What is it which draws us to the most difficult human experiences and conditions? Creates a desire in us to read about these events, both fictional and true, even when they are dreadfully abhorrent or shocking? I am talking about the things you think could never happen to you, the things you certainly pray will never happen to anyone you know and love. Perhaps it is a desire to connect with others, as suffering is a universal part of the human experience. Perhaps there is also a desire to know we can survive that suffering, come out on the other side and continue to put one foot in front of the other, even though we may be irreparably changed. Whatever that thing is which compels us to keep reading even as we face the unthinkable, Ann Napolitano has masterfully captured it here in her latest novel.
Dear Edward is the tale of a 12-year-old boy who miraculously survives a horrific plane crash which kills everyone else on board. After losing his parents and brother in this accident, the story follows Edward as he simply learns to exist in the alternate reality this tragedy has created for him. Taken in by his closest living relatives, an aunt and uncle who themselves have been unable to have children, Edward faces a life that is new and different in every conceivable way. He lives in a different home within a different town filled with a different family. He is surrounded by people, both near and far, who look at him and treat him differently, as he also tries to adjust to the physical and emotional wounds left behind by the plane crash.
Initially, Edward lives almost as a ghost, keeping quiet, making himself small, and interacting as little as possible while drifting through the fog which follows such an unimaginably traumatic event. Yet somehow, as time passes, he is able to begin moving forward — to stop just surviving and begin actually living once again. He stops having to force himself to eat and begins to form a deep friendship which literally helps him survive. He even begins to attempt to make sense of the impossible: to consider why he, of all people, was the one who survived this crash.
Considering the weight of the subject matter, Napolitano creates a surprisingly easy, page-turning read through her skilful writing. The narrative alternates between the present and the day of the tragedy in order to unveil the events leading up to the plane crash while simultaneously exploring human resilience and rebuilding in the face of even the most incomprehensible events. Woven in between the story of Edward and his family, Napolitano also presents a fascinating examination of the others who were on the plane – a terminally ill billionaire, a young entrepreneur, a woman who believes she has lived many previous lives, and a young army veteran struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, just to name a few. These characters add depth to the issues of humanity, innate strengths and flaws, life and death, which are explored here.
With deep emotion and heart, Napolitano wades through an immense, nearly surreal, level of trauma to expose a coming-of-age tale unlike any other. She chips carefully away at the overwhelming feelings of grief and loss, depression and guilt, to expose the beauty and comfort which lie in learning to accept uncertainty, to live among the ugly and the painful things in life. And while on a much grander scale than most of us will ever experience, she validates something everyone needs to hear at one point in their life or another: it is okay not to be okay.
Dear Edward was a January 2020 selection for Book of the Month as well as for Jenna Hager’s Read With Jenna book club, which truly emphasises what a special work Napolitano has created.
Dear Edward is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers. My sincere thanks to The Dial Press and NetGalley for gifting me an advance electronic copy of this book.
Will you be picking up Dear Edward? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
After losing everything, a young boy discovers there are still reasons for hope in this luminous, life-affirming novel, perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett.
What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?
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 find yourself? How do you discover your purpose?
Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.
