I have seen this book splashed across the book community with nearly everyone saying how amazing it is and that it’s one of their all-time favourite books. The concept sounded very interesting, but I think what wasn’t cool, was that the blurb was just misleading…

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

Ok, so the blurb makes this book sound as if it’s all about Ava Lavender and her quest for love… No. Basically, this book tells the story of three generations of women: Ava’s grandmother: Emilienne, Ava’s mother: Viviane and then Ava. So we go on a bit of a history lesson. We start off with Ava’s grandmother as she starts off with her life in Paris, and then moves to America and so on… Each woman has turns dealing with the downsides (and upsides) of love, but ultimately realises that she doesn’t need it in order to be happy.

“Just because love don’t look the way you think it should, don’t mean you don’t have it.”

― Leslye Walton, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Now that I’ve told you what actually happens, let me just get one thing straight… This book is SO WEIRD! I know what reviewers are on about when they say that the writing style was gorgeous, because it is. Walton’s writing technique is very lyrical and flows gorgeously, which is pretty much the whole reason why the rating is what it is. Walton has a way of turning a story – with hardly any dialogue – into a magical book about family.

And to be honest, I do prefer books with dialogue, with fixed scenes and action. But I can definitely appreciate the story that Walton has written, I can appreciate the writing and just how different this book is than other YA novels. Emma from EmmaReadsTooMuch sums the book up perfectly in her review, saying that “this kind of felt more like a series of vignettes taking place in the same world rather than one cohesive narrative.” It felt like a black and white movie, where you just have snapshots of a person’s life rather than the whole story. Add to that the VERY ambiguous ending and you have The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender.

There is also a very very graphic rape scene towards the end of the book so trigger warnings for that.

Overall, this was an ok book. Like I said before, I can definitely appreciate this book and I can kind of understand why it has an average of 4.12 on Goodreads, but unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. I do actually own an ARC of Leslye Walton’s new book, The Price Guide of the Occult, so I’m looking forward to getting round to that and seeing whether that book is any better (or worse).

Warning: this book contains trigger warning for rape, homophobia and suicide