Mathilda Savitch’s beautiful older sister Helene has been dead a year and she and her parents can’t get over it. Searching for some sort of closure, Mathilda breaks into Helene’s e-mail account and contacts one of Helene’s boyfriends, hoping he can provide answers to the mystery of Helene’s demise.This novel is all about what grief can do to families. How it pulls them apart and shuts them down. Mathilda’s parents, especially her mother, can’t deal. They withdraw, and Mathilda resorts to acting out to get their attention – dropping plates, inviting boys over to spend the night in her basement, chopping off her hair. Of course, I'd like to have fake legs. I would dance with a boy and then afterward pull up my dress to show him my fake legs, just to watch him fall over from the shock of it. I'd do that with a hundred boys until I found the one who got down on his knees and kissed my fake legs. That's how I would know I found the right person.Mathilda is a young teenager who recently lost her big sister in a horrible accident, as a result, her parents have turned into zombies. She's got a quirky personality and an interesting way of grieving over her sibling. Her parents, on the other hand, are just completely out of it. Mathilda's main objective is to "wake" her parents up and get back to living again while trying to figure out what exactly happened to her big sister.Mathilda's story is very emotional and sad, but she was able to make me laugh with her adorable way of thinking. Some of the things she says are deep, but so funny at the same time. My favorite quote is at the beginning of this review and I've listed more below. This is one of my favorite books and I'm saddened that it is the only book by Victor Ladoto. "Their sadness is because of things that happened in the past and it's been there so long that it's in their blood now. It's beyond logical, the sadness. It's almost biological.""Isn't language amazing? I can't get over it. Sometimes you can just say things and it's like a bomb that blows all your clothes off and suddenly there you are naked. I don't know if it's disgusting or beautiful."" The fighting used to scare me, but when I think of it now I'd give them both Academy Awards. In my mind, the fights are like a beautiful movie I wish I could watch again."
What do You think about Mathida Savitch (2010)?
Dark and funny and touching at the end.
—Thebigmitch
