Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo *
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. – Goodreads description
My background coming into this book: I picked this up because I’d heard so many positive things about it, though I was unsure about how I’d feel about it as I’m much more of a fantasy reader and don’t read a whole lot of YA contemporary literature. I also was a bit unsure because my experience of stories told in verse is somewhat limited to things like The Poetic Edda and Beowulf.
I didn’t know how I would feel about a YA contemporary story told in verse but I was happily surprised by this and ended up really enjoying it, especially when I read it alongside listening to the audiobook (highly recommend listening to the audio).
I did wish the two girls had met earlier in the story; they don’t discover each other until half way through and it’s only the last third where they’re really together. If they’d met earlier more time could have been spent with them interacting, learning about each other and helping each other with their grief. There’s a lot that happens towards the end of the story that I wish had been given more time.
Alongside that, I thought that when the sisters actually came together, Camino’s voice became a bit less present. I felt like I didn’t really understand how she was feeling about having Yahira in her home and how she was dealing with all the things that happened at the end.
Despite those issues though I still loved this book, thought it was well written and had a lot of beautifully written moments. I’d definitely recommend it to people who feel unsure about verse like I was.
Disclaimer: the links marked with * are Amazon.co.uk affiliate links. I’ve linked to all the books in case you want to learn more about them and maybe pick them up for yourself if they sound interesting to you. Clicking the link just means that I may receive a small amount (at no extra cost to you) if you purchase something and is a free way for you to support this blog.
Rambles by the Puddleside 