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mandyist's review
5.0
It’s been a strange time to read And The Stars Were Burning Brightly, a book about suicide in England. While February got incrementally weirder with Brexit, Coronavirus and the tragic passing of Caroline Flack, I could be found hiding away from the world with a cup of tea and Danielle Jawando’s latest young adult novel about the suicide of a brilliant and beloved straight-A student.
Nathan’s brother Al has committed suicide. There was no warning and the only note, if you can call it that, was a drawing of Al surrounded by ominous, threatening figures while he desperately cries for help. For Al was everything to those who knew him: a talented artist, an older brother, a kind friend and a fascinated star-gazer who could tell you any one of a million factoids about space and the universe.
Yet while Al’s gaze was focused on the skies, his world was falling apart around him.
Nathan’s shock at the death of his brother knows no beginning and no end. He can’t begin to understand the reasons why but as he works through his own guilt surrounding Al’s suicide, he becomes determined to find out the reason why.
Megan was one of Al’s closest friends but you wouldn’t know it given how rarely they were seen together in public. As Megan reaches out in the wake of her grief, she finds herself in Nathan’s orbit and his search for the truth.
In a book that explores the devastation of suicide, the depths of grief, the complexity of being an LGBTIQ teen, the trickiness of social media and the ever-present scourge of bullying, there is also time for beauty and wonder as we discover Al’s writing about the universe, stars, hope and his love of art.
And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is set in Manchester, and the reader is ”proper” aware of this as Jawando has captured the local accent perfectly. I grew up not far from Manchester in Rainhill and the characters could be my cousins. While this certainly made the book feel closer to my heart, it is the source of my only (minor) complaint about the novel being the abundance of “wot” and “cos” on the pages. It’s something we see more in British YA novels than American or other countries but I definitely prefer to see proper words.
It won’t impact my rating though because I was crying big, ugly tears on a train to London as I finished this book last Saturday.
And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is a beautiful novel with lyrical writing. Despite its heavy subject matter, Jawando has captured perfectly that moment when the clouds begin to part on grief and we let life back in. It definitely made me want to grab all my loved ones and hold them close to my heart because you never know when tragedy is around the corner.
I give And The Stars Were Burning Brightly a superb five out of five stars and recommend to fans of superior British young adult fiction.
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Nathan’s brother Al has committed suicide. There was no warning and the only note, if you can call it that, was a drawing of Al surrounded by ominous, threatening figures while he desperately cries for help. For Al was everything to those who knew him: a talented artist, an older brother, a kind friend and a fascinated star-gazer who could tell you any one of a million factoids about space and the universe.
Yet while Al’s gaze was focused on the skies, his world was falling apart around him.
Nathan’s shock at the death of his brother knows no beginning and no end. He can’t begin to understand the reasons why but as he works through his own guilt surrounding Al’s suicide, he becomes determined to find out the reason why.
Megan was one of Al’s closest friends but you wouldn’t know it given how rarely they were seen together in public. As Megan reaches out in the wake of her grief, she finds herself in Nathan’s orbit and his search for the truth.
In a book that explores the devastation of suicide, the depths of grief, the complexity of being an LGBTIQ teen, the trickiness of social media and the ever-present scourge of bullying, there is also time for beauty and wonder as we discover Al’s writing about the universe, stars, hope and his love of art.
And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is set in Manchester, and the reader is ”proper” aware of this as Jawando has captured the local accent perfectly. I grew up not far from Manchester in Rainhill and the characters could be my cousins. While this certainly made the book feel closer to my heart, it is the source of my only (minor) complaint about the novel being the abundance of “wot” and “cos” on the pages. It’s something we see more in British YA novels than American or other countries but I definitely prefer to see proper words.
It won’t impact my rating though because I was crying big, ugly tears on a train to London as I finished this book last Saturday.
And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is a beautiful novel with lyrical writing. Despite its heavy subject matter, Jawando has captured perfectly that moment when the clouds begin to part on grief and we let life back in. It definitely made me want to grab all my loved ones and hold them close to my heart because you never know when tragedy is around the corner.
I give And The Stars Were Burning Brightly a superb five out of five stars and recommend to fans of superior British young adult fiction.
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lizz_ann_o7's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
megmoore123's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
luca_1411's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
espeonesque's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I really didn't like the way that it was written - the text speak is how kids talked back in the 00's not in 2020, however reading the author's note at the end it does make more sense.
The characters didn't feel realistic at times and it certainly felt like an adult writing what they think kids talk about and think about and struggle with.
Despite all this, this book made me feel intense emotions - a lot of anger and sadness, and I can never rate a book low when it makes me feel so strongly, I'm a slave to my emotions.
The characters didn't feel realistic at times and it certainly felt like an adult writing what they think kids talk about and think about and struggle with.
Despite all this, this book made me feel intense emotions - a lot of anger and sadness, and I can never rate a book low when it makes me feel so strongly, I'm a slave to my emotions.
rainbow22's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
mystikai's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book reaching into my chest and grabbing my heart crushing it, this was a heart wrenching book that made me so sad and angry at the same time. Dealing with topics like bullying, suicide and mental health to name just a few, in a way that made me sob so much, it wasn’t an easy read, it was very thought provoking and I did give me a big book hangover but I am so glad I was able to read it. It has really opened my eyes to the injustice people face just because they are different.
thepmreader's review against another edition
4.0
My heart is aching! This story was absolutely heart breaking.
hungry_ghosts's review
5.0
I finished this yesterday at 1 AM and considered putting it on my favorite shelf immediately. I didn't do it, because I was tired, emotional and overwhelmed, and I wanted to sleep, even though I couldn't sleep for another hour because my mind was still boggled by this book.
This morning, after 6 hours of poor sleep, I realized it did belong on my favorite shelf, and that I also wanted to write a review.
I read this book in one day and it left me emotionally broken. It was so raw, so emotional, so real. The characters had their own unique voices. And the thing is - you read it and you almost cannot believe how cruel people can be to one another. You read it and you hope, you wish, that your suspicions aren't true. But they are, and you realize that even though you can barely believe that people do these sort of things, you also know that they do.
You know it because you have seen it in some way, experienced it yourself or experienced it from a distance.
Anyway, I almost called my brother after reading this, because he's a teenager and he is Al's age, but I didn't, because it was 1 AM and he'd probably be annoyed anyway. But I'll make sure to hug him a little tighter when I can see him again.
This morning, after 6 hours of poor sleep, I realized it did belong on my favorite shelf, and that I also wanted to write a review.
I read this book in one day and it left me emotionally broken. It was so raw, so emotional, so real. The characters had their own unique voices. And the thing is - you read it and you almost cannot believe how cruel people can be to one another. You read it and you hope, you wish, that your suspicions aren't true. But they are, and you realize that even though you can barely believe that people do these sort of things, you also know that they do.
You know it because you have seen it in some way, experienced it yourself or experienced it from a distance.
Anyway, I almost called my brother after reading this, because he's a teenager and he is Al's age, but I didn't, because it was 1 AM and he'd probably be annoyed anyway. But I'll make sure to hug him a little tighter when I can see him again.