From Goodreads,"“We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”
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."
Goodreads - I'll Give You The Sun
Awards and Nominations:
- Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2014)
- Stonewall Book Award Nominee for Children's and Young Adult Literature (2015)
- Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee for Honor Book (2015)
- Josette Frank Award for Younger Readers (2015)
- Michael L. Printz Award (2015)
- Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas Nominee for Mejor novela extranjera independiente (2015)
- Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Young Adults (2016)
- Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2016)
- The Inky Awards for Silver Inky (2016)
- Lincoln Award Nominee (2016)
Summer means I get to spend all my free time lounging about reading. But now that summer is wrapping up I'm trying to get all the reading in that I can before school starts up. I typically grab a book off the shelf and start reading. I just so happened to grab this stunning hardback. The book was big, heavy, and daunting. I wanted to put it back on the shelf, but decided that I was going to read it eventually so I should go ahead and start then. After finishing this book I counted up how long it took me to read it. I figured it was roughly 36 hours from the time I read page one to the time I finished it completely. This book was absolutely phenomenal in so many different ways.
This book is told by Jude and Noah who are a set of twins. In their lives there is an event that happens. Noah tells the story from when he and his sister were 13-14 before the event. Jude tells the story when they are 16 after the event. Their lives have changed over the years and they each have their own side to the story. Each chapter rotates from one twin to the other, while they tell their side of the story until it all falls into place at the end in a blazing finale.
I honestly don't even know where to begin in reviewing this book! That is how great it was. But I must start somewhere, so I'll start with the structure of the book. I don't mind reading books that rotate narrators, but it is a very delicate situation. It needs to be approached in the right way in order for the book to be successful. I recently reviewed a book where I absolutely hated rotating between the two narrators, which could have been because each character was written by two separate authors. This book was completely written by Jandy Nelson. I liked that because the writing style was similar from one character to the next, but there was still something that set Jude and Noah apart. Since Nelson developed both characters, their stories were woven together delicately and precisely. When I first started this I didn't really like how we were jumping from past to present every other chapter, but I eventually saw that we were getting small pieces of the puzzle from both the past and the present. The moment I realized that was happening I was sold on the format of this book.
Jude and Noah were the two main characters in this book. I absolutely love how they were one way when they were younger, but somewhat swapped places once they were older. I like that they had independent and developed personalities, but they also had similar traits that somewhat connected them as twins. I feel like so many characters in books nowadays are underdeveloped. I felt like I knew both Jude and Noah on a personal level. There were other characters in the book that I wasn't connected to due to lack of character development, but of course they weren't the focus of this book. Nelson did an excellent job at developing Jude and Noah into what seemed to be living and breathing people.
Another thing I want to talk about is the wisdom that I found in this book. Jude's grandma had a bible that was full of quotes and little scriptures and sayings. Jude followed them religiously. Things like giving someone an orange will make their love for you multiply. There were some quirky sayings, but there were some that were good. We also heard from some famous philosophers and painters and some of their quotes spoke to me, while some did not. My favorite quote was:
The only negative thing I have to say about this book was that some of the chapters were unbearably long. There was one that was over 50 pages long. At that point I have just read a mini book within a book. I like shorter chapters because it makes it easier for me to pick up and put down a book. I don't like to stop reading in the middle of the page in the middle of a chapter. I like to read until the next chapter and stop. There was one evening where I was sitting there reading and I decided that I would grab dinner at the end of the chapter. I read and read and read and read. I finally flipped forward until I found the next chapter. It was over 30 pages away! I ended up just pausing to get food then came back. Long chapters are at turn off for me, but fortunately the book had tons of other amazing things happening.
I loved this book and the way it was written. The long chapters were a downer, but the characters and quirkiness of the book was a huge plus. Since I make the rules of the blog, I give this book 6 out of 5 stars. It was an absolutely amazing read that I recommend to anyone!
This book is told by Jude and Noah who are a set of twins. In their lives there is an event that happens. Noah tells the story from when he and his sister were 13-14 before the event. Jude tells the story when they are 16 after the event. Their lives have changed over the years and they each have their own side to the story. Each chapter rotates from one twin to the other, while they tell their side of the story until it all falls into place at the end in a blazing finale.
I honestly don't even know where to begin in reviewing this book! That is how great it was. But I must start somewhere, so I'll start with the structure of the book. I don't mind reading books that rotate narrators, but it is a very delicate situation. It needs to be approached in the right way in order for the book to be successful. I recently reviewed a book where I absolutely hated rotating between the two narrators, which could have been because each character was written by two separate authors. This book was completely written by Jandy Nelson. I liked that because the writing style was similar from one character to the next, but there was still something that set Jude and Noah apart. Since Nelson developed both characters, their stories were woven together delicately and precisely. When I first started this I didn't really like how we were jumping from past to present every other chapter, but I eventually saw that we were getting small pieces of the puzzle from both the past and the present. The moment I realized that was happening I was sold on the format of this book.
Jude and Noah were the two main characters in this book. I absolutely love how they were one way when they were younger, but somewhat swapped places once they were older. I like that they had independent and developed personalities, but they also had similar traits that somewhat connected them as twins. I feel like so many characters in books nowadays are underdeveloped. I felt like I knew both Jude and Noah on a personal level. There were other characters in the book that I wasn't connected to due to lack of character development, but of course they weren't the focus of this book. Nelson did an excellent job at developing Jude and Noah into what seemed to be living and breathing people.
Another thing I want to talk about is the wisdom that I found in this book. Jude's grandma had a bible that was full of quotes and little scriptures and sayings. Jude followed them religiously. Things like giving someone an orange will make their love for you multiply. There were some quirky sayings, but there were some that were good. We also heard from some famous philosophers and painters and some of their quotes spoke to me, while some did not. My favorite quote was:
"So Plato talked about these beings that used to exist that had four legs and four arms and two heads. They were totally self-contained and ecstatic and powerful. Too powerful, so Zeus cut them all in half and scattered all the halves around the world so that humans were doomed to forever look for their other half, the one who shared their very soul. Only the luckiest humans find their split-apart, you see."When I read this I got kind of tingly inside. When people get married they will say they found their other half. They are indicating that they found the other half of their body and their soul. I wondered to myself if I would ever find the other half of my body and soul. I also asked myself if I had already found that and let it go. I loved the quotes and quirky sayings that were all throughout the book. It made me excited to turn the page and see what else the book was going to offer up to me.
The only negative thing I have to say about this book was that some of the chapters were unbearably long. There was one that was over 50 pages long. At that point I have just read a mini book within a book. I like shorter chapters because it makes it easier for me to pick up and put down a book. I don't like to stop reading in the middle of the page in the middle of a chapter. I like to read until the next chapter and stop. There was one evening where I was sitting there reading and I decided that I would grab dinner at the end of the chapter. I read and read and read and read. I finally flipped forward until I found the next chapter. It was over 30 pages away! I ended up just pausing to get food then came back. Long chapters are at turn off for me, but fortunately the book had tons of other amazing things happening.
I loved this book and the way it was written. The long chapters were a downer, but the characters and quirkiness of the book was a huge plus. Since I make the rules of the blog, I give this book 6 out of 5 stars. It was an absolutely amazing read that I recommend to anyone!
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