Eddie and his family are flying across country so that his mother can start a new job. As they fly, we meet various passengers on the plane and their thoughts and experiences. As the story unfolds between the actual flight and the aftermath of the flight crashing, we learn that Eddie was the sole survivor. Alternating between present time in the flight and present time in Eddie's overwhelming grief, the debilitating task of recovering from loss and trauma are aptly portrayed. At times difficult to read, the story nonetheless catches you by allowing you to share Eddie's experience.

This was a beautiful novel about trauma and the sorrow / heartbreak / rebuilding that happens afterwards. Edward was a complex character that you really really feel for. I enjoyed the dive into the other passenger's stories as well. Of coarse it was depressing but also hopeful.
4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book.

This books is about the aftermath and recovery (both physical and emotional) of a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. So, from the get-go, we already know the place is Going To Crash; we know All These People Will Die (except Edward). Yet, we feel the tension as the author gets us personally acquainted with several of the individuals, giving us insights into their varied backgrounds and personalities. We are, therefore, invested. But they will die, regardless. But we still hope they won't. But then they do.

The story is told alternating the present with the last minutes before the crash. I felt as though the backstories were intrusive, interrupting the story of the main character and his recovery. On the other hand, the flashbacks built suspense . . . even though we already know the end result.

Edward. He is a child at the beginning of the story, a mid-teen at the end. He must survive so much more than the crash itself. He must somehow emerge into something resembling normality. To me, Edward appeared emotionally numb. I kept waiting for the emotional explosion, the outrageous anger, the acting-out of a teen who has had his entire life scrambled. But he doesn't explode. He remains numb and then moves on. His character appeared almost one dimensional.

That being said, I would still recommend this book to libraries or book clubs. It provides a wealth of diving boards for discussions of depth.

Dear Edward is the story of Eddie, or Edward, whose life is forever changed when he is the sole survivor of a plane crash that kills 191 people, including his parents and older brother. The book pivots between the stories of various people on the flight and of Edward, who has to physically survive the crash itself and then learn to navigate the unthinkable grief of losing his family at age 12. Edward moves in with his aunt and uncle who have struggled with infertility for years and now have a 12 year old to raise. Ann Napolitano beautifully develops tiny moments that give the reader a glimpse of what it's like for people around Edward to try to protect him from the media and social media and people who are drawn to tragedy and tragic figures like Edward. For me, Dear Edward was a little reminiscent of Judith Guest's Ordinary People in its approach to grief - that yawning chasm of feelings (and sometimes lack of feelings) that is so personal and individual. It can draw people together or pull them apart and changes us over time - never predictable. Certainly not a breezy read but very satisfying in its exploration of grief and the human experience.

Describing this book in a few words: extremely moving and incredibly profound. Dear Edward, was so well written and just the overall story-line was – wow! I am a person with few words, this book blew me away.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dial Press/Random House for providing me with an ARC. Overall, I gave the 4/5 stars.

I'm not clear on the point of this story other than to be sad. I almost quit reading a couple times about halfway through because it was pretty slow and so dang hopeless. I stuck with it though because the writing is really good, and I was genuinely curious about where the whole thing was going. What I liked about this novel is how complex the story is, there are many different timelines and characters with their own backstory, they all weave together seamlessly, which seems a pretty extraordinary feat for a writer. It's a compelling premise for a novel: one 12 year old boy is the sole survivor of a plane crash that kills 191 people including his parents and only brother. He captures the attention of the entire world, and we follow him on his recovery as the timeline alternately gives us the lead up to the actual crash. It's a unique storyline that's told skillfully. I highly recommend it for readers of literary fiction, and those who don't mind a lot of despair.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.

Before Flight 2977, Eddie was a typical 12-year-old, moving with his family from New York City to Los Angeles. Post 2977, Edward had to learn how to live without his parents and his older brother and best friend, Jordan, and his new fame as the sole survivor of a flight full of people. After moving in with his aunt and uncle, Edward finds a lifeline in next-door neighbor, Shay, and learns how to live without the most important people in his life.

The story has a lot of flashbacks to the flight and the stories of the other passengers. Ultimately, Edward has to learn how to come back to the land of the living. I loved this book. The story was completely original and I was emotionally invested in Edward's recovery. 5 Stars!

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

Good story. What kept me reading was the story of the crash.

3☆

“So much could be solved, she thinks, if we simply held hands with each other more often.”

12 year old Eddie Adler boards flight 2977 from Newark to Los Angeles with his parents, and his older brother Jordan.

