I'll Give You the Sun Review

Title: I'll Give You The Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Publisher: Dial Books
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

Blurb: (from goodreads) 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.

Me: I am currently rethinking the power of literature. The beauty. I'm also contemplating on the genius of the contemporary genre.

The Ups: The writing of this book is absolutely phenomenal. Literally seamless. It is one of those books that you read and that you can tell the author's blood, sweat and tears were truly thrown into writing this story, and to make it the best it could be. It not only really told the story it needed to tell, but performed it beautifully, all the words and metaphors and visualizations working together like puzzle pieces. It really entwined all the characters and their relationships with each other together. 

Speaking of...the characters. They were so beautiful. They were real, and their portrayals were heart-wrenchingly believable. They all had their unique voice, and as the POV transitioned from Jude to Noah, it was very smooth and I could tell who it was. Their tellings of the "before" and "after" really showed their flaws and how they'd grown through the years. But not only Noah and Jude, but their mother, their father, Oscar, Guillermo, Brian, even to the parrot who wouldn't shut up about Ralph, they all had their stories and distinct characters. I honestly think that I could have read a book about any of the characters in this story and I would have enjoyed it. 

The power of art, power of love, POWER. This book shows a lot of themes and weaves them into the book, and I think the biggest one is power. The power that someone/something has over you, the power doing something or being with someone can make you feel like you possess, and the fact that only you have the power over yourself. I loved the art in the book, and how talented Jude and Noah were and how that related directly into their lives. The romance was also one of my favorites of all time, both between Oscar and Jude and Brian and Noah. 

“I love you,” I say to him, only it comes out, “Hey.”
“So damn much,” he says back, only it comes out, “Dude.”
He still won’t meet my eyes.” 

The Downs: Zero. Zip. Nada. Nunya. NOONNNNEEE. 

Overall: A riveting, heart-wrenching, heart-breaking-and-then-puts-it-back-together novel. Might be the best one I've read so far this year. 

Rating: Beat. My. Scale. Shot through the sky. I don't even have words.