Review: I'll Give You The Sun
RATING: 5/5
At first, I didn't find myself that into this book. But, to quote John Green, "I fell in love the way you fall asleep. Slowly and then all at once."
This book is magical and bursting at the seams with metaphorical artistry. It's so hard for me to find words to describe just how completely amazing this book is. Brilliant. Beautiful. Stunning. Emotional. Electric. Passionate. Moving. Must. I. Go. On?
"Remake the world."
This book remade the entire art of creative writing.
I'll start with my dislikes (in which there are very few):
Really long chapters. I like books with shorter chapters so I can stop myself more easily (which is really hard to do once I get lost in a book). So with this book, the chapters go ON and ON and ON and it just felt uncomfortable to stop in the middle of a chapter. OCD much.
Superstition stuff is weird to me and I just don't get it, but the story wouldn't have been the same without it. So even though that part of the story got really annoying and strange, it added depth to Jude's character and was a good addition to the creativity of the writing.
Now, for everything that was SO SO right with this book:
THE WRITING. My god. I know of the power that words hold, but damn, I felt a hurricane stir inside me when I read this book. So descriptive, so deep, so visual, so artistic. If you're not one for metaphors, then beware, this book is overflowing with them. But mind you, although metaphors can get annoying, this book will take your breath away. Nelson's writing will have your imagination working overload. Her words are so profound, you'll find yourself needing to look up to take a breath and just think about what you just read. Completely brilliant.
I also love the interesting take on POV. Noah's story is set when they are 13 and as close as can be and Jude's is set three years later when they are 16 and everything's changed for the worst. The time difference is so interesting because you get a glimpse of what's happened in those three years and you get half of the story from each character. It's like two puzzle pieces that finally found their way to each other in the end.
The characters themselves are so unique and interesting. Noah is an art genius and I LOVE how Nelson wrote his narrative. Noah will see things that aren't actually happening, like “Jude barfs bright blue fluorescent barf all over the table, but I’m the only one who notices” and "We're sprinting at the speed of light when the ground gives way and we rise into the air as if racing up stairs." He also takes scenes from his life and paints them his head constantly, so there are captions for what those painting would be called such as (PORTRAIT, SELF-PORTRAIT: Gray Noah Eating Gray Apples on Gray Grass) and (SELF-PORTRAIT: The Boy Hiding Inside the Boy Hiding Inside the Boy). It all adds to the stunning artistry of the writing.
Jude, on the other hand, isn't as great as Noah when it comes to art but she has that talent hidden within her. Her story involves the superstitious stuff. There are a lot of passages from her Grandma's "bible" like "For courage, say your name three times into your closed hand" and "Every picture taken of you reduces you spirit and shortens your life." She believes every word of it because her Grandma did, and she had a really close bond with her Grandma. In fact, she still does, because she sees and talks to her Grandma's ghost, which also added a lot of strangeness to Jude's character.
I also loved how all the characters in the book were connected in some way. I won't spoil anything, but people in Noah's past would end up being in Jude's future. It was so mind blowing when these characters would pop up again later in the story and how they ended up being connected. Talk about plot twists.
Finally, I love how in the end, big revelations are made and everything goes back to being alright and it just gave me such joy (and sadness) from finishing the book on that note.
This book is about romance, coming-of-age, life, loss, artistic expression and the supernatural. It has everything and more. It was life-changing.