191 passengers will perish and Eddie, will be the sole survivor of the crash.

The whole country is captivated with Eddie and his story. They think he is LUCKY.

They don’t understand the pain of being the one “left behind”.

The story is told from the alternating timelines of “ the flight” and the years that follow..

The “flight chapters” acquaint you with some of the other passengers. Not all of them were likable, and I felt like I should’ve FELT more for these people who lost their lives...

Eddie’s chapters were much more poignant, as he struggles to make sense of his new life. These chapters brought me both tears, and smiles..

I was much more captivated by these chapters and with the people who rally around him to try and bring him comfort and hope. His friendship with Shay is truly one of the most moving friendships you will ever have the pleasure of reading about.

The author talks about how she spoke with those who administer insurance claims, with those in the military, and with pilots for AUTHENTICITY.

She should’ve also spoke with flight attendants, as my one complaint as a professional flight attendant, was the unprofessional, cliche way that Veronica was portrayed.

And, the incorrect portrayal of what might be done with an elderly passenger who suffers what her passenger suffers while inflight...

Thank you to Netgalley, Viking, and Ann Napolitano for the digital ARC I received in exchange for a candid review!

This title will be released on Feb. 27, 2020.
Recommended!

I just finished one of the best books that is coming out in January 2020! From reading the synopsis, one might think that this book may require a box of tissues nearby. Yes, it is sad at times, but the author writes the story in such a way that readers aren’t bogged down in despair.

It begins when the Adler family boards a plane for a flight from New York to California. As they board, readers are introduced to several others who will be on the same flight and get a brief glimpse into the lives of each individual.

Moving back and forth from the day of the flight to what happens after the crash, readers follow Edward Adler’s life as he comes to terms with the tragic accident. Being the only survivor, he is besieged by well-wishers and the family members of the victims who want to know details of their loved ones last moments.

Reading this was such an eye-opening window into the deep grief that a person can experience after a tremendous loss and life-altering event. What was so special about Edward was his intelligence. Edward moved at his own pace and faced his experience head on when he was ready. He also had a close group of people supporting him and loving him along the way.

Naturally, a plane crash story could be a trigger for some, but overall, I found this to be a hopeful, heartwarming story that showed readers resilience through the life of Edward Adler.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Random House for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

I’ve always been fascinated by stories of plane crashes. Perhaps it’s because there are really few moments in life, when you are less in control of your own destiny than those minutes when you first take off or land when you are flying.
I’m sure I sound dramatic. And I know what they say – it’s far more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident than a plane crash. But we somehow feel more in control in a car that we are driving. And when we are in a plane, thousands of feet off the ground, we just have to trust and pray we will land safely.
In Dear Edward, Edward is a 12-year-old boy who against all odds, survives a plane crash. He’s the only survivor, among 191 deceased passengers, including his own family. For Edward, the worst came true. Except somehow, he was spared. And asking himself why will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Napolitano paints a vivid, emotional picture of a young boy not only struggling through adolescence and puberty, but struggling with who he is without his family. And through portraits of the other passengers, we get a glimpse of how fragile our own humanity really is.
This one has all the feels. I really don’t know if a book has touched my heart so deeply since My Sister’s Keeper. I would recommend this to those who loved that book, fans of John Green and Little Fires Everywhere. This one is a true gift!
Special thanks to Netgalley and Random House Dial Press for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out January 6, 2020. This review will be published on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on December 10, 2019.

A marvelous book about a young boy who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. The writing is wonderful - one of the best books I've read in a long time. Highly recommended for fiction lovers.

It's still a thrill getting preview copies of books. I always choose titles based on not only what I like to read but what my library's patrons are generally interested in reading. My guess is that this book will have a lot of buzz because the premise is so interesting: what happens to the sole survivor of a plane crash. At first I as I was reading, I thought that reading about a plane crash was going to bother me. Yet as I continued reading, I stepped back and continued reading as an exercise in empathy for not only for Edward, previously known to his family and friends as Eddie, but for all of the people in his life, none of whom have ever helped the sole survivor of a plane crash.

I imagine that even the best counselors and the most compassionate family members would have trouble knowing how to help this young man who has lost his entire world, his parents and brother, in a split second. Nothing anyone can say would be adequate. But Edward finds his way when he connects with the girl who lives across the street. She becomes his only friend for a long while. The friendship develops organically, which I liked, it wasn't forced or hokey at all.

