REVIEW: I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

My rating: 

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

“He's the one. And some thoughts once thought are very hard to unthink.”

REACTION AFTER READING THE BOOK : I love and don't love this book at the same time. But of course, my love for the book outweighs the negatives I found about the book.

THE STORY TELLING WAS GOOD

I liked the alternating POVs and timeline. I thought it was a good move when telling a story like this. The author used forshadowing, but not really. She kept the "why and what" hidden so well behind the alternating views of Noah and Jude in their timelines. This book was both told in the younger Noah's POV and the older Jude (about 16 y/o I think) POV.

The thing about this book is that you come out of it happy. You are happy that all of the characters had their conflicts resolved, but also sad that they had to go through all the bad things that happened just because they don't want to share what they know. Secrets destroys relationships.

I was so ashamed-the kind that feels like suffocating-and the longer I waited, the more the shame grew and more impossible it got to admit what I'd done. Guilt grew too, like a disease, like every disease.

And in this case, the secrets that each of the main characters in this book keeps broke the close bond that their family had. Should there have been no secrets, all of wasted years they had spent silently wishing nothing has changed could have been avoided.

THE CHARACTERS WERE INDIVIDUALS

I loved how the characters had their own individual characteristics. They were not at all cliched or generic. And I'm not even talking about just Jude and Noah. I really mean everyone in this book is an individual. Everyone in this book are distinguishable from the other characters.

Noah : I loved this guy. He was sort of the awkward twin back when he was 13. He loves drawing. He even draws stuff related to the events that is happening around him in his head.... It was so cool. But then something happened and it made him change.

Jude : I didn't really like her too much in the beginning on Noah's POV. But when she got her POV when she was 16 I believe... I understood her a bit better and why she suddenly became this superstitous girl who talks to her dead grandmother.

I won't enumerate everyone, but like I said.. All the characters in this book had their own backstory. You get to know them and fall in love with them. I guess that's one of the reasons I really fell in love with this book. The development of the characters and how they became who they became and also how their lives are interrelated. I do have to say I saw some of it coming, but I did like how the author made sure all their lives are interwoven together.

LONG PARAGRAPHS, SENTENCES AND CHAPTERS

Probably its because of the stream of consciousness type of writing, but the sentences are too long sometimes, it gets ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, this book had a good story. I like the authors writing, but sometimes, she does a bit too much with the words.

Sometimes you'll feel the characters just rambling on about something unimportant that makes the chapters and sentences much longer than it should be. But like I said, I guess it's just her writing style. She wanted everything the main character was thinking out there for us to read, even when it is unimportant.

UNEVEN PACING

I felt that the story was a bit dragging in the beginning. The first act of the book is where we get to know the characters so I get why it was a bit slow at first I think. But there were points where I felt that, it should have been a bit quicker. That there should have been more details on some parts and less on others.

REALISTIC VERSUS UNREALISTIC

I'm a bit on the fence with this becauase I felt the characters felt real, but what happened isn't. Aaaahhh.. Everything was too convenient and too coincidental that even though the characters felt like real people, they didn't feel like it sometimes because of how perfectly everything fit together, that doesn't really happen in real life. It does happen, but really, everything that happened towards the end, despite me really liking it, I found this book a bit too perfect.

TO RECOMMEND OR NOT TO RECOMMEND

I would definitely recommend this book. It somehow reminded me of Aristotle and Dante's Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Not just because its both coming of age books, but because of certain themes that are both present on both the books. If you love Aristotle and Dante, and would like a book that is a bit more whimsical and lyrical in writing... Definitely pick this book up...

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