I received this book for free from BookExpo in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson Published by Dial Books for Young Readers on September 16, 2014
Genres: Contemporary YA, Families, Young Adult
Pages: 371
Format: ARC
Source: BookExpo
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Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.
This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.
Friends, there’s very little that’s as immensely satisfying and fantastic as a book you’ve been anticipating for LITERALLY YEARS living up to your expectations of greatness. This is such a confluence of serendipity and the work of so many people that it’s no wonder it doesn’t happen very often. Thankfully for me and all of you and the whole world, Jandy Nelson’s I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN is one of these books. I will always have a very special spot in my heart for THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, but I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN was worth the wait.
I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN is about twins Jude and Noah. Their story is told in alternating first-person chapters: Noah’s when they are 13 and Jude when they are 16. In the three intervening years, their relationship goes from good but competitive to completely absent. Noah is a gifted artist who is struggling mightily with his identity and following his heart. Jude also struggles with her art and with her guilt over the THING that drove the two twins apart, not to mention that she is trying to figure out her feelings for the charming and enigmatic Oscar. Both of them are trying to come to terms with the relationships they each have with their mother. Their two stories show how the twins were torn apart, and how they overcome their years of misunderstandings.
There is always something that feels magical about Jandy Nelson’s books. The way she writes just weaves this spell over me so that the characters and the setting and everything feel slightly fantastical even when they are just meant to be people that any of us could know. This is what always amazes me about her stories, and what makes me feel so connected to her writing. THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE did this over and over again, and I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN did it, too.
I have to admit that I was curious about the way I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN was structured before I read it, not so much the alternating points of view as much as the time difference between the two. I was basically SILLY. Jandy Nelson not only pulls it off, but does so in a way that makes your heart break even more for Noah and Jude. Because even though we don’t know the details of how their already mildly contentious relationship (they often are competing for their mother’s attention in Noah’s story) turns into the cold distance of Jude’s, you have this understanding that they’re each missing important pieces.
It helps a TON that Noah and Jude themselves are great characters, although I found Noah more empathetic than Jude. Like I spent the entirety of I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN just DYING to give Noah huge hugs all the time. HUGE HUGS. He just broke my heart. He broke my heart when he was a 13-year-old boy fighting himself, and he killed me when he was 16 and still looking for the strength to be himself. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t also feel Jude’s sadness. She is failing out of art school, is a crazy hypochondriac, deliberately wears clothes that are too big, and lives by the wisdom of her dead grandmother, whose ghost slash spirit visits Jude. These twins aren’t very alike, but I loved them TO BITS all the same.
I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN wouldn’t be a Jandy Nelson book without some romance, though, and Noah and Jude both get one. Noah’s was incredibly sweet and heartwarming while also being devastating. I ADORED how tentative but all-consuming Noah and Brian’s young love was and the lasting impact it made on Noah. Jude and Oscar have a deep connection as well as a strong attraction, and they made me swoon even when they were fighting it. It helps that Jandy Nelson’s writing is, as always, MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS.
Friends, there are so many meaty emotions going on in I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN. Feelings of love between siblings, romantic love, lost love, misunderstood love, love that saves you, and love that destroys you. This book is also about art and artistry, and about being true. I cannot recommend it enough. I’m ready for more, Jandy. You know, whenever you’re ready.
MEATY EMOTIONS.
I know exactly what you mean and I want some please and thank you.
Yes, I really enjoyed I’ll Give You the Sun as well! I intended to read it slowly to savor, but wound up reading straight through in one sitting. Nelson’s writing is gorgeous. And the way she captures the dynamics of these relationships, particularly that of Noah and Jude, was truly wonderful.