Dear Taylor by Eija Jimenez

Dear Taylor by Eija Jimenez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the first book that I’ve read by this author. I do not specifically recall what road I went down to see it the first time, but something about it made me want to read it immediately upon first viewing. Not sure how long ago that was. For reasons I don’t recall I couldn’t immediately read it right then and there.

And the reasons, vague though they were (and are still somewhat), that lead me to believe that I would enjoy this book turned out to be true. This is a great book all the way around, and I kept having to wipe at my eyes while reading.

The story is told through two point of views – and from their point of views and from their letters. Daniella Melo is a teacher at a school in Rhode Island. At the start of a semester, Daniella hands out information about soldiers fighting overseas. She has an assignment for her huge class of 120 students – write to them. That specific part isn’t as important, since it rarely came up again (the students writing part), but it’s important because someone dropped her class that morning (one of the reasons I’m confused as to which level Daniella teaches at, I thought it was a high school, but the mention of people jumping around, joining and dropping classes to find their best ‘fit’ sounds more like the beginning of a college semester) and Daniella has one extra information sheet left over. Either one soldier isn’t going to get anyone to write to them, or Daniella will take on the task. Before she can think about it, another woman appears and squealing is heard (I’m not actually sure if squealing actually occurs, I forget now, it just seemed fitting). That’d be Tasha (friend who is originally from Britain – ‘the Brit’ is used a lot) and Jackie (Daniella’s adopted daughter).

Eventually, though, Daniella takes on the task of writing a letter and sends it off. Whereupon the story shifts and now we, the reader, are with Taylor, the black woman (yes, that is one of the odd slightly off putting aspects of the story, the author felt the need to constantly say things like that – ‘the black woman glanced over . . . . the black woman stretched . . .’). Taylor’s bouncing around driving a military vehicle and doing stuff. Delivering stuff. Dodging bullets. Eventually she gets back to base and while standing near her bunk, her sergeant pops up and thrusts an envelope at her. She’s confused as no one ever writes her (the only one who might is the one who gave her the letter, Rick, a foster brother – hmm, I was going to get to that but – Taylor was ‘in the system’ and then aged out, she was put into the system at a young age). She somewhat fears the letter but eventually opens it up. And finds a short message from Daniella. And, when she turns the letter over, also a drawing from a 2 year old girl – Jackie. Taylor is quite touched by this, unexpectedly to her, and quickly jots off a reply and sends it off. I’d say ‘and then they communicated back and forth …’ but that didn’t happen. Both wanted that to happen but . . . well, let’s just say ‘complications occurred’, and once complications were overcome they did get to that ‘they sent off letters to each other . . . for about two years, before they meet for the first time in the flesh.’

And they do meet in the flesh. Taylor has a month leave and is staying with Rick in Boston (who is living there now because he’s now out of the military (I’m being vague as . . . how much should I say?)), but Rick knows about Taylor’s letter writing and basically kicks her out . . . gently, to go visit Daniella and Jackie in Rhode Island. Somewhat complicated, though, since this . . . crap, I really should have written this differently.

Meet Taylor – she’s 20 and has been in the military for a short while. When she was 18 she aged out of the foster system and moved to New York. She got a job at a coffee shop and was there when she watched the events unfold at the Twin Towers. She was just close enough to see it up close and personal, just far enough away to be out of the danger zone. She wanted to rush in and help, but only professionals were being allowed in. She continued serving coffee – to survivors, and then to rescue personal. Eventually she leaves and joins the army. Gets posted to Afghanistan. Whereupon, somewhat shortly after arrival, Taylor receives a letter from a woman from Rhode Island. Over time, roughly (maybe exactly) two years, Taylor works in Afghanistan and then in Iraq while receiving and sending letters to Daniella.

Since, and we are back to where I left off, since it’s the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, and since communication between civilians and military personal in a war zone is hard even now, and so . . gah, is this where I was leading up to? Mmphs. Right, so, because of all of that, Taylor doesn’t have any real method of contacting Daniella now that she’s in the USA. She doesn’t have a cell phone, and doesn’t have Daniella’s number even if she did have one. She does have an address but . . . she wants to warn Daniella before just dropping by. And that’s where Rick kicks her out of his place, telling her to just go there.

It was quite a touching scene when Taylor sat in Rick’s car in Daniella’s driveway. Nervous. Then walking up to the house. And having a somewhat messy (from cooking) looking woman answer her knock and wonder who she is – only to learn that it’s the woman she’d been writing letters with. And then Jackie and Taylor were introduced to each other – --..

As noted, it was a month leave that Taylor had. And after that month’s leave was up, Taylor returned to the war. And the letters continued. Both living their lives, now separately, though feeling a connection. Until they meet again, when Taylor received leave. And this continued throughout the rest of the book.

One of the points to stress is that both women learned about the other first through the written word before either meet. They developed a connection before, really, either even know what the other looked like. Though I’ve not actually said anything that isn’t in the book’s description.

Characters: Taylor Phillips, military woman, starts off at the age of 20 when the book opens. Her ‘battle buddy’ is a fella named ‘Christian’, and her foster brother, Rick, just so happened to be her sergeant – neither realizing this would occur when Taylor turned up in Afghanistan.

Daniella Melo – history teacher, mother of Jackie, hints to her age are given, but if it was outright stated I didn’t see it. Her friends include Tasha and . . . well, she’s friendly with co-workers at her school, but she’s closed herself off to a large extent after an event occurred when she was 18.

Setting: Taylor pops around, but is mostly in Afghanistan and Iraq when she’s ‘over there’, then I believe it’s Missouri she’s based at for a brief moment or 8; while Daniella sticks to a small town in Rhode Island.

Time: early to mid-first decade of the 21st century. As in, 2001 to . . . hmms, I don’t actually recall how far we got, but not past 2005 (if we even got up to 2005).

ETA: Oh right. There's something like a cliff-hanger ending (and based on other reviews I've now read, the ending here is different than the ending that was in the fanfiction version (see comment where I noted fanfiction stuff below)). I didn't 'care' because I read this after the second book had already been released. And I already had access to it. And stuff. So . . . yes, there's a cliff-hanger ending.

Rating: 5+

August 17 2017



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