Title- Clap When You Land
Author- Elizabeth Acevedo
Series- N/A
Published- 2020
Page Count- 417 pages
Publishing House- Hot Key Books
Genre- contemporary, prose
Rating- 4/5 stars
About the Author
ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also the author of With the Fire on High—which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal—and Clap When You Land, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist.
She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC with her love.
Taken from Elizabeth's website.
Plot
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people...
Separated by distance - and Papi's secrets - the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
Papi's death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now, Camino and Yahaira are both left to grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now take to keep their dreams alive.
In a dual narrative novel in verse that brims with both grief and love, award-winning and bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
Taken from Goodreads
Opinions
This was my first time reading in prose. I had tried to read this back in October/November 2020, but I just couldn't get into it and ended up reading something else. I knew it was a style between poetry and traditional fiction. Elizabeth Acevedo is popular author in the book community, with all of her books being highly praised. I felt that it was time to read one by her.
Her writing was beautiful. While I'm not 100% it's a style for me, there was no denying that she is an incredible writer. The way she captured the two characters feelings in so few words was incredible. I can see why her books are so popular and why they've won so many awards. I know that some of her audiobooks are narrated by her and I would love to hear her read them.
Being honest, I felt that the plot was a bit stretched. We learnt early on that the girls had lost their father and then we spent a long time on that. It was over halfway through the book before they even learned of the others existence. Their meeting and the events that followed just felt a bit rushed. I would have liked for them to have had a stronger bond. It felt like they were made to clash and then suddenly become close. Now, I don't have any siblings, so I can't speak for the authenticity of how siblings work, but from what I know from friends and their siblings, it didn't feel right. I would have liked to have spent more time with them getting to know each other and seeing them interact. Those were my favourite parts.
Another thing I struggled with was the dual POV. While I did like learning about the two sisters, I found their voices a bit too similar at times and could only work out who was who from the supporting characters. I would have liked a bit more distinction between them as I would struggle to follow the plot at times. I've seen a few comments online about how other readers struggled with the dual POVs. I'm not the biggest fan of more than one POVs in the first place, particularly first person POVs, so this could be a personal preference.
I would strongly consider reading from Elizabeth Acevedo again and would love to read her other two books. I've seen some comments saying that some consider this her weakest novel, but that it's still good. I think she is a strong writer, with her writing style shining throughout. I gave this 4/5 stars and am very happy that I finally got around to reading it after owning it for almost a year.
What did you think of Clap When You Land?
