The Book:
Title: Clap When You Land
Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Published May 5th 2020 by HarperTeen
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Poetry
Pages: 432
“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.” -Goodreads
My Review:
This book was good! I thought the two characters were pleasant. I thought their situations and duality were interesting.
Like with my last review, The Black Kids, I said I don’t like character-driven stories. I still don’t, but why do I keep reading them? I have no idea.
But, I did like that one just like I liked this one. Again, more plot would have made the story amazing, but I think there is a big place for character-driven stories (otherwise they wouldn’t do so well in the market).
This book had such a unique premise. I instantly was thrown into the heartbreak of these two girls after they both lost a father in a plane crash.
That was kind of the only real plot point that I can talk about without it being a spoiler. The book was also very predictable, except the ending was interesting and a little unexpected.
The two main characters had a lot of focus (obviously) but the side characters we did not see very much. I did not like that. The side characters made decisions or said things that I did not fully understand because I didn’t get enough focus on them to feel like they were authentic. They just were there.
The writing was amazing. This book was literally poetry. The words wove this world for me so well. I felt like I was literally there with the main characters experiencing their pain. I love poetry and this book blends both, poetry and narrative, together really well.
This book was so well written and I loved it. I don’t like character-driven stories, but this one was pretty good!
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star Rating: 3.8