A Heart-Wrenching Story | I'll Give You the Sun


I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Publisher: Dial Books
Release date: September 16th, 2014
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Pages:  371
Source: Bought it
Other keywords: GLBT
A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell 

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.
Review:
 
Okay. I just finished this book a few minutes ago and I need to catch my thoughts first.



Okay. Okay. That's it. I got it.  I literally have no words to describe how I feel throughout the whole book. I don't care. You just have to read it! JUST READ IT ALREADY!!

I'll Give You The Sun tells a story of a girl named Jude and her twin brother, Noah. The story is told using both of their point of views. While Noah tells us the early years, Jude tells the later. They are so close to each other like two souls merged in one body, or one soul splits in half and becomes two bodies. But, three years later things have changed. Something has happened that separates them and what they don't know is that they each only have half the story and if only the could find their way back to one another, they'd have a chance to remake the world.

Oh, well, I know I practically used the words in the summary but whatevs.

This book is the epitome of fabulousness. It has everything you need in a book. It's a story of betrayal, loss, first love, family, and it's wrapped up so good I want to make a shrine for it inside my head. I liked how it uses two point of views, it keeps me from getting bored because every time I found myself getting bored by one's point of view, it feels good to change into the other one. But, it also irritated me when I was feeling so into it in one point of view and it just abruptly stops and changed into another one. But, well, everything has its two sides of a coin, right?

The twins are very two different people. Jude is this girl who's in the most rebellious state of her life in the age of thirteen while Noah is this gay dude who effing loves art and practically lives for it. Noah tells us the story that happens when they were 13 years old while Jude tells us the story that happens 3 years after that. They are like two sides of a magnet, so different yet so close and basically are the same thing. I don't know how the author manages to pull it off, but writing in two point of views, especially the ones which have no similarities at all is so difficult. I enjoyed how Noah sees the world from the eyes of an artist, so he practically paints everything he sees with his words. I also enjoyed the way Jude has her own way of seeing things as she has her own beliefs (like having an onion in her pocket to prevent bad things to happen) and does things her way. They are two different people with two different minds and thoughts, but the author writes them in a way that we will be able to relate to both of them at once.

The theme is explored exquisitely and the plot follows in a graceful manner. The idea is that Jude and Noah each have their own side of the story. Jude tells the later years while Noah tells the earlier (I've told you this quite a few times, didn't I? But oh well). As a reader, I can see how every event, interaction, mistake, and choice shape them to be the person they are. How each of it back each other up is mind-blowing. We'll get more and more curious about the 'thing' that breaks them apart, but not to the point where we'll be devastated that we can't find it out any sooner, we'll find ourselves flowing through the story and getting hungrier to reach the last page yet dreading the time when it finally comes.

The characters and relationships are so emotional and full of life. I'm not just talking about Jude and Noah here, they are particularly flawed and complex teenagers themselves and it can't be any more interesting to get the inside looks of their heads. But, the relationships between the other characters are also thorough and clearly written that their existence won't feel unnecessary at all. You will find yourself wanting more and more that 371 pages are probably not enough for you to get a full glimpse of their relationships.

The story is MIND-BLOWING. It's beautiful, exquisite, magnificent, ornate, and yes I'm throwing so many positive adjectives here because it so effing describes the story! Remember that time when you thought you knew what was going to happen in a book when actually you clearly have no idea what was going to happen? Well, it felt like that when I was reading this book. I got this own theory in my mind about what happens between the twins, but clearly my theory was nowhere near correct as I found myself in awe when I finally got to find out what it is. Once I found out what it is, everything falls into place and just click together and makes so much sense I can't help but be in love and awe with it.

Art is explicitly the soul of the book. Noah is the boy who loves art, so is Jude (except she's a girl). They both love art in their own different ways. You can see how art shapes them as a person and you basically can see it radiating off the page. This book makes me feel so sad and longing because I'm not an art person myself and oh how I wish I was.

The romance is bittersweet and felicitous. Noah and Jude have their own love interests, they meet their own partners in each of their story. It may seem like insta-love, but at the same time it's not. I hate insta-love so much I practically gag when I read one. But, Jandy Nelson writes it in a way that makes me can't help but feel like they're meant to be. It is written so gradually and continuously that it will finally grow on you.

Conclusion:

This book makes me lightheaded and high, in a good way. I wish I could read this book over and over again and forgetting each time I finished it so I could feel how I felt when I first read it. I highly recommend this book to every single person in this world. It will make you smile, laugh, cry (or at least be sad, because I didn't cry), and see the world in a whole new perspective with its stunning yet sorrowful story.

My rating:     . 5

Reviewed by Inas

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