PS, I Love You – Cecelia Ahern

Title : PS, I Love You
Author : Cecelia Ahern
First published in : 2004
Genre : Contemporary
Edition : Harper
Pages : 503
Status : read from 06/21/20 to 06/27/20
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Synopsis : Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry.
Childhood sweethearts, they could finish each other’s sentences and even when they fought, they laughed. No one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other.
Until the unthinkable happens. Gerry’s death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He’s left her a bundle of notes, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed ‘PS, I Love You’.
As the notes are gradually opened, and as they year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on. With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing — and being braver than ever before.
Life is for living, she realizes — but it always helps if there’s an angel watching over you.

Review : PS, I Love You was the very first book I bought in English. It has been like 13 years or something since I have it on my bookshelves, but I never took the time to read it before. To be precise, I tried to read this novel when I brought it from England, but my English skills weren’t good enough for me to understand it all. Since then, I have read lots of books written in English and I finally wanted to give it a try too!
Like a lot of people, I knew in general what the story was about, thanks to the movie. Even if I haven’t watched it yet, I had an idea about the main lines of the plot and I was pretty sure I would like to meet these characters. Well… My first impression was the good one!
What I loved the most about this story is the link between Holly and Gerry. Their relationship appears like a character in itself, as it plays an important role in the plot. Just like Holly, the reader can’t wait until he discovers what the next letters say. It gives a goal to reach and thanks to this relationship, the reader always wants to read another chapter so he can learn more about what Gerry had in mind for her beloved wife.
I also liked the fact that Holly evolves between the beginning of the story and the end. She experiences up and down and always tries to teach something about herself to grow up. With these strong messages, the novel becomes a ‘feel-good’ story, even if the beginning is sad and some flashbacks make us feel bad about Gerry’s destiny.
As for the writing style, I appreciated Cecelia Ahern’s faculties to share different emotions with her readers. Indeed, the reader can laugh and cry throughout her book, but also experience several feelings which are more complex and make references to his own history. It gives deepness to her story and her characters. The fact that she added humor into her narration reinforces what is said in the dialogues and the light atmosphere which grows page after page.
To conclude, I really liked reading PS, I Love You. I felt compassion for Holly, but also a kind of friendship for the other characters, such as Daniel, Ciara, Denise, Sharon or Richard. Now I have read this novel, I will definitely watch the movie to find back these lovable characters! If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you to do so. As for me, I think it was a good thing to wait before discovering this story. I am sure I liked it more now that I would have liked it when I was 13 or 14. Each book has to come at the right moment to be appreciated at its true value!