First of all, I’m a total sucker for coming-of-age stories – even the super character-driven ones (hello A Tree Grows in Brooklyn). I’m just so drawn in by the struggles the characters are going through, trying to figure out life and the world and their place in it.

In Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano, Edward is not only going through the regular struggles of adolescence, but he’s also deep in grief over the loss of his family, plus an entire plane full of other people. Sound heavy? Well, it is, but it’s so beautiful and well done that it really doesn’t feel so heavy while you’re reading it.

This book has dual timelines. One is Edward’s life after the crash, and the other begins with Edward and his family boarding the plane, and ends with the crash. That part of the story certainly felt like speeding toward doom, since you know what happens, but it’s a much-needed glimpse into Edward’s life pre-crash, along with the lives of the other characters you meet and get to know during the flight.

The portrayal of grief in this book is just stunning. If you’ve lost something or someone dear to you and understand grief on a deep level, you’ll love how Napolitano handles it: the muddling together of Edward’s first months, the difficulty with life’s most basic tasks, and the ah-ha moments of life after loss.

I absolutely loved this book and am now recommending it to pretty much everyone. 5 stars.

Eddie is the sole surviving passenger of a flight that crashed killing 191 people. Eddie is twelve years old and has lost his mother, father and siblings. He ends up moving in with his aunt and uncle. His aunt is his mom's only living relative and the story focuses on him moving forward with the loss of his family. The book is written with two timelines - Eddie's life after the crash and the stories of the passengers who are on the plane before the crash.

I found the book slow moving and was worried about how emotionally difficult this story would be read because of it being based on a very traumatic experience so I put off reading this book as long as I could. Since it was the book for December's Girly Book Club I knew I had to read it. Once I finished 2/3 of the book the pace picked up and I became committed to finishing it. If I wasn't in a book club I wouldn't have read this book and wouldn't have known about it as I hadn't heard much about it.

Some parts of the book felt too good to be true as Edward has so many resources and wonderful people around him to get through the trauma.

I did enjoy it and I give it a 7.5/10 and would feel comfortable recommending it to people to read as long as they are ok with the slow pace in the beginning. It was a good read and we had a great discussion around this book so it's likely a good one for a buddy read.

I would give this more of a 4.5 stars. Even though this was a sad plot for a book, it didn't seem extremely sad. Mainly because of the positive that constantly sprinkled throughout the book.

It took me quite some time to figure out what Dear Edward referred to.
The premise of the book, all the passengers on a plane that crashes are killed except for one twelve-year-old boy, is sad. But, the book wound up being uplifting.
The main character is wonderfully drawn; you feel like you know him. You feel for him. You root for him. You go along on his journey with him.
The other characters, especially Jordan and Shay, are also true-to-life. The mother and father are described, but you feel them fading away. The aunt and uncle are clearly presented, as was their marriage.
Definitely worth your time.
Would make a good book group book.

After reading that Ms. Napolitano took 8 years (8!) to write this book, I knew I had to dive in.

As a (somewhat) avid flyer, I was a little skeptical of reading a book that is centered around a plane crash. However, once I settled in, I quickly understood that the book was about so much more than the events of a particular day but were much more about a boy rediscovering himself after immeasurable loss.

Edward Adler is a 12 year-old boy and the sole survivor when a major airline plummets to the ground. His story, captivates everyone around him as he is unexpectedly thrusted into the global spotlight. While this book is very much Edward's story of rediscovery, it is also the story of the passengers who perished. Bravo to Napolitano who writes in a way that keeps the reader engaged from page 1 as hope fills with each page turn.

I strongly recommend this book about hope, resilience, community and peace.

Pairs nicely with a healthy poured merlot.

This book was given to me as part of the girly bookclub thank you veryucj

I enjoyed the book as did my bookclub chapter.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish and I had a hard time putting it down each night when it was time to go to sleep.

The writing is beautiful and I marked several passages that I need to revisit because they were so thought provoking.

From reading the blurb, I expected this to be an emotional, heart wrenching story. While it was sad, it wasn’t heart wrenching. In fact, as the reader, I could feel Edward’s numbness as he tried to process his new life without his family.

