Scan barcode
A review by shlebby
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
5.0
Phenomenal!
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson is a book with so much character and substance! I rated this book 5 stars for obvious reasons:
Throughout the book there is a good deal of character development from all characters, including Heather (a side character). From her introduction she had a crush on Noah and then later on the reader find out she is now Noah's best friend and is the only one who knows the truth about his sexuality.
Even Guillermo has so much development in his grief and acceptance of Jude and Noah.
There is a passage at the end of the book from Judes POV where she says "Who knows anything? Who knows who's pulling the strings? or what is? or how? who knows if destiny is just how you tell yourself the story of your life?"
and she goes on to say she may have been wrong about fate and destiny and her grandmothers cooky bible and it may all just be a big coincidence. I saw this as the biggest character development and I LOVED it!
I also really loved the fact that most of the characters had realistic dialogue that was not too cheesy or fantastic to believe. And in turn it made all the characters real people in my eyes, where one page I hated them with a passion and the next page I loved them dearly.
This made it a very authentic read because Noah and Jude and all the characters made real-life mistakes, selfishly and based on emotion while simultaneously forgiveness was an obvious theme in the novel.
Now I know there is a minority who dislike the overuse of metaphors in this novel. Fortunately I am in the majority and I absolutely LOVED Jandy Nelsons use of metaphor. Especially because it was different for both Noah and Jude and showed emotion on a deeper level.
For example in Noahs POV he describes things with lots of color, very dramatic visual thoughts, and through paintings. Whereas Jude speaks through her love of superstition, her ability to see and speak to her dead grandmother, and the "bible verses." I feel that all of this really added to the story and made you feel for the characters on a deeper level.
two small side notes:
~I really hated the ridiculous love story between Jude and Oscar. It was kind of over the top, so much so that it was not cute and took away from the story a bit, but it did not change my rating of the book so it only deserves a side note.
~ I enjoyed the fact that this novel showed how different members of the family (and outside) dealt with grief differently and at the end there was still acceptance. awww
Although this book will not make my favorites list (it is extremely difficult to get on that list ha!) I HIGHLY recommend it. It will fill you with so many emotions and it is really a beautifully written book.
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson is a book with so much character and substance! I rated this book 5 stars for obvious reasons:
Throughout the book there is a good deal of character development from all characters, including Heather (a side character). From her introduction she had a crush on Noah and then later on the reader find out she is now Noah's best friend and is the only one who knows the truth about his sexuality.
Even Guillermo has so much development in his grief and acceptance of Jude and Noah.
There is a passage at the end of the book from Judes POV where she says "Who knows anything? Who knows who's pulling the strings? or what is? or how? who knows if destiny is just how you tell yourself the story of your life?"
and she goes on to say she may have been wrong about fate and destiny and her grandmothers cooky bible and it may all just be a big coincidence. I saw this as the biggest character development and I LOVED it!
I also really loved the fact that most of the characters had realistic dialogue that was not too cheesy or fantastic to believe. And in turn it made all the characters real people in my eyes, where one page I hated them with a passion and the next page I loved them dearly.
This made it a very authentic read because Noah and Jude and all the characters made real-life mistakes, selfishly and based on emotion while simultaneously forgiveness was an obvious theme in the novel.
Now I know there is a minority who dislike the overuse of metaphors in this novel. Fortunately I am in the majority and I absolutely LOVED Jandy Nelsons use of metaphor. Especially because it was different for both Noah and Jude and showed emotion on a deeper level.
For example in Noahs POV he describes things with lots of color, very dramatic visual thoughts, and through paintings. Whereas Jude speaks through her love of superstition, her ability to see and speak to her dead grandmother, and the "bible verses." I feel that all of this really added to the story and made you feel for the characters on a deeper level.
two small side notes:
~
~ I enjoyed the fact that this novel showed how different members of the family (and outside) dealt with grief differently and at the end there was still acceptance. awww
Although this book will not make my favorites list (it is extremely difficult to get on that list ha!) I HIGHLY recommend it. It will fill you with so many emotions and it is really a beautifully written book.