A review by abigail_lo
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

somehow i’ve never read jandy nelson before — and boy am i realizing that was a mistake!! her writing is so stunning and explosive + the characters in this huge family epic all intertwine in such beautiful ways. it reminded me of isabel allende’s house of the spirits, which is one of my favorite generational stories. and you know i’m always a magical realism fan — that aspect of it was so wonderful. i also loved how nelson filled in missing parts of the story through other characters’ perspectives — it made everything feel complete, and of course it still managed to tug at the heartstrings.

my only real qualms with this book are: 1) there’s frankly too much going on. i think nelson could have afforded to cut down on some plot lines so that she could spend more time with the more compelling stories — which brings me to 2)

cassidy and wynton … the more you point out that it’s not weird, the weirder it gets! i do think that nelson tried to pull most of the storylines into romances (see dizzy and tristan at the very end), which is fine i guess — but i think she should have cut those two romantic storylines. it’s perfectly believable (and more compelling in my opinion) if cassidy comes back to meet her family purely because she wants that community so badly.