Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Sun is also a Star

I've just finished this book, and honestly, while it wasn't exactly moving for me, it was vey powerful. The whole idea of families expecting things of you that you can't totally meet up to. The idea that even when someone is born in a country, if others in the family aren't, and there's not always a positive solution if they are told they have to leave. The idea that even if you meet someone and you totally and completely connect with who they are, and you both love each other, that doesn't mean it'll work out.
~
I'm not someone who believes in love at first sight or fate and destiny or anything like that. I somewhat believe in soulmates, in the sense that you can meet someone and you feel like you belong together, whether in a romantic or a platonic sense.
~
This book has a lot of very important and powerful messages and ideas throughout it and it's definitely worth reading at least once, even if, like me, you don't really want to read a love story.

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vgp's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

I felt in love with them and felt their pain. Bits of science and bits of time travelling. Peering also into the whole lives of other characters, made this a rich novel about people that live and sometimes migrate.

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wellreadjill_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-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? No

4.25

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jodieworton's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this one a lot, maybe a touch more than Everything Everything. We meet Natasha, probably at the worst moment of her life. Her and her family are being deported from the US due to being undocumented Jamaican immigrants.

We meet Daniel, about to emb on potentially the biggest day of his life, an entrance interview to a prestigious university.

The narration flits between Natasha and Daniels POV, small snippets from other characters, along with chapters that explain words, and meanings that come up throughout the story.

Natasha and Daniel don’t know one another and meet by chance, some would call fate, Natasha wouldn’t. Daniel would. What progresses is one of the most beautiful love stories I have read. I loved both the characters and their backgrounds and families were complex and relatable.

I felt as if I was both Natasha and Daniel, agreeing and disagreeing at the different and same points throughout.

The book was thoughtful, heartfelt, sad and in parts,happy.

I am definitely a Nicola Yoon fan and I can not wait to read more of her!

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book is brilliant.
Love has power, connections change lives, little moments can lead to great events, and all is science, God, causality, randomness, and US (humans) being just speckles of stardust both infinitely small and a miracle of nature.
There’s something about the story that reminded me of They Both Die In The End by Adam Silvera, although, SPOILER ALERT, our star crossed lovers do not die at the end, but the book relates their one day together, the day they meet, and how it will change so many lives including theirs.
I can’t say the ending was perfect but it was still satisfying and it followed the whole way the story is told, which is the reason I docked half a star there.
Yet, I cried, I laughed, I felt connected to these two lovers, their Korean and Jamaican roots made me hungry and happy, and the way they connected was not forced or gratuitous, but felt genuine and was just plain beautiful.
Loved it!

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