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PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

MeJustYou 17 January 2010 Books & Novels 36 views No Comment  Print This Post

This review is written by MeJustYou @ asianfanatics. This is a personal opinion and no personal attacks are intended.

Title: PS, I Love You
Author: Cecelia Ahern
Published: 2004
Dimensions: 409 pages (Hardcover)
Genre: Teens/Adult Fiction (Chick-lit, Romance, Romantic Comedy)
Warning: This book may be inappropriate for younger readers.

Summary
Holly and Gerry were a married couple and quite possibly the closest thing to soul mates. But when Gerry passes away from an illness, Holly suffers an almost intolerable blow and her life has since seemingly spiralled out of control. No matter how much her friends try to help, no one can seem to find an effective remedy to cure her from her shattering heart break - except Gerry.

Before he passed away, he left his wife a set of 10 letters, each ending with the sentence “PS, I Love You”. Instructed to open one at the end of each month, Holly’s friends begin to think that these letters are controlling her life; Holly thinks otherwise. A story of love, friendship and new discoveries, these set of letters gradually set Holly’s life back on track. And although Gerry cannot physically be by her side, his presence is always nearby as he helps and guides Holly through a journey, of what is just the beginning… of the rest of her life.

Review
One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind after hearing about this book was, “what a beautiful and heart-warming plot line!” The concept behind the book sounded so beautiful, and it had great potential to be a true tearjerker, and also a powerful and touching read. Since it was an international bestseller, I finally decided to see what all the hype was about.

(Before I plough into, what will come across as a very critical review, I would like to reiterate that this is only my personal opinion, and that anyone is free to disagree with my thoughts on this book.)

Unfortunately, after having finished reading it, I was left feeling bitterly disappointed. I feel almost guilty for giving a negative review to the beautiful idea behind the storyline, but what a disappointment that such a unique and touching idea could have been executed so badly!

This book seemed incredibly unrealistic on many occasions. Not only was the death of Holly’s soul mate treated too lightheartedly, but the characters were also very two-dimensional and superficial. Despite the heartbreaking circumstances Holly was suffering from, I felt no empathy for any of the characters and found that the way they reacted to many of the situations that cropped up, terribly unrealistic. I wish I could have felt more empathy for Holly as I may be beginning to sound quite cold-hearted, but the reason for this was that many of Holly’s situations were dealt with in very predictable, typical, and almost childish ways.

What’s more, the overall portrayal of how someone would react to losing a loved one was overly simplistic. Perhaps I am a little cynical, but if the relationship between the two were almost soul mates surely Gerry’s death wouldn’t have been so easy to overcome? On many occasions, I was left rolling my eyes in disbelief, at the number of times everything seemed to be such a coincidence and treated so nonchalantly. I suppose this book was just a little too chick-litty (for want of a better word) for my liking, and I felt that Ahern tried too hard to make things funny, yet didn’t try hard enough on portraying the emotional depth of the storyline and characters.

So, to sum it up, I would not recommend this book, unless you really have nothing else to read, or if you don’t mind reading overly simplistic chick lits. Perhaps I got my hopes too high before reading this book and expected too much from it? Whatever the reason is at the end of the day, I feel that this book was a let down as it did not live up to my expectations and I find its status as a bestseller a little debatable. Overall, I would say that it is a wonderful concept albeit executed badly, and a (sorry to say) overrated [b]book. Although I fell in love with the idea, unfortunately I am not able to say the same about the book itself.

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