Book Review: The Deathday Letter

So, Thanksgiving week . . . I've got a guest post on pain as motivation over at The Moxy Project blog. And speaking of pain (or, rather, pains-in-the-neck), I've had a week dealing with people who need a dunking in gratitude gravy. Bring on the holiday.

Still, hardship builds character, and nothing builds character like staring death in the eye. I'm NOT staring down death, thank God, but I have been musing on appreciating the time we get to live, mostly because I just finished Shaun David Hutchinson’s debut novel, The Deathday Letter. It’s a reminder that we might live life more fully if we knew we were going to die. Which we are. All of us. Someday.

But what if you received 24 hr. notice that this day was your last? That’s the premise of Hutchinson’s novel, set in a contemporary world that looks exactly like ours except for the fact that everybody gets a death notice prior to kicking the bucket, an opportunity to do what needs doing, say good-bye, right wrongs. Incredibly cool idea for a book, right?

Incredibly cool book. Anyone else (besides my crit. partner, Sherrie who tells me about all the good ones) read it? I loved this novel so much that it’s going on my Top-Five YA Reads of 2010 list even though there’s a good month left in the year. The Deathday Letter is a solid, un-bump-able pick. Don’t be glancing at my book review section thinking I don’t read much either. I try to get to a YA every week or two.

Why The Deathday Letter is such a great read? Voice. Voice. I fell in love with Ollie, the MC. And voice! From the clever introduction to the last page, Hutchinson’s exquisite writing style had me laughing and sobbing. The writing is exquisite not because Mr. Hutchinson is Mr. High-Brow Literary, but because he’s Mr. Mad Skills; he never wastes words and is excellent at characterization. Hutchinson wreaked havoc on my heart with metaphors and similes either beautiful or laugh-out-loud hilarious, but always spot on. No pressure, Mr. Hutchinson, but if this is your first book, I'm expecting you to be a repeat offender of awesomeness a lá - well let's not put that kind of pressure on him. Let's just commend the good, tight writing. 

Another thing I loved about this book was the relationship between Ollie and his best-friends, Shane and Ronnie (Veronica). Ollie has a romantic interest in Ronnie, and it’s part of the plot for him to figure out how to resolve things with her. Still, it was the bromance between the boys that really captivated me. Their friendship is a commentary on what it means to truly be there for someone. Am I talking about these characters as if they were real people yet? Hutchinson made all his characters, even the minor ones, seem real.

In the acknowledgements, Hutchinson thanks his agent for “believing in [his] ability to build an entire book around death and penus* jokes.” Yep, there’s a lot of penus* humor in the book. The main character is a fifteen-year-old male and, as mentioned, realistically portrayed. But aside from the humor, there’s also the sublime. Is the idea that we all die sublime? Maybe not. But life is sublime. And The Deathday Letter is ultimately about how we choose to live it, especially when we’re made aware that life is short. What Ollie comes to realize in the end about life, but especially about death, is pretty amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy reading! And thank you to Angela at Soap Box in My Mind for the Stylish Blogger award. Angela reads way more than I do, so check out her book reviews. 

*Yeah, I misspelled the "P" word. On purpose. Once, I used the "V" word in a post discussing a feminist art-show and got TONS of traffic from people Googling . . . well, don't ask. Kinda creeped me out. Now only the poor-spellers searching for "P" porn will find the blog. ;)