Mini Review: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Monday 14 September 2015

Title: I'll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Release Date: September, 2014
Rating:
Goodreads | Book Depository
From the author of The Sky Is Every­where, a radiant novel that will leave you laughing and crying - all at once. For fans of John Green, Gayle Forman and Lauren Oliver. Jude and her twin Noah were incredibly close - until a tragedy drove them apart, and now they are barely speaking. Then Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy as well as a captivating new mentor, both of whom may just need her as much as she needs them. What the twins don't realize is that each of them has only half the story and if they can just find their way back to one another, they have a chance to remake their world.

“Meeting your soul mate is like walking into a house you've been in before - you will recognize the furniture, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves, the contents of drawers: You could find your way around in the dark if you had to.”

I have mixed feelings about I'll Give You the Sun. I really liked the complexity of the characters but the writing style just wasn't my cup of tea. I enjoyed the story because of the characters and how I could feel their emotions but it was quite tough to fight through all the metaphors at times. I've never been a big fan of "fancy" writing; I don't think you need to write in a lavish way to tell a great story. With that being said, the characters and the themes did salvage the story a lot and I ended up really enjoying it.

The story is told through the perspective of twins Jude and Noah. Noah tells us his side of the story as a thirteen year old whilst Jude tells us hers from the age of sixteen. I thought this worked really well and it's interesting to see how their lives are different at these ages but also how they are still working through the same issues.

Jude and Noah used to be extremely close but jealousy and grief caused them to drift apart. We slowly learn about the events that caused their split (this is not a fast paced read) and the storytelling does a great job of letting the reader feel the emotions pouring from the characters. We feel their grief, their anger, their jealousy. The story also covers a lot of themes from friendship, family, love, LGBT and grief and each theme was covered in a beautiful way.

Overall, I'll Give You the Sun is a beautiful story but I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style. I would recommend for the complexity of the characters alone and the abundance of themes that are covered in a graceful way.

4 comments:

  1. This story definitely had really great characters. I first listened to this on audiobook and I thought it was just alright but when I reread it, I felt it was a really good story. I also like how everything came together. Great review!

    http://novelsandnecklaces.blogspot.com

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    1. The characters were definitely my favourite part! I like how everything came together at the end too. Thank you! :)

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  2. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and found that the writing style (though taking a while to get used to) worked really well to tell the beautiful story <3 lovely review

    Most recent post on Enchanted by YA: http://enchantedbyya.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/arc-review-rebels-reverians-2-by-sarah.html

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    1. I'm glad that you liked the writing style! I really enjoyed the story even though the writing didn't wholly work for me. Thank you! :)

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