Clap when you land – Elizabeth Acevedo (Review!)

Title: Clap when you land.

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo.

Format: Audiobook.

Publisher: Hot Key Books.

Page count: 432.

Release day: May 5^th 2020.

Genre: YA, Contemporary.

Rating: 4.5 stars.

What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)

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…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

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.

Rating:
Characters: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 8/10
Intrigue: 8/10
Logic: 8/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Average: 8 (which means 4 stars!)

My thoughts:

I listened to this book in one day, I just could not stop, and really wanted to know where the story was going!

This was such a gorgeous story about grief from losing a close family member, but also finding a ‘new’ family.

This book really deals with some hard topics, as I said the lost of a close family member, but also learning secrets about this family member after their passing, rape or attempt to rape, plane crashes.

I probably knew at some point what this book was about. But I totally forgot it by the time I read it, since I just knew it was from Elizabeth Acevedo, and I just really wanted to read that. So I have to admit that it was a bit of a shock that they lost their dad in a plane crash, right in the first chapter!

After that they learned about each other, existing in different countries, in totally different worlds. Seeing the relationship develop between these sisters, who have known the same dad, but actually not really the same, was amazing!

I really liked how this relation slowly developed, and it was not them immediately hating or loving each other. It was them slowly getting to know each other, and the dad they knew!

Elizabeth Acevedo’s writing is amazing! This book is (partly) written in verse, and it works so well. I’m not a fan of poetry, but with her books it just works, and I love it!

I don’t have much more to say about this one, but I recommend it to all of you! But be aware of the topics!

Have you read this book? What did you think?