I'll Give You The Sun
Jandy Nelson
Rating 5*
This book was recommended to me a lot and I'm so glad I picked it up. I haven't read a contemporary book in a while and it was honestly a breathe of fresh air. The characters were so real - you loved parts about them and hated other aspects; no-one was perfect or cliched.
I'll Give You The Sun follows twins Noah and Jude. Alternating chapters, we read about Noah struggling with his sexual identity at age 13 and Jude struggling with the loss of their mother at age 16. Gradually, the gap between their perspectives is bridged and the result is a heart-warming comment on family and art. Both are artistic: Noah draws and Jude sculpts, and Nelson has perfectly interwoven their creativity into her expressive writing and even how it is displayed on the page. Literally covered in ink drops, the page contains metaphors and, in Noah's chapters, he names paintings based on awkward situations he finds himself in.
I started this book in my Try a Chapter challenge, where I read the first chapter (spoiler alert: I chose this book to continue with out of the 7 I tried, but feel free to see the blog post: https://bookramblings.wixsite.com/blog/post/try-a-chapter-tag ). That first chapter started with Noah's perspective, where their mum decides they should try and enroll in a fancy art school - Noah is enthusiastic but Jude is starting to go through a rebellious stage. In the second chapter, we begin Jude's perspective as she attends the art school, making it clear Noah got rejected and as a result has rebelled against the art he used to love. At the start, the chapters were so long that I'd become so invested in that character's narrative, it was quite jaunting returning to the other, especially considering the time gap and thus quite different plot (and boy does Nelson know how to end one perspective with a mini plot twist). However, I came to love both stories so much that alternating between them was no longer a negative thing. Noah's perspective was so raw. he was the misunderstood, bullied kid who developed a crush on his best friend. Jude's perspective was more rounded. In that I mean, we explored other characters through her; we see Noah's development from when he was 13, we hear about her mum and the aftermath of her death and we meet new characters through her.
This book deserves every star I gave it. It's been the first book in a while that left me not wanting to read days after I finished it (three days to be exact). I just had to think. It was so cute and beautiful all at the same time. The puzzle pieces came together at the end. It almost reminded me of Love Actually - where you get multiple separate lives and you only realise how they all join together as the story progresses towards the end.
I think what surprised me the most was my reaction to the romance. With Jude and Oscar, I would usually be a massive shipper. And, don't get me wrong, I wasn't not shipping it; I was just loving the scenes with her and Guillerno or Noah more. I think her relationship with Guillerno may have been my favourite. It was so authentic because it wasn't predictable. Both are erratic characters after all.
Noah and Brian, however, I was invested in. I think its because Brian is such a big part of Noah's 13 year old perspective. Through Brian, he makes new friends and stands up to those who bullied him. Through Brian, he gains the confidence to discover his sexuality.
I think I need to end this review soon because I've realised I can't fully sum up how amazing I find this book; it was inspiring, creative and authentic. I'd definitely recommend it!
Happy Reading :)