The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Actual rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is absolutely flippin' fantastic. Basically, all you need to know is this book is a magnificent piece of genius. It's amazing and gorgeously written and just so, so good.- A few things you have to understand: this book operates on the notion that the only way the reader will be able to understand Ava's sorrows, is by living vicariously through her family history. Yes, the plot is slow-moving, but it's also richly-layered. I was really be able to see the connection between Ava, her mother and her grandmother's stories — especially the common themes reflected in their lives, and how the past actions of one eventually shaped the course of the present. - I loved how the author used contrasting third-person and first-person point-of-views by placing an “older Ava” as the narrator of the story. Unfortunately, I think this also played into the reason why Ava's part of the story (told in 1st person) was the part I disliked the most. I'm not sure of it's just me, but I always find that pieces wrirten in 3rd-person manage to capture a more ... effective sense of surrealism? - The author writes so beautifully — there was a very elegant touch to her prose and it often felt like I was reading something straight out of a fairy tale. Her descriptions of food are very vivid and manages to both ground and uplift the story and its magical realism aspects. She also talks about grief and loss in a very painful, real way, and tackles themes like familial, romantic and platonic love and how they eventually shape the general course of our lives. - Plus, the book is highly saturated with magical realism, which is usually something that deters me from enjoying a book but, in this case, it worked very well. It never felt contrived or unnecessary, instead the whole book seemed to flow together seamlessly, every little piece contributing to the general overarching reach of the plot.I can't wait to revisit this once I get my hands on the actual physical copy! 5/5 would recommend to anyone :D