Review: The Survival Kit by Francesca Freitas

Title: The Survival Kit
Author: Donna Freitas

My Rating: ★★★★☆
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Published October 11th 2011 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format Read: Hardcover, 351 pages
Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

Description from Goodreads

When Rose’s mom dies, she leaves behind a brown paper bag labeled Rose’s Survival Kit. Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go.

As Rose ponders the meaning of each item, she finds herself returning again and again to an unexpected source of comfort. Will is her family’s gardener, the school hockey star, and the only person who really understands what she’s going through. Can loss lead to love?

My Review:

I'm not sure why I'm so interested in reading books about death and loss. Maybe it's because I've never experienced the loss a loved one, and so I want to know and understand what it's like. However, I don't think I fully understand it yet, and I don't know how I'll react if something that horrible ever happens to me. But I've read and loved a couple of novels that portray honest emotional responses to loss, and I've just added The Survival Kit to that list of wonderful books, because this novel is simply beautiful. It's sweet and I really, really enjoyed reading it.

I liked that Rose's mom leaved her a 'survival kit' to help her go through her loss and grief. I liked that each item in the survival kit eventually helped Rose during hard moments, and that Rose knew exactly when she had to use them.

The beginning of the book was really slow, the first chapters were like an introduction to either the objects in Rose's survival kit or the characters, but thankfully around 60 pages or so a few interesting stuff began to happen. Although I usually don't like reading slow-paced books, I liked how The Survival Kit took its time to talk about Rose and what was going on with her. I got to know her really well which is why I ended up deeply caring for her; I believe I wouldn't have loved this book as much as I did if it just gave me a glimpse of her life.

After her mom's death, Rose finally acknowledged Will, and the two just clicked. They realized that they understood each other really well, so they became good friends and then more than friends. But since things were going so smoothly between the two of them, I already knew that there would be a little bit of drama towards the end.

Will is an okay love interest. Well, maybe he's more than okay. I really like that he's mature and responsible, and I totally get why Rose is so into him. He's an amazing hockey player and he's got the looks and all. But when he did this huge mistake I was like:

How can you not care Will???

I really enjoyed the book though. The ending was so beautiful, and I love how the author listed all the songs on Rose's playlist at the end of the book.