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diasdeveranomp3's review against another edition
5.0
“I gave up practically the whole world for you,” I tell him, walking through the front door of my own love story. “The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you.”
i will write a coherent review when i feel emotionally ready but for now i'll just say that this book is incredible and has made me feel a lot of things just when i needed it the most
i will write a coherent review when i feel emotionally ready but for now i'll just say that this book is incredible and has made me feel a lot of things just when i needed it the most
jayarna's review against another edition
1.0
With the amount of emotion and heart that's shoved inside this, I'm not really sure why I struggled so much to connect to these characters, but everything they did just made me hate them more and more, and everything was so depressing and the romance was literally so dead. Also Oscar is just a fake person. No one is like this. Maybe I'm accidentally reading the wrong book but this was painful as hell to sit through.
ihateprozac's review against another edition
3.0
I’ll Give You The Sun is a whimsical coming of age tale of two teenage twins whose lives and relationship are ripped apart by tragedy, and how the lives of 7 people in a seaside town converge and collide in unlikely ways. It sounds like everything I could want from a light, fluffy contemporary, except for one thing: it’s hella slow.
There’s no denying that this novel is complex: Jandy Nelson masterfully weaved people and plotlines together like spinning straw into gold. It was crazy to see how everybody’s lives intertwined, and how Jude and Noah each held crucial pieces of the puzzle of their lives but their own hurt, stubbornness, guilt, and hatred kept them from solving the puzzle for the better part of 3 years.
However as beautiful and satisfying as the resolution was, I’m just not sure if the beauty of the last 100 pages can redeem how utterly sluggish the first 300 were. The last thing I want is a contemporary that has me feeling like I’m wading through mud to get to the end. It’s not a good sign when I’m reading a scene and think to myself “what’s the point of this?”
If you’re not a fan of magical realism or art metaphors, stay far away from this novel because you’re liable to drown in them. It’s beautiful and surreal and whimsical (imagine statues coming to life and smiting your enemies mid-conversation!), but from time to time the magical realism and metaphor were laid on so thick it was just obscene.
I have to give props to Jandy Nelson for writing a crush and sexual awakening from the perspective of a 13 year old gay boy, rather than the 16 year old girls we typically get in YA contemporaries. Watching Noah try to understand his feelings genuinely filled me with joy! I just wanted to give him a gigantic hug and simultaneously yell at him to confess his feelings for his bae!
Overall: This was a hella cute contemporary story, but for me the pacing and slowness of the first 300 pages overshadowed the brilliance of the final 100 pages. It was amazing seeing everybody’s lives intertwine and how 7 people could be tied together in so many unexpected ways, but I wish it were all a little tighter and a little lighter.
There’s no denying that this novel is complex: Jandy Nelson masterfully weaved people and plotlines together like spinning straw into gold. It was crazy to see how everybody’s lives intertwined, and how Jude and Noah each held crucial pieces of the puzzle of their lives but their own hurt, stubbornness, guilt, and hatred kept them from solving the puzzle for the better part of 3 years.
However as beautiful and satisfying as the resolution was, I’m just not sure if the beauty of the last 100 pages can redeem how utterly sluggish the first 300 were. The last thing I want is a contemporary that has me feeling like I’m wading through mud to get to the end. It’s not a good sign when I’m reading a scene and think to myself “what’s the point of this?”
If you’re not a fan of magical realism or art metaphors, stay far away from this novel because you’re liable to drown in them. It’s beautiful and surreal and whimsical (imagine statues coming to life and smiting your enemies mid-conversation!), but from time to time the magical realism and metaphor were laid on so thick it was just obscene.
I have to give props to Jandy Nelson for writing a crush and sexual awakening from the perspective of a 13 year old gay boy, rather than the 16 year old girls we typically get in YA contemporaries. Watching Noah try to understand his feelings genuinely filled me with joy! I just wanted to give him a gigantic hug and simultaneously yell at him to confess his feelings for his bae!
