I’ll say this about Kathryn Perez’s Letters Written in White: it’s a quick read. Other than that, it is not what I expected. Here’s the back cover blurb.
I’m dead.
I’m cold and alone and I’m dead. There’s no air in my lungs. My chest is as cold and hollow as a cave on a snow-capped mountainside. My heart no longer beats there. Frigid winds whistle through my ribs and the sadness inside me weeps like my favorite tree.
Days ago, I met with death face to face. The mirror, our meeting place. My two darkened green eyes stared deeply into hers. I tilted my head to the side. She did too.
“It’s time,” I whispered.
“It’s time,” she whispered.
And with that I turned away from her, the woman in the mirror who knew all of my secrets and all of my pain. I walked away from her and yet we’d never been closer than we were at that moment. The inner struggle was over. No more arguing with the woman in the mirror. No more arguing with myself. The choice was made. She was the victor. Or was I?
That was the day Riah Winter died.
The blurb certainly pulled me in. And, as I mention above, it was a quick read. This book’s biggest strength is in its emotional description. There are several descriptions of depression and some of them were very moving. This one, for example:
You really don’t see death coming until suddenly, in one deeply dark moment, you’re face to face with it. Then, being worn down, exhausted from swimming in an ocean of despair, you drop at Death’s feet and surrender. Like a sander, it wears you down until there’s nothing left to fight it off. Soon your once strong oak exterior is worn down into a meager pile of sawdust.
I wish my husband knew how many times he’s held the dust of me in the palms of his hands, slipping through his fingers.
I could relate to this passage and many others.
But this book has many weaknesses as well. The main one is that I felt like the author had a message she wanted to convey, and so the characters didn’t feel like real people—just as vehicles that convey that message. This meant that while all sorts of sad things were happening, I felt detached from it all. I kept waiting for something more—a twist, maybe?—and didn’t get it.
When a story is more about message than about the characters, that puts more weight on the message. And there is also a certain aspect of the message I found unsettling. I know that’s vague, but I want to avoid spoilers.
Well, there you have it. I was sucked in by the back cover blurb but the book itself was a disappointment. Letters Written in White: 2-1/2 out of 5.
