Monday, March 28, 2016

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I never believed Noah and I shared a soul, that mine was half a tree with its leaves on fire, like he said. I never felt like my soul was something that could be seen. it felt like motion, like taking off, like swimming toward the horizon or diving off a cliff or making flying women out of sad, out of anything.



It's me again!! 

Hi!

As promised, here I am finally with another review. Life has punched me in the face with a sign that reads "HERE I AM! LOVE ME!". It has teamed up with Stress and Confusion to wreck havoc in my life.

But I will prevail and continue to Read Books and Do the Blog Thing! And also capitalize Words unnecessarily.

A while ago, I was google chatting with Linnea and Marissa. Linnea and I were reading Reign of Shadows (Review to come very soon!) while Marissa, the little rebel, was reading I'll Give You The Sun and weeping. 

Well that inspired me to go find my copy tucked away on my shelves and read it. Which resulted in my staring in shock at my ceiling at two in the morning (it's always 2am)




Genre:  Contemporary
Feelings: YES
Cuteness: YES
Fast pacing: The way this book is formatted makes it difficult to justify putting it down.
Series: Nope
Read if you like: Siblings, art, colors and forgiveness
Content: Gay character. Lots of kissing. Some discussion of various body parts. Affair stuff.
Trigger warning? Suicide, bullying, loss of a parent
In summary...His chapters are when they’re fourteen, her chapters are years later. They both have two sides of a story, and back and forth, it will be revealed what happened in those years between to ruin their relationship.
Thoughts: Dried up pain, stone dust, ocean waves crashing on a cliff. Capital Letters.
Messages: A lot. Forgiveness, regret, dealing with grief. This book has A Lot.


Rating: 5/5 stars


I cannot. I do not. Where to begin?

This book has a Soul. A soul that has proved to not be for everyone, but it’s one that snuck it’s way into my heart. Something about the relationships. Something about the colors. The way the story wove itself, the way it clung to you long after the last page.


-The Characters-


I Have So Much Trouble Liking Characters. How many times can I say this? I write in first person but for some reason as soon as a story is written in first person it feels very hard for me to like them. This story has TWO first person perspectives and I adored both characters.

I fell for them. I felt for them. I loved the spirit, the struggle, the strength. The snark and wit. The way they reacted to those around them. Also I adore siblings. And this story had such a conflicting, difficult, wonderful siblingship that I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon.


-The Writing and Plot-

OH.

Oh.

Can we just talk about the narrative? I have never been so entertained while reading a story ever. Nelson has this way with words that transports you right into these characters brains, even if those places are scary sometimes.

Can we just talk about the Plot? The twists and turns? The angst? The ending?

Can we just talk about the Book?? This story is structured so wonderfully. The book consists of two pov’s as mentioned, but there’s not a lot of switches because each chapter is quite long. Some being as long as 60 pages. Which means after the first two, you think, “WAIT GOTTA READ ONE MORE CHAPTER.” But then it leaves you hanging so you read one more.

Then you’re over halfway through.

This is why I read it in one night/morning.

The idea of a story being told through past/present, the back and forth, is one that’s been used before but this book took such a different approach to it, one that worked so well for the story. I cannot even. Bye.


-Messages and Other-

I cannot sum up simply what this book means, what this book is saying. I just know it’s saying a lot. It’s got so much that will speak to so many people. But not everyone.

It’s one of those books that is going to find the right hands to be in.

Some hands will enjoy it, setting it on their shelf to look at fondly.

Some hands will dislike it. Shrug, say “eh” and put it back.

Some hands will clutch it once it’s over. They will soak up every word.

It’s a book that has a Soul, and the only way to know if that Soul is for you, is to go and read it.


Find a copy.


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