Learning empathy and understanding is so key to most everything in life. One of my favorite interactions that Edward has is with a group of children. He is working as a camp counselor about 4 years after the crash. One of the kids ask him if he survived a crash. He answers. One asks if it hurts, he tells them yes. And that's that. No big deal. Time has helped Edward. My guess is that the timeless insights offered by the characters this author has created will be welcomed by readers next year.

And, of course, as exciting as it is to read this book a few months early, it's a teeny bit frustrating that I can't put this in the hands of my library readers until next year!

Edward is a 12 year old boy that is the only survivor of a plane crash that killed 191 people, including his father, mother, and brother. He ends up moving in with his aunt and uncle where he is able to begin again. In his search to find himself, he develops a close friendship with the girl next door and they soon discover letters from the friends and family of those that perished. The book goes back and forward in time to the plane and unravels who the people are and how their stories tie into his. Through the letters, he is able to heal and find his place in the world. This book was extremely well written and I loved the characters. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

Edward's claim to fame is to be the only survivor in a horrific plane crash that also took the lives of his family. Edward is broken but he needs to learn to live again, but he is almost haunted by some of the passengers he remember from the flight and it is these ghosts he must come to terms with in order to learn to live again although nothing will ever be the same.

This book was so much more than you typical coming of age book, maybe because Edward has so much else to fight through, and he struggles to make sure everyone else is fine while everyone else is walking on eggshells to make sure Edward is fine, which he hates and sees right through. Edward is a very interesting character one you won't find many other places and that is what makes this book so special is he is not fine in the first few chapters but you see his process and progress, but it is something that will stay with him for the rest of his life, but he still has to live because he is the one here.

This will appear on my blog on 1-6-2020

Ann Napolitano has written an astounding book about trauma surrounding the lone survivor of a horrific plane crash that isn't maudlin or gory, but rather entertaining and marvelously up-lifting. I loved the format that alternates chapters of the day of the crash with Edward's gradual convalescence, and the way they mesh at the end is perfection. There are so many stories within Dear Edward: romance, tragedy, mystery, paranormal, engineering; that span age and race and time; and are all satisfyingly, yet realistically, resolved to some degree by the end.

It is rare that a good book is written so gender neutrally that I don't even wonder to myself whether the author is male or female. I find that the balanced inclusion of science, romance, mechanics and family relationship drama here is ideal. I did think it weird that Edward's psychiatrist wears a brimmed hat in sessions, and overly coincidental that two different passengers (billionaire Crispin Cox and military Benjamin Stillman) had both escaped poverty the same way via boarding school, but who cares, I loved reading this, cannot wait for it to come out in a few months when I will push it on everybody around me! Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this flawless ARC.

Dear Edward is a heartbreaking story of a 12-year-old boy whose life is turned upside down after he loses his family in the plane crash. Edward is a lone survivor of the crash, and the reader gets to follow Edward’s story during his physical and mental recuperation from the accident.

Reading this book was a true struggle for me. In my opinion, this novel could have been so much more than it actually was and sadly, I was left unsatisfied with the whole story. I was expecting to feel all kinds of emotions while reading this novel, but honestly, I was left feeling almost nothing. I did not connect with Edward as much as I thought I would and I found most of the characters uninteresting and with no depth to them.

I really wish I liked this book more, but in the end it was just not a great fit for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a beautifully written story on tragedy, grief, and what it means to remake your life. Tragic events create ripples and it's important to look at them from multiple points of view...when you are ready. Eddie is the sole survivor of a plane crash and Ann Napolitano does a wonderful job of showing how he becomes a new person on the other side. Something as simple as changing his name to Edward creates that boundary for the character and the reader. Spanning several years, this story doesn't shy away from acknowledging that change, grief, and healing take time...and it's okay to not be okay.

I received this title as an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved this book. Rarely do you finish a book fully satisfied that you heard the story the way it was meant to be told. I ended feeling as if I experienced the transformation with Edward and that I truly knew his family and understood his loss. Others had remarked that they found the interspersing of the other passengers stories distracting, but I thought it was woven seamlessly into the story and added real dimension and humanity to the book. It was a fairly quick book, but it felt solid and complete, everything included had a purpose. Very impressed.

Twelve-year-old Eddie discovers he is the lone survivor of a horrific airline crash that killed his parents, sibling and another 188 people. He begins to mend, both physically and mentally, after he is placed in the care of his aunt and uncle. He also formed a beautiful bond with the girl next door. It's a beautifully written story of how the actions of one person can have a profound impact on another person, and also how we are all connected. This is such a moving story. I very highly recommend this book.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”