I loved how it went back and forth between after the crash and following a handful of passengers on the plane. I don’t want to give any spoilers but the last “Dear Edward” caught be by surprise and left me in tears.

One of my favorite books of 2021.

This is a beautiful book. Well written and from the perspective of someone who never should have "survived". This was a hard read- not going to sugar coat that. Had to read it over the course of a few months since I was being triggered into a sadness while reading it.

I wouldnt be surprised if this was made into a TV show. Such a well written, beautiful story.

This book is a heartwarming read that made me think about the nature of life and death. A rough subject, but charmingly touched on by the author.

This book is a MUST read! Relevant topic to the times, great character development and also heart wrenching. The unimaginable grief Edward faces and works through is so moving. Pro tip: keep tissues nearby at all times.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book. I am sorry it took me so long. I really did like the book a lot.

I’m not entirely sure I can find words that properly express how this book made me feel...raw, yet hopeful—a book that inspires so many conflicting feelings. But I’m so very thankful I read it.

Dear Edward is not a particularly happy book- it deals with an imagined idea of a real situation of tragedy. The characters we meet are largely deceased within a few pages. But it packs quite the emotional punch nonetheless. I loved the friendship at the base of Edward's new life post-accident, after losing his entire family (along with all the other passengers) on his flight from New York to his new home in California. I didn't love all the characters but they were true to themselves, and drawn with very different lives and meanings. The strongest parts of the novel, for me, were the return moments in the past when we see them living and pondering their lives. There's more than a little bittersweetness to getting to know them only after they are already past tense- but it's mostly an effective narrative device. Watching Edward grow up in the novel (as his present continues long after theirs has ceased) is less interesting, but resolves in a satisfying way. Four stars for good writing and ideas.

This is such an amazing and emotional story of survival. It did a good job exploring grief and growing up and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book still resides in my memory 1 year after I read it. A story about a 12 year old plane crash survivor, Edward, and the aftereffects of being the only survivor.

I read this book when it was released in Norway, and found it to be gripping and beautiful. A coming of age - story about how we find true meaning in our lives. At the center of the story is a traumatic event, and the miracle boy that is born from it. "Dear Edward" is loosely based on real events. In 2010 Ruben van Assouw was the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed his mother, father and brother. The novel examines how a person can go on living, after experiencing something so heartbreaking like this.

"Dear Edward" is a moving novel that made me cry several times. It is a wonderful novel about making everyday count, and to always remember to tell our loved ones that we love them - we may never know when our time here on earth comes to an end. This is labeled as a novel for adults, but it could also be aimed at young adults. Just beware that at times it is very sad.

I truly had no idea what to expect when I started this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Heartbreaking and heartwarming, Dear Edward is a beautiful story of redemption through some extremely horrible and difficult circumstances.

I liked this book, I didn't love it. I wasn't exactly sure why until I started reading some other reviews and one hit the nail on the head: I didn't feel the emotion. The topic is tragic: a plane crash where 191 passengers die but one 12-year-old boy survives. How does he grieve? Heal? Move on?

The book alternates between the present where the boy (Edward) is going on with life, living with his aunt and uncle and becoming close friends with their next door neighbor, Shay, and the flight itself.

The scenes with the flight itself were consumed with a cast of characters that for a bit were hard to keep straight. There are at least a half dozen characters mentioned (maybe more) with snippets of their lives and why they were on the plane but there wasn't enough to care deeply about any of them. I'm not sure why they were all included, to be honest, as it took away from Edward and his story. My guess is that it was to humanize some of the lives lost, but their stories weren't very compelling to me.

I liked this book in that it was different. I loved the characters of Edward and Shay and I think that if more time had been on them and their relationship and the characters they interacted with in present day, it would have been more emotional. I just didn't feel the grief that I would have expected.

I liked this book, but didn't love it. The story was interesting but for some reason I didn't connect with the main character, Edward. I did really like Shay and her mom; Shay's personality added a lot to the story. Overall, it just didn't inspire much emotion from me, which I expected from this story. I have a friend who listened to it and loved it, so maybe that would have made the difference?

I enjoyed this book a lot and I’m honestly not sure what took me so long to read it! It was a fast paced book and I couldn’t put it down.