A review by stationannie
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

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.