"Powerful character study"

Holly and Gerry met through mutual friends while still in junior high school. They became sweethearts as both recognized that they had met their soul mate. Eventually they married. He promised Holly that if he ever left her, he would leave her with a list. Two months later Gerry is dead. Fifteen plus years from they met, thirty years old Gerry was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

A few months after Gerry's death, Holly remains grieving and unable to leave her home. Her mom calls to tell her that she has a package addressed to Holly with the word List above her name. A stunned Holly realizes somehow Gerry marshaled his energy to give her ten months of lists to help regain her equilibrium because he loved her so much he wanted her to live. Now Holly begins to follow Gerry's list with one envelop opened per month as he reaches from beyond the grave to help his beloved return to the living.

Title aside even if it is the salutation of each of Gerry's notes, PS, I LOVE YOU is a powerful character study that focuses on grieving and healing. Holly is a fantastic protagonist who begins to mend through the solace provided by Gerry. Her weird family and her best friends provide sympathy, but cannot help her overcome her dread of life without Gerry. The hero is incredible as he knew when he would die and planned accordingly for what he could do to get his cherished Holly out of her depression and mourning and into the light of life. Cecelia Ahern provides a powerful drama that will leave no one dry-eyed.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 10, 2004

Summary

Some people wait their entire lives to find their soul mates, but not Holly and Gerry. High-school sweethearts, they felt like they had been together forever. They could finish each other's sentences, and even when they fought (like over who would get out of bed to turn off the light each night) they laughed. Holly didn't know where she'd be without Gerry. No one did. And that's how "The List" started...as a joke. If anything were to happen to Gerry, he'd have to leave Holly a list of things to do to make it through the day. The young couple then face the unimaginable: Gerry becomes desperately ill and then dies. Three months after his death, Holly emerges from her house to retrieve a mysterious package from her mother. When Holly opens it up, she finds that Gerry was true to his word. He's left her "The List." A letter for each month of the year following his death, each instructing Holly to do something to help her heal. Each note from Gerry to Holly is signed PS, I LOVE YOU. Surrounded by girlfriends with razor-sharp wits and a family that smothers, loves, and drives her crazy, Holly Kennedy is a modern-day heroine -- wobbling, weaving, crying, and joking her way toward independence, and a new life of adventure, career, love, and friendship. From a fresh new voice in fiction, PS, I Love You is a tender, funny, unexpectedly romantic novel that readers will treasure in their hearts and minds long after closing the pages.