Overall: This was a hella cute contemporary story, but for me the pacing and slowness of the first 300 pages overshadowed the brilliance of the final 100 pages. It was amazing seeing everybody’s lives intertwine and how 7 people could be tied together in so many unexpected ways, but I wish it were all a little tighter and a little lighter.
arianah's review against another edition
4.0
Noah and Jude used to be inseparable. Something happened to them that tore the twins apart. Noah tells the story from when they were thirteen and fourteen and Jude tells the story from when they are sixteen. Noah is an aspiring artist always painting in his head and Jude is a very superstitious sculpture.
stationannie's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 stars, rounded up.
I wish I enjoyed this book as so many others have, but it truly feels like we must have read 2 totally different books. While I think there was potential for a great story, I was never able to latch onto the two main characters, Noah and Jude.
Both Noah and Jude are so deeply flawed, and I could not find any redeeming qualities about them. This made it extremely tough for me to care about them or their stories. I also had a really difficult time overlooking some of the characters’ representations and the author’s overly flowery language.
The way Noah speaks in his part of the novel makes him appear much older than 7th grade. This in turn made it difficult to remember that he’s supposed to be a 13-year-old kid in middle school because he sounded so much older. I just couldn’t reconcile that it was supposed to be a young teenaged boy, when he sounds like he should be in his early 20s.
It also really felt like certain parts were purposely convoluted to make the book seem more intelligent than it really is. The author was trying too hard to be pretty with her words. This is especially true of the parts that are more on the fantastical side. Like is this book supposed to be magical realism?
The whole ghost thing with Jude was infuriating to read about because it really didn’t make any sense. It’s never addressed, and we just move on like it was never a part of the book. I thought this was meant to be some sort of magical realism because that was the only explanation I could think of for why Jude has these ghosts hanging around her.
It wasn’t until much later that I understood that all of these bits that seem like magical realism are supposed to be metaphorical. Why? Why not just tell a story without all these stupid metaphors? It didn’t help the story, and I found it aggravating that I had to sit through it all.
I found Jude to be especially irritating of the pair. Her religious “quirk” was random and unnecessary. It just felt like a cheap way for the author to bring in her personal religious beliefs, which I didn’t like. I found these bits annoying, which added to my disdain for the book.
What ends up happening with Jude and Noah at the end was really unsatisfying. They spend the entire book being horrible to each other, and then everything wraps up really nicely in a way that is simply completely unbelievable. Somehow years of terribleness is just forgiven, and it all works out. I didn’t buy it one bit.
I normally give authors 3 chances, but I truly don’t think I’ll like another by this author, so I will not be reading any more of her books.
daphivn's review against another edition
5.0
“I didn’t know you could get buried in your own silence.”
I'm in love. That's it, that's the review. (I cried in 4 separate occasions when I listen to this, so yeah, I'm in love).
The question that I keep asking myself when I listen to this is. How can you love someone so much but hurt them as much too?
Seriously tho, I love this twins, I love them. SO MUCH.
My fav dialogue!
"It's astounding," he says, which cracks us both up. "Except most of the time," he adds, "I feel like I'm undercover."
"Me too." I pick up a stick, start digging with it. “Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people,” I say. “Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.” Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things."
He grins. "Each new self standing on the last one's shoulders until we're these wobbly people poles?"
I die of delight. "Yes, exactly! We're all just wobbly people poles!"
I'm in love. That's it, that's the review. (I cried in 4 separate occasions when I listen to this, so yeah, I'm in love).
The question that I keep asking myself when I listen to this is. How can you love someone so much but hurt them as much too?
Seriously tho, I love this twins, I love them. SO MUCH.
My fav dialogue!
"It's astounding," he says, which cracks us both up. "Except most of the time," he adds, "I feel like I'm undercover."
"Me too." I pick up a stick, start digging with it. “Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people,” I say. “Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.” Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things."
He grins. "Each new self standing on the last one's shoulders until we're these wobbly people poles?"
I die of delight. "Yes, exactly! We're all just wobbly people poles!"
cmrobe06's review against another edition
4.0
At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the extreme use of metaphors throughout the book, but it turned out I ended up liking them towards the end. I found the book engaging and I wanted to know what happened next, but wasn't super in love with either of the main characters.
kayladanielle13's review against another edition
I just couldn’t get into the writing style or the characters.
strawb3rries's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Reread this again years later. Some of the dialogue is cringy, but I really like the character relationships and developments. Like how their mother was seen as this amazing woman to just an average lady. I feel like the ending was kind of rushed
jordanmkelly's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0