I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun

Photo credit: Goodreads

Synopsis

At first, Jude and her twin brother Noah, are inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them.

Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor.

The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world.

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

Review

OK... WOOOoOOooooOw so I started this review I believe about one year ago after my third go-around of this book and never finished so current sleep-deprived, majorly stressed out, junior me is going to take it from here and completely rewrite this review because let's be honest, my first draft sucked.

Before I begin, I just want to say that this book is everything to me. I love it sososososososososo much I can't even begin to describe. Some books you love because they are nostalgic or make you feel a certain way and some books come at exactly the right time in your life. This was both for me. I remember my first time reading it, I was in 6th grade going into 7th. We had received our summer reading lists. We had to read one fiction book and one nonfiction by the end of the summer and write a report on each of them. Each list had maybe 4 or 5 books to choose from and each item had a short description beneath it and I distinctly remember reading the blurb beneath I'll Give You the Sun's title and thinking "HELL NO". It was going to be fine, I had plenty of other great, not depressing, and utterly heartwrenching books to choose from but, yet, somehow, by a twist of fate or destiny and maybe even some fairy dust, out of the four other books I could've read, I'll Give You the Sun was the only book available at the library that entire summer. Call me crazy but if that isn't destiny I don't know what is. So, reluctantly, I checked it out and thus began the beginning of a new era.

That said, here is my totally unbiased, impartial, completely objective technical analysis/review of this book. Enjoy!

To start, I have to say Jandy Nelson is an absolute QUEEN. Her writing is so passionate and raw and emotional. I highlighted entire pages of this book because they were just too good to keep blank. She masterfully weaves storylines together, leaving no loose threads, stitching words together like fabric, and the end is the most heartwrenching tapestry of loss, love, and heartbreak you have ever seen. She is able to switch from past to present, from one POV to another while maintaining the flow and togetherness of the story elegantly. This is my fourth time reading it and I was still blown away by how much a few words on a piece of paper can make me feel.

"The trees lie down side by side by side, the creek halts, the plants sink back into the earth, the animals switch places with their shadows, then so do we."

Ok, here's the part that will hopefully make my honors literature teacher proud. As you can probably tell from the quote I chose above, Jandy Nelson utilizes heavy imagery in her writing to convey her themes of love, growth, and morality. She uses very flowery language in her writing (the woman practically speaks in metaphors) but isn't so flowery as to overpower the natural rhythm of speech. The story is told entirely in the first person, that person switching between Noah and Jude with each chapter. Because of this, the language used and the tone are very informal and follow a stream of consciousness. I think this was a really good artistic choice because it made it really easy for me to get into the story and fall in love with the characters.

I have never been very artistic nor very interested in art in general. No thanks to my parents' glowing praise of my abstract macaroni sculptures and oddly proportioned portraits, I dreamed of being an artist when I grew up. But as I grew and my artistic talent decidedly didn't I realized art just wasn't for me. Even before this, I never had much of an affinity for art. I remember going to art museums as a kid and spending more time looking at the cool knickknacks at the gift shop than the actual art which may or may not still be the case for me today. Despite my lack of artistic appreciation going into this book, I absolutely loved the art aspect of the story. I feel like I definitely have a new appreciation for art itself as well as the work of the artist. I loved the concept of remaking the world through art. Making the change you want to see in the world. I totally wish I could paint or draw.

Obviously, I can't talk about this book without talking about the romance because OMG it's amazing! This book will give you ALL THE FEELS. I love both of our love interests. I still haven't decided which couple I love more but Boa is a much better ship name than Joscor. 

This book is everything to me and I hope that everyone gets the chance to read this beautiful piece of literature. No matter how old you are you'll be able to relate to this book and I can't wait to keep rereading this over the years and finding new things to love about it. 

Rating

Forget stars! This book gets all the sun, stars, ocean, and trees in the freaking universe.