The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender (2014)

by Leslye Walton

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
1,239	64	15,881	(3.96)	17
Fantasy. Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: A 2015 William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist. 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 naive 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. First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

kdegour23, mchsglibrary, Amateria66, haleymjb, BanannaFox, escapinginpaper, beanskays, Jasmine_L, samanthayoda

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

00
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Othemts)
00
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (Othemts)
00
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (Othemts)

▾Lists

Top Five Books of 2014 (403)

Books Read in 2016 (1,417)

Interesting books (2)

» 1 more

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 17 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 64 (next | show all)

Full review can be found here:

https://nordie.wordpress.com/2016/08/27/bookreview-the-strange-and-beautiful-sor...

nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |

I really want to say I liked this book but, the nuances were too deep for me and felt confusing at times. (

)

sunnydrk | Jun 13, 2023 |

I think I need time to digest this one before having opinions. (

)

Michelle_PPDB | Mar 18, 2023 |

3.5 Stars.
A beautifully written book, but I was soooo full of sorrow as I read it, that I didn't know if I could finish it. (

)

Kateinoz | Feb 14, 2023 |

It took me a while to get into The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. I even had tried picking it up at least once before I finally read it from start to finish, but once I got a few chapters in this time around I was hooked. I loved how we followed different generations and learned about more than one character before getting to Ava Lavender's story. I haven't read many magical realism stories but I must say I enjoyed the touch of magic in this one. Ava Lavender's wings were such a cool concept but they also the reason why she was trapped in her home under her mother's protection. Basically what made her special also made her different and not necessarily in a good way Although it must be noted she did meet a girl who went on to become a close friend so she wasn't entirely cut off from the rest of the world. Nathianal Sorrows was a vile man. His obsession with Ava and her wings was bizarre and I absolutely detest him. Like what was wrong with that man!
I loved this book! It was dark, odd, mystical, and extremly intriguing. I highly recommend this book
(

)

musicalbookdragon | May 23, 2022 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 64 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Notable Lists

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Lo straordinario mondo di Ava Lavender

Original title

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

To Anna, my partner in crime and fellow survivor, who flies with her own wings

First words

To many, I was myth incarnate, the embodiment of a most superb legend, a fairy tale.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

Fantasy. Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:

A 2015 William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist. 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 naive 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. First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary