I'll Give You The Sun Review

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Title: I’ll Give You The Sun

Author: Jandy Nelson

Series: None

Publisher: Dial Books

Publication Date: September 16th 2014

Genre: Romance; Realistic Fiction; Contemporary; Coming of Age; Young Adult

Pages: 371

Format: Hardcover

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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.

Twins Noah and Jude were as thick as thieves, but somewhere along the line of their rocky relationship, something went horribly and inexplicably wrong. They are the exact opposite of each other; Noah is the shy one, reserved to the point of being introverted. Jude is out-there, confident, and has a line of admirers about a mile long, until, well…, until she doesn’t. Told from alternating points of view between the two twins, the story tells you the beginning, and it tells you the end. Can Jude and Noah overcome their severed bond and meet somewhere in the middle?   

This novel left me with two thoughts: hot boys of the James Dean persuasion, and the powerful seductive effect of oranges. Jude had it all. She was pretty, and she was liked. When something happens that revolutionizes her entire world, she is left alone. She is an outcast. Superstitious and eccentric, she stopped fitting in a long time ago, even before Noah was lost to her. She aspires to be an artist but has a hard time overcoming the fact that her mother’s ghost is continually sabotaging her. Rough deal, right? When she meets an artist, and his perfectly tortured assistant, she exhumes secrets that were once thought dead and buried and learns some things are worth fighting for.

Noah, on the other hand, is everything Jude isn’t. He’s shy and hopelessly romantic when it comes to the boy next door. He’s sees the world differently than everyone else. His perspective is artistic, unique, and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. He sees colors in thoughts and masterpieces in ideas. He craves acceptance and inimitability all at once. His world and his thoughts are unattainably beautiful in ways I didn’t even think were possible. He and his sister weren’t just characters to me. They were magic.

With this book being a wonderful piece of art by its own definition, it is no surprise that art, painting, colors, and seeing the world like it’s a masterpiece are all central themes. The dynamic of the characters and all of their wonderful individualities were broad, animated strokes of an acrylic portrait, the setting a soft, seeping watercolor, and the plot a blended, and indulgent oil print.  Each element was crafted and chiseled like they were tangible, palpable pieces waiting to be observed in an astonishing showcase.

Jandy Nelson’s Printz Award-Winning novel is not one to be trifled with. This is the no-joke, abso-effing-loutely real deal, and everyone should be treating themselves to what is going down in history as a classic. I’d give more than the sun for this book; I’d give the whole damn world.