P.S. I Love You

By: Ashley Proulx

Fiction

Set in Dublin, Ireland550 Pages

Cecelia AhernCecalia Ahern was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland and is still living there today.

She is 32 Years old. Born on September 30th, 1981.

The first novel Cecelia ever wrote was P.S. I Love You. She wrote the book when she was 21 years old.

Other books she has written are “The Gift”, “The Book of Tomorrow” and “The Time of my Life”

Main CharactersHolly – Her husband Gerry is dead at the starting of the story. She has very blonde hair and is skinny. She is very family oriented and spends a lot of time with them throughout the book. Holly is a lonely widow who is trying to learn to cope with the death of a loved one. She receives letters from Gerry after he has passed and they slowly make her come to terms with his passing and she learns to go out more, have fun and move on.

Gerry – He is Holly’s husband. He is dead at the beginning of the book. Holly described him as being very caring and loving. He had a great sense of humor and made Holly feel extremely safe. After Gerry’s passing from cancer, he wrote Holly letters so he could still be apart of her life. He Is very genuine and showed he was strong. He always did as much as he could to show Holly how much he loved her.

Daniel -He is a young man that Holly meets about one fourth into the book. He owns a bar that Holly ends up singing at. They become friends almost instantly. Daniel has brown hair and has a good sense of humor. He always seems to be their for Holly when she needs it most. Throughout the book you begin to see that he has grown feelings for Holly. He stays platonic because he knows she is still getting over her dead husband. He shows Holly great compassion and they become best friends.

Summary of P.S. I Love YouThe story P.S. I Love You is based on a young women’s husband who has died of a brain tumor and her way to move on and grieve. At the beginning she receives a package in the mail, It was from Gerry. Inside the package was envelopes for every month for a whole year. Each month she opens a letter she is to follow what it says. The first few months it tells her to go out and face a few of her fears like singing in front of a live audience. Also told her to throw out his old clothes because she doesn’t need to be reminded of him by that, memories were enough. She met Daniel at the bar and became very good friends with him. He was always there for Holly when she was had bad days.

Continued

Then on Another month Gerry booked a vacation for her and her friends to go on to relieve stress and bring back some joy in her life. As the letters progress through the months Holly is learning to move on and realize her husband is gone. He teaches her to enjoy life. The last month of the letters confuse her because they are starting to tell her to open her heart and find love again. All of the letters Gerry wrote were making sure Holly was grieving properly. He wanted to make sure Holly had a wonderful life even after he was gone.

Likes..

• The story line was clear and easy to understand.

• The author made you connect to the characters.

• The way Gerry helped Holly grieve.

Dislikes..

• I disliked that they made the book so long

• That there were a lot of characters to learn about

Vocabulary

Flus – become red and sometimes very hot, typically from an illness or because of strong emotion.

Yap – a sharp shrill bark.

Loafer – a person who may avoid work and spend their time during the day not doing much.

Busk – playing music on the streets or somewhere public to get voluntary donations.

Snigg – dragging a heavy load using ropes and chains.

Dumbfounded – in great amazement or astonished.

Why you should read this book

• The storyline is very clear and heartwarming.• Will make you really connect to the characters

and feel like you really know them.• You will feel for Holly and may be able to relate to

certain experiences she has had. Example: Facing a fear.

• It is interesting and you wont want to put it down• If your into tear jerkers, you would enjoy this book• It makes you think about many different things.

Example: How hard it really is to go through losing someone.

• It is empowering and touching to read a story about someone learning to overcome loss.

Lessons I Learned

From this book I have learned to never take anyone or anything for granted. The reason this is such an important lesson to me is because if you don’t fully appreciate someone they could leave you at any moment. This could be from passing away or stopping contact from you.

Another lesson I learned from this book is to always believe in yourself. This is a big lesson in the book because it shows that everyone is capable of recover no matter how long it takes. Being strong is not easy for everyone but with help and time you will start to see a brighter side and you realize that you have the strength to make it.

Review Of Book

I feel this book was well written and had a well thought out story line. It has a good amount of pages to a chapter and always stays on topic. It is a very heart warming story and will leave you in tears. The book shows a lot of compassion. You will not want to put this book down. You will be touched by the way the author portrays the characters and how attached you will feel to them.

Change End of BookIf I had to choose between changing the end of the book and changing the title I would have to switch the ending. The only reason is because I feel the title portrays the book perfectly. The book ends pretty abruptly with Holly opening Gerry’s last letter that tells her to open her heart up and find love again. She then meets someone in the coffee shop later that day and asks a man she see’s there on a date. I would change the ending by not ending it so fast. I would skip to five years later. I would show how she finished her grieving and show how she was living her life. I would make her married, in a way to show her falling in love again and having someone bring joy to her life.

References

• http://www.jacketflap.com/cecelia-ahern/167194

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1754499/bio

• http://hm-viewsnreviews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/book-reviewps-i-love-you-by-cecelia.html

• http://fridanavarrete.edublogs.org/2011/05/04/vocabulary/