Book Review: The Life and Death Parade by Eliza Wass

This was an unusual book. I wasn’t sure what to expect – it is a Disney book, but from the first pages did NOT have a Disney feel at all… It was much more complicated than I thought it would be, but also startlingly simple in its tale of life and death, love and missed opportunities. Kitty is tough to pin down as a character – she’s vulnerable and tough and petty and older than her years all at once. Wass captures the plight of teenage girl-dom quite well in this regard. But there’s also an odd agelessness to the character that I found endearing and exasperating in equal measure. She is a great focal point for this unusual story – even though nearly every scene is stolen by Nikki (even when he’s not appearing in said scene). Nikki haunts the book, because of his flamboyant nature as much as his role in the plot. Even though he is not present for much of the novel, he is the linchpin upon which it all hangs – and the pinpoint upon which all the secrets ultimately unravel.

I know my review is cryptic. I DID start things by saying this was an unusual book… That was a feeling that crept up behind me early on in the story and lingered throughout the reading – a presence as surely felt as Nikki himself. That feeling was amplified as I finished the book and then sat down to capture my thoughts about it. There’s a lot to think about within these pages – it’s a journey of acceptance as much as anything else, and that’s a lesson we can all stand to learn and relearn – and those thinks are worked into the story with a touch that shuffles between delicate and heavy-handed, balancing the two in a way that leaves no doubt that you’re being schooled but (oddly) without any sense of lessons or eye-rolling. As I said, unusual. But rest assured, I enjoyed the ride, even if I can’t tell you precisely why…

My review copy was provided by NetGalley. The book releases in the U.S. on June 26, 2018.