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A review by thebooksandpages
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
5.0
“He reaches for my hands, takes them in his. Our eyes meet and hold, and the world starts to fall away, time does, years rolling up like rugs, until everything that’s happened unhappens, and for a moment, it’s us again, more one than two.”
- Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You The Sun
‼️Spoiler Alert‼️
This book was narrated in an alternating perspective, the first one is Noah at 13 years old and the next one is Jude at 16 years old. Both of their perspective helped tied the story all together since we get to see each of their sides of the story. I love how this book started with Noah’s perspective. With Noah’s POV we get to see how he always wants to be the best between him and Jude. We could also see how competitive they both are with each other, which made me realized that Noah was getting jealous if Jude got their mom’s attention, Noah always wants the spotlight with her mom. On the other hand, Jude’s POV was about guilt, how, what she has done in the past affected her in the present.
The attention to detail that Jandy Nelson have in this book is so wonderful. What I love the most is that how one small detail has a significance in the story. I have also spotted many foreshadowing events that helped tied the story together. The characters are very well written, they have their own depth and the emotions that they feel really hits you. Every character that Noah and Jude encounters affects the story. Even a minor character has its significance to the story, like Sophia—Oscar’s ex-girlfriend, she was also the one who kissed Noah at the party at Courtney’s house before Brian gets back to boarding school. Oscar also explained how he and Sophia met on that party. Guillermo being their mother’s love affair, Oscar who modelled for Noah during CSA. Everyone that they meet was also part of their story. Can I also say how a donut that Guillermo and Oscar are eating is also significant in the story, it was Noah and Jude’s mom who introduced that to them. I usually do not shed a tear or cry when I read a book, but this book was exceptional. It made shed a tear and made me feel every emotion that Noah and Jude are feeling. So, I must say that her writing style was very effective.
As we switch from both perspectives, we could see how Noah and Jude’s lifestyle changed when they got older. Noah became more social and Jude became introverted. For me there were a lot of metaphors that was used in this book, one of which is that their mom breaking Jude’s sculptures. For me it meant how their mom ruined their family, how it ruined Jude. As the story progresses, we get to learn Noah and Jude’s secrets and how it ruined their relationship. Noah’s biggest secret was lying to Jude and his dad about their mom, instead of telling the truth that their mom was getting a divorce with her dad, he instead sugar-coated it and said the exact opposite which made his dad confused. Jude on the other hand, wondered why Noah kept saying to her that she does not know their mom like he does, which made Jude feel like she does not have ownership with her own mother. That she is not allowed to grieve for her death. We also learned at the end of the story that this is the reason why she did not cry during the funeral.
The main theme of this book is “No matter how deep you bury your secrets they will always rise to the surface.” Throughout the story Noah and Jude’s secrets were slowly being uncovered, each of them discovering it at the ending. It is also what ruined their relationship, with so many secrets that are being kept from each other, it slowly ruined their closeness by hiding the truth from each other.
On the very beginning of the book it mentioned that Noah does not have the Sweetwine Gift— for me, the Sweetwine Gift meant that Noah is not ready to reveal who he truly is. Perhaps not ready to come out of the closet yet. I also appreciate how Noah and his dad got a chance to get close with each other since during the beginning we could see how Noah does not like his father. I love how Noah is more like of his dad and Jude more like of her mother. Although, we did not get to see the mother and daughter relationship so much since throughout the book we just saw how Jude hated her mother for not noticing her. I still love the fact that Jude is still thinking about her mother, how she feels guilty toward everything that she has done—from the day she died, to her not mailing Noah’s application. At the beginning of the book it already hooked us with the question of, what did Jude do, for her mother to break all her artworks? The book mainly revolves around this since we get to know the answer towards the end, but it also introduced more problems and how it helps tie the plot together. Gosh, I love the flow and the writing of this book so much. The changing of perspective was also brilliant since it always leaves us in a cliffhanger.
Overall, I really loved and enjoyed reading this book. It has become one of my favorite books. The way I felt connected with the characters, their emotions, I just loved it. How the plot smoothly flows and ties everything together. It is the perfect book for me. One thing that I wish for is to have a sequel to this book even though it is unnecessary, but I really want to see more of Noah and Jude’s life after everything that happened. I also want to see Jude and Fish being friends. This is a five out five stars for me, and I would definitely recommend this to other people.
- Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You The Sun
‼️Spoiler Alert‼️
This book was narrated in an alternating perspective, the first one is Noah at 13 years old and the next one is Jude at 16 years old. Both of their perspective helped tied the story all together since we get to see each of their sides of the story. I love how this book started with Noah’s perspective. With Noah’s POV we get to see how he always wants to be the best between him and Jude. We could also see how competitive they both are with each other, which made me realized that Noah was getting jealous if Jude got their mom’s attention, Noah always wants the spotlight with her mom. On the other hand, Jude’s POV was about guilt, how, what she has done in the past affected her in the present.
The attention to detail that Jandy Nelson have in this book is so wonderful. What I love the most is that how one small detail has a significance in the story. I have also spotted many foreshadowing events that helped tied the story together. The characters are very well written, they have their own depth and the emotions that they feel really hits you. Every character that Noah and Jude encounters affects the story. Even a minor character has its significance to the story, like Sophia—Oscar’s ex-girlfriend, she was also the one who kissed Noah at the party at Courtney’s house before Brian gets back to boarding school. Oscar also explained how he and Sophia met on that party. Guillermo being their mother’s love affair, Oscar who modelled for Noah during CSA. Everyone that they meet was also part of their story. Can I also say how a donut that Guillermo and Oscar are eating is also significant in the story, it was Noah and Jude’s mom who introduced that to them. I usually do not shed a tear or cry when I read a book, but this book was exceptional. It made shed a tear and made me feel every emotion that Noah and Jude are feeling. So, I must say that her writing style was very effective.
As we switch from both perspectives, we could see how Noah and Jude’s lifestyle changed when they got older. Noah became more social and Jude became introverted. For me there were a lot of metaphors that was used in this book, one of which is that their mom breaking Jude’s sculptures. For me it meant how their mom ruined their family, how it ruined Jude. As the story progresses, we get to learn Noah and Jude’s secrets and how it ruined their relationship. Noah’s biggest secret was lying to Jude and his dad about their mom, instead of telling the truth that their mom was getting a divorce with her dad, he instead sugar-coated it and said the exact opposite which made his dad confused. Jude on the other hand, wondered why Noah kept saying to her that she does not know their mom like he does, which made Jude feel like she does not have ownership with her own mother. That she is not allowed to grieve for her death. We also learned at the end of the story that this is the reason why she did not cry during the funeral.
The main theme of this book is “No matter how deep you bury your secrets they will always rise to the surface.” Throughout the story Noah and Jude’s secrets were slowly being uncovered, each of them discovering it at the ending. It is also what ruined their relationship, with so many secrets that are being kept from each other, it slowly ruined their closeness by hiding the truth from each other.
On the very beginning of the book it mentioned that Noah does not have the Sweetwine Gift— for me, the Sweetwine Gift meant that Noah is not ready to reveal who he truly is. Perhaps not ready to come out of the closet yet. I also appreciate how Noah and his dad got a chance to get close with each other since during the beginning we could see how Noah does not like his father. I love how Noah is more like of his dad and Jude more like of her mother. Although, we did not get to see the mother and daughter relationship so much since throughout the book we just saw how Jude hated her mother for not noticing her. I still love the fact that Jude is still thinking about her mother, how she feels guilty toward everything that she has done—from the day she died, to her not mailing Noah’s application. At the beginning of the book it already hooked us with the question of, what did Jude do, for her mother to break all her artworks? The book mainly revolves around this since we get to know the answer towards the end, but it also introduced more problems and how it helps tie the plot together. Gosh, I love the flow and the writing of this book so much. The changing of perspective was also brilliant since it always leaves us in a cliffhanger.
Overall, I really loved and enjoyed reading this book. It has become one of my favorite books. The way I felt connected with the characters, their emotions, I just loved it. How the plot smoothly flows and ties everything together. It is the perfect book for me. One thing that I wish for is to have a sequel to this book even though it is unnecessary, but I really want to see more of Noah and Jude’s life after everything that happened. I also want to see Jude and Fish being friends. This is a five out five stars for me, and I would definitely recommend this to other people.