CLAP WHEN YOU LAND

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

4 stars

“How can you lose an entire person, only to gain a part of them back in someone entirely new?”

Elizabeth Acevedo is an author that I had heard great things about and that I had been dying to read. Out of all of her books Clap When You Land is one of the one that has grab my attention the most so I decided to start with this one. Although I am so happy I read this book I do have to admit that for me it was missing something to make it a five star read.

In Clap When You Land we follow Camino Rios, who 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, we also follow Yahaira Rios, who 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.

As I said before this book was outstanding, the writing is beautiful and by the end of the book I was in tears. The way the story is written is very interesting and I think it is what makes this book great, being able to switch between the two POV´s allowed me to be able to really understand what each sister what going through on their own and together.

However, even though I loved the writing, surprisingly it was also what bothered me the most. Because this book was written in verse, the writing is beautiful but it also cut the story short for me. I wanted to know more, I wanted to see what each character was thinking more in depth and when I finished I felt like a part of the story was missing for me.

On another note, my favorite thing about the book were the characters, Elizabeth Acevedo managed to create a wide variety of characters that are so different from one another and yet they are all feeling and going through the same thing. My favorite character by far were Camino and her aunt, they are beautiful human beings that are trying their best to survive and make something of themselves and my heart just went out to them. All the other characters were outstanding as well, I wanted to know more about them and I wanted all of them to be okay.

Overall this is a gorgeous heartbreaking novel about family, loss and grief that will definitely make you emotional. Completely recommend this book, and I cant wait to read more from this author.

“Maybe anger is like a river, maybe it crumbles everything around it, maybe it hides so many skeletons beneath the rolling surface”