Title: I'll Give You The Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBTT*
Pages: 371
Publisher: Dial Books
Year Published: 2014
First Line: "This is how it all begins."
"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, at sixteen, 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 each other, they'd have a chance to remake their world."
My Rating: 4/5
I started reading this at the beginning of this past week and kind of got bogged down with how heavy the writing was. I found that this was a slow start to the book. I thought that it was really hard to get into with the longer sentences and the character driven plot. After about 100 pages I got more interested in the characters but still found the main characters less interesting then those in the background. I really enjoyed the view from two vastly different characters and the view in on twins. I also found it interesting as there is a bit of mystery as readers make the connection between past and present.
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
I found that this book was slow to start but got interesting as the character progressed and changed. I thought that the character driven story was difficult to get into but worth it in the end. The two perspectives told the story well and helped to build a family drama/ mystery about the town but the family as well. I think that around 100 pages I was really drawn in and found my groove with this story.
Characters:
Jude: I think that she was really bratty in the beginning. She watched her brother have trouble fitting in and being pushed away by her father but got jealous about her mother noticing him instead. Life is tough. I found that her pity me act in the high school ticked me off even more. But as I watched her grow closer to Guillermo and Oscar I noticed how many things she regretted and that her self-loathing was eating her alive.
Noah: I think that the beginning Noah was hard to read. He had so many run on sentences from his perspective. I found that he grew on me though. It was heart warming to read that he found someone he could relate to like Brian, but heart breaking when they got caught. Finally how he lashed out was hard to watch but it helped build the story to where it was.
Oscar: I want to know so much more about his past. I thought that he was a great "bad boy" but when he starts to bring back other girls, I got annoyed.
Brian: I wish that he felt like he could be himself around others but as time goes on you see that he is able to be more comfortable in his skin rather than shy away from who he really was. I thought that he was a sweet characters.
Heather: I'm glad she didn't assume that her and Noah were going out.
Guillermo: I really, really enjoyed this character how broken he was and how much he must have loved the twins mom was beautiful. It was horrible that he believed for so long that she was going to leave him without rhyme or reason. I wish that he found love in the end but
maybe over time, after grieving he would be able to.
Moments to Remember:
Pg. 174
"And no hot guy should be allowed to have an English accent and drive a motorcycle."
Final Line: "Remake the world."
Thanks for reading,
Sidny
