To All the boys I've Loved Before (Jenny Han)

EN "To All the Boys I Loved Before" is a novel by American-Korean author Jenny Han, well known for her books for young adults, which have earned her recognition and success all over the world. This is the first book in a trilogy and, unfortunately, I only heard about this story when its film adaptation was released in 2018 by Netflix. And even though it is considered a novel for teenagers or young adults, I could not remain indifferent and compare myself to Lara Jean, the main character, who decided, throughout her youth, to write love letters to all the boys she had fallen in love with. Writing letters of love, of disappointments, of passionate adventures, was something very recurrent in my adolescence, since I always felt the need to cast out some feelings that haunted me and sometimes were too big to keep in my chest.

I decided to buy the book, because I will always have the opinion that books manage to complete us much more than films. And I bought the English version of the book because I knew that only the first one was translated to Portuguese, and knowing me so well, I would not be able to wait for the rest of the translations to complete the trilogy. However, I was offered the translated book and I ended up reading both versions. The book was originally published in 2014 by the publisher Simon & Schuster, being translated into more than 30 languages and was more than a month in “The New York Times Bestsellers" list.

“They're not love letters in the strictest sense of the word. My letters are for when I don't want to be in love anymore. They're for goodbye. Because after I write my letter, I'm no longer consumed by my all-consuming love. If love is like a possession, maybe my letters are my exorcism. My letters set me free. Or at least they're supposed to."

Lara Jean Covey is a teenager that does not know very well how to deal with her feelings when she falls in love and because of that she decides to write letters to erase these feelings and end these love stories. There were 5 letters in total. However, Lara Jean decides to keep these letters in a teal hatbox offered by her mother and writes the boys' names and their address. One day her life turned completely upside down when these letters were inexplicably sent to the boys to whom the letters were intended. Without warning, Lara Jean sees her older sister's boyfriend and other boys she deals with at school, receiving her letters. With a lot of humor to the mix, this young novel serves to accompany Lara Jean's growth in love, friendship and especially as a woman.

Of all the books, this is undoubtedly my favorite, being the one I enjoyed most in terms of writing, development and even humor. The author used herself as inspiration as she wrote letters in her teens to the boys she liked. Who has never done it? I remember doing that a lot. Although the story has some cliché moments, it manages to be entertaining and transport us to our adolescence, to those more fragile moments of love and passion, in which we did not know what to do, nor how to deal with these feelings.

Both versions of the book have some differences, but I think it's normal when you do translations. You must consider who is translating and the target audience of our translation. But overall, I really liked both.

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