Title: I'll Give You The Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Paperback edition, 429 pages
Published: April 2nd, 2015
Publisher: Walker Books
3.5/5 stars
Summary:
A brilliant,
luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of
John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell
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.
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.
Review:
"Love is only half of the story."
Noah and Jude are twins. This book is told from 2 point of view, 13 year old Noah who tells the story how things started to fell apart, and 16 year old Jude trying to make things right and unravelling all the secrets and lies surrounding them. We also have Guillermo Garcia, an amazing sculptor who drowned with his grief, and Oscar, a former drunk and addict. As the truth unfold, it also shows them that they're all connected and they're all important in each other's lives.
Other than romance and family matters, this book also deals with other complex issues about growing up and finding yourself. It deals with loss of an important figure at the most important time in your life, about broken dreams, heterosexual and homosexuality.
The writing style is really unique and artsy, because both Noah and Jude are artist (painter and sculptor). Jandy Nelson describes feelings through art, which is really beautiful and full of raw emotion, but it also makes me feel harder to connect with the characters. Metaphors are beautiful, but I can't stand it because it makes it harder to connect with the characters and story. *cough Shatter me, TFIOS cough*
And my edition also came with some beautiful illustrations!
Overall, it was enjoyable, and deals with many important things. But it's hard to connect with the characters, which is my biggest issue with this book.
Lastly, here's my favorite quote from this book
"I gave up practically the whole world for you,” I tell him, walking through the front door of my own love story. “The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you."
I've seen this book around, and I've been on the fence about it. But if the characters are hard to connect with, I think I'm going to have to pass on the book! Though I'm loving the illustration in your book, though! You don't see too many of those around :)
ReplyDelete~Erika @ Books, Stars, Writing. And Everything In Between.
I think I find it hard to connect with the character is because I've never been a fan of beautiful proses and my lack of interest in art... Yeah, I also really love the illustration in this book :)
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