Dying To Know You is a 2012 novel by Aidan Chambers which could best be described as a Coming of Age Story about loss, acceptance and moving on.
The narrator, who is never named, is a elderly author who is greiving the loss of his wife.When he is approached by 17-year old dyslexic Karl, he is taken aback by his request to pretend to be him and forge romantic letters to his girlfriend Fiorella. Karl claims he can't write the letters on his own as he is no good at writing.
The author agrees, but things go hay-wired when Fiorella finds out the truth, leading to a series of misunderstandings and miscommunications which changes the life of all three characters.
Winner of the Hans Christian Anderson Award.
Dying To Know You contains examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: On one hand, you have characters with names like Fiorella Seabourne. Then you have Karl Williamson and Becky Davis.
- Book Ends
- Covers Always Lie: the cover and blurb would have you think its a teen romance. The main character is actually a old man with no love interest, and the main focus is his friendship with Karl and Mrs. Williamson.
- Driven to Suicide: Karl
- Interrupted Suicide: Thankfully, his friend shows up at the last minute to stop Karl from going through with it
- Rich Bitch: Fiorella Seabourne.
- Romantic False Lead: Fiorella, and done very well at that. Most readers didn't quite work it out until the very end.
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Unintentionally Sympathetic: Fiorella. - Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Karl, due to the fact raped Fiorella and is never once called out on it. We're supposed to feel awful for him, but alot of readers had a hard time getting past that.
