Scan barcode
A review by heidiliz
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
1.0
I honestly don't know why I do this to myself. The main and only reason I read this book was that there's a movie adaptation in the works and I wanted to see what the hype was about. I can confidently say that I was extremely disappointed. I couldn't stand the characters at all.
Daniel is so goddam creepy that I don't understand how he's a love interest. He spends the beginning of the book literally following Natasha around the city even when she tells him to leave her alone and he obviously doesn't because he fell in love with her like 5 seconds after seeing her. When he’s not stalking strangers, he spends the rest of his time screaming “we’re meant to be!” at Natasha’s face and using those annoying ass parenthesis. It's like every other second there was one and I just wanted it to freaking stop.
I really, really wanted to like Natasha because she seemed at least a bit more realistic than Daniel but of course, I didn't. It's her actions that really put me off because she definitely came off as "I'm right and nothing else is" and all I could think was oh my god shut the fuck up. When the attorney she’s supposed to meet with is going to be late because he got into a goddamn car accident, she reacts in the most annoying way possible. “But we have an appointment now.” My whine is uncharitable, but I can’t help it. “I really need him to help me." I get it, she's about to be deported and he might be her last chance but at least have some sympathy that he was fucking hit by a car. Also, when Daniel took her to a Korean restaurant to eat, she deadass asked him "How come you call yourself Korean?" she asks after a few more sips. "Weren't you born here? Oh, I don't know maybe because that's what he wants to call himself to make things easier when others ask him where he's really from. I really can't see why this bothers her since it's up to him to call himself whatever he damn wants.
And their romance? I have never, in my life, read instalove as bad as this. I truly hate instalove and it's one my worst pet peeves because it's just not realistic. If the author is going to make two characters fall in love in the span of 300+ pages, at least show SOME type of connection. Natasha spent almost half of the book denying that Daniel can make her fall in love with him in a span of a day. If she truly believed he was bullshitting her, why didn't she just walk away and forget about him but instead she gave him the time of day instead of doing something else. Their dialogue was also so cheesy that made me want to throw the whole book away. What kind of 17-year-olds talk like that? If they hadn't mentioned their age, I would've assumed they were in their 20s, that's how bad it was.
I picked this book up because I thought it would be interested since it's about Natasha, who's an undocumented immigrant, about to be deported. But it seemed like Natasha's upcoming deportation was more of a plot device to add some type of emotion to the story. Natasha deadass says she's happier about Daniel than the chance of not getting deported. There are people whose lives are ruined because of deportation and in this story, it's just a time stamp on their relationship in order to add some more drama. That's not okay and it's actually disgusting.
Daniel is so goddam creepy that I don't understand how he's a love interest. He spends the beginning of the book literally following Natasha around the city even when she tells him to leave her alone and he obviously doesn't because he fell in love with her like 5 seconds after seeing her. When he’s not stalking strangers, he spends the rest of his time screaming “we’re meant to be!” at Natasha’s face and using those annoying ass parenthesis. It's like every other second there was one and I just wanted it to freaking stop.
I really, really wanted to like Natasha because she seemed at least a bit more realistic than Daniel but of course, I didn't. It's her actions that really put me off because she definitely came off as "I'm right and nothing else is" and all I could think was oh my god shut the fuck up. When the attorney she’s supposed to meet with is going to be late because he got into a goddamn car accident, she reacts in the most annoying way possible. “But we have an appointment now.” My whine is uncharitable, but I can’t help it. “I really need him to help me." I get it, she's about to be deported and he might be her last chance but at least have some sympathy that he was fucking hit by a car. Also, when Daniel took her to a Korean restaurant to eat, she deadass asked him "How come you call yourself Korean?" she asks after a few more sips. "Weren't you born here? Oh, I don't know maybe because that's what he wants to call himself to make things easier when others ask him where he's really from. I really can't see why this bothers her since it's up to him to call himself whatever he damn wants.
And their romance? I have never, in my life, read instalove as bad as this. I truly hate instalove and it's one my worst pet peeves because it's just not realistic. If the author is going to make two characters fall in love in the span of 300+ pages, at least show SOME type of connection. Natasha spent almost half of the book denying that Daniel can make her fall in love with him in a span of a day. If she truly believed he was bullshitting her, why didn't she just walk away and forget about him but instead she gave him the time of day instead of doing something else. Their dialogue was also so cheesy that made me want to throw the whole book away. What kind of 17-year-olds talk like that? If they hadn't mentioned their age, I would've assumed they were in their 20s, that's how bad it was.
I picked this book up because I thought it would be interested since it's about Natasha, who's an undocumented immigrant, about to be deported. But it seemed like Natasha's upcoming deportation was more of a plot device to add some type of emotion to the story. Natasha deadass says she's happier about Daniel than the chance of not getting deported. There are people whose lives are ruined because of deportation and in this story, it's just a time stamp on their relationship in order to add some more drama. That's not okay and it's actually disgusting.