely grounded.”

Synopsis (Credit: Goodreads)

In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.



No comments

Post a Comment