WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.
I’ll Give You The Sun is a contemporary book written by the New York Times Best-selling author Jandy Nelson; which has been critically acclaimed and has won the Printz Award.
Let me start by saying I liked the book, however, I did not love it. The reason for this I think, is that I had heard so many great things about it, it had so much hype I was expecting…more. Now that we’ve made that point clear, I can say I really enjoyed reading it.
CHARACTERS
First of all, I adored the characters, especially Noah, they were complex, familiar and what I loved most about them is that the author humanizes them in a way where we can easily relate to their emotions and reactions. Moreover, it’s the first time I read through the perspective of a homosexual character, and I absolutely loved it, I found myself shipping Noah and Brian, just wishing for them to be together and happy. As for Jude, I’ll say I felt for her, but she wasn’t my favorite, especially during the first years, later she’d become someone completely different, someone I liked better. I like that the author had the ability to take me from wanting to strangle her for being such an ass, to wanting to give her a hug. The rest of the characters (Brian, Guillermo, and Oscar) I enjoyed a lot too, and I think they have amazing and intense personalities, which helped shape the story.
WRITING STYLE
Furthermore, the writing style was amazing, lyrical, unique and funny. Never had I read a book where the belief in an other-worldly being(s) is portrayed the way it is here, how it’s not about a religion or a strict series of beliefs, but it's instead a constant question of who put you here? Who’s behind everything? Are fate and destiny something we tell ourselves to make us feel better? “Because who knows? Who knows anything? Who knows who’s pulling the strings? Or what is? Or how? Who knows if destiny is just how you tell yourself the story of your life?” Because we are not in control of anything, and I think we sometimes need to hold on to the belief of something/someone bigger than us, to reassure us that everything happens for a reason. The author portrays this not as a belief, but rather a question.
WE -HUMANS- MAKE MISTAKES
Additionally, I appreciated that she continuously shows us that as humans, we are not perfect and that if someone does a bad thing it doesn’t make him/her a bad person. How we make mistakes and will continue to do so because that’s who we are, the way we live, grow and learn. I specifically liked the quote of Winston Churchill mentioned in this book “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” I think the beauty of life lies right in its complexity, we’ll always have problems, we’ll go through hell and back, and every time we come out of that unending struggle we’ll rise up, yes, bruised, scarred and hurt, we’ll kiss the ground so many times, eating dirt, sweat and blood clouding our vision, keeping us from seeing that beyond every punch, every kick, lies a chance to be better, a future, hope. We’ll rise up stronger, better, wiser, the ironic thing is that it’ll never be enough, why? Because we’ll fall again, and again and again. Living in an infinite cycle that repeats itself until it ends, until we have nothing else to fight for, to fight towards, until our fight ends and then peace comes.
ART
I was fascinated with the art shown, with how it related to the story and I can definitely say it changed my perspective on it forever. The way for Noah it’s the only way he can really express himself and be who he is, where he can liberate all the bottled-up feelings he has. How for Guillermo it started as something beautiful, and intense, where he poured all of his emotions, and then it turned into the receiver of all his pain, guilt and regret, how when he created his sculptures he cried and yelled and punched. How Jude finally finds closure with her sculpture and how it was as if her feelings had been stored in a safe and only found the key when she started sculpting.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
I have mentioned the aspects I loved about this book, now why did I not love the book if it made me reflect so much and I loved so many aspects of it? The answer is when I read it, I didn’t feel connected or deeply related to the story, it didn’t stir my emotions or made me want to curl in a ball and cry, or jump in excitement. The reflections above I’ve made them after weeks of reading the book, and although I’d love nothing more than to give it 5 stars, I’m afraid I cannot. We all know books, and our interpretations of them are subjective, which is why so many people can love a book and some people can’t. I would’ve been delighted to see more of Noah since Jude has more chapters than him (again I think I get why the author decided to do it this way). These are the 2 major factors that made me not love the book.
IN CONCLUSION
I’ll Give You The Sun, a contemporary novel, filled with intense emotions, grief, pain, regret, love, forgiveness, characters with awesome personalities and topics that will make you question your life in so many ways, I’d recommend this book to anyone, it is indeed great, and I’ll give it 4.7 out of 5 stars.