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A review by kailafitz
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
5.0
Fabulous book!
“This is what I want: I want to grab my brother’s hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders.”
This book was about twins Noah and Jude Sweetwine. Told from a younger Noah and an older Jude, we see their story of life and love in family and in themselves. From future to past and back again the story of a broken family with broken people is told through the twins as they grow apart and their family crumbles, and we see how secrets and lies have affected their lives with each other.
“Revolutionaries aren't team players.”
“She gives of light. I give off dark.
We first meet Noah at 13, a boy with wonderful artistic ambitions and talents. The way he creates scenes, sketches his secrets and desires, constantly painting in his head. He isn't as outgoing as his sister who spends most of her time outdoors surfing at the beach and cliff diving.
But we see tension and jealousy seeping into the relationship between Noah and his twin sister, as they fight almost cruelly to be noticed for their artistic talents. To be the one noticed by their mother.
“I don’t deserve a love story. Not anymore. Love stories aren’t written for girls who could do what I just did to my brother, for girls with black hearts.”
The day Jude is forgotten about at the museum by her mother and her twin, she turns. She becomes that girl.
She grows a hatred for her mother and Noah as she stays out late, becoming someone else.
But that was 3 years ago. When we meet Jude at 16, we see her as almost a recluse as she hides under baggy clothes, short hair and her Grandma's supersticious bible. And we learn of the anger and sorrow of how it all happened. We see how things have turned out as slowly, secrets are revealed and stories are intertwined.
“Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”
We see the loss of their loved family and friends. But we also see the healing and the desperation, to repair their family and to find their ways back to each other. Jude feels that she must right all the wrongs she's committed over the years.
While Noah is harboring other secrets of his own that suddenly changes everything.
“People die, I think, but your relationship with them doesn't. It continues and is ever-changing.”
In the space of 3 years, the relationship between Jude and Noah pushes and pulls further and further away. But we see them heal as Noah falls in love with the boy who collects stars. And later on, Jude finds their story come together with her soul mate, with a soul like a sun, who makes her feel better than she has in years.
“In a flash, we're through the door, across the street and into the woods, running for no reason and laughing for no reason and totally out of breath and out of our minds when Brian catches me by my shirt, whips me around, and with one strong hand flat against my chest, he pushes me against a tree and kisses me so hard I go blind.”
“He's the one. And some thoughts once thought are very hard to unthink.”
Ugh I loved this book again, touched me deeply to see the relationship between these siblings, and not just siblings but twins.
The story was told differently, divided up into 8 sections, by a younger Noah and an older Jude at different stages of this difficult time for them. It really worked out beautifully as the past caught up to the present and it all played out so lovely.
The characters were extremely interesting and likable with the problems and feelings they faced and how they dealt with them. And then the character change where the roles seemed to be reversed and we see how Noah and Jude are at present. Hostages in themselves, as well as their father, as their lives are on pause due to tragedy and breakdown in the family. Going nowhere, not doing what they're really supposed to be doing.
Lies. Regrets.
“When people fall in love, they burst into flames.”
I really fell in love with Noah and Jude as they fell in love. The struggles that Noah goes through with Brian while Jude's brash behaviour haunts her from before the accident as she tries to move on with Oscar who seems to be exactly like her.
“It’s time for second chances. It’s time to remake the world.”
The writing in this was certainly beautiful, again, it is one of those deep sort of books with lots of questions and magical thoughts, but you just get sucked into these characters and their tragic, heartfelt, beautiful story.
A wonderful read!
“This is what I want: I want to grab my brother’s hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders.”
This book was about twins Noah and Jude Sweetwine. Told from a younger Noah and an older Jude, we see their story of life and love in family and in themselves. From future to past and back again the story of a broken family with broken people is told through the twins as they grow apart and their family crumbles, and we see how secrets and lies have affected their lives with each other.
“Revolutionaries aren't team players.”
“She gives of light. I give off dark.
We first meet Noah at 13, a boy with wonderful artistic ambitions and talents. The way he creates scenes, sketches his secrets and desires, constantly painting in his head. He isn't as outgoing as his sister who spends most of her time outdoors surfing at the beach and cliff diving.
But we see tension and jealousy seeping into the relationship between Noah and his twin sister, as they fight almost cruelly to be noticed for their artistic talents. To be the one noticed by their mother.
“I don’t deserve a love story. Not anymore. Love stories aren’t written for girls who could do what I just did to my brother, for girls with black hearts.”
The day Jude is forgotten about at the museum by her mother and her twin, she turns. She becomes that girl.
She grows a hatred for her mother and Noah as she stays out late, becoming someone else.
But that was 3 years ago. When we meet Jude at 16, we see her as almost a recluse as she hides under baggy clothes, short hair and her Grandma's supersticious bible. And we learn of the anger and sorrow of how it all happened. We see how things have turned out as slowly, secrets are revealed and stories are intertwined.
“Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”
We see the loss of their loved family and friends. But we also see the healing and the desperation, to repair their family and to find their ways back to each other. Jude feels that she must right all the wrongs she's committed over the years.
While Noah is harboring other secrets of his own that suddenly changes everything.
“People die, I think, but your relationship with them doesn't. It continues and is ever-changing.”
In the space of 3 years, the relationship between Jude and Noah pushes and pulls further and further away. But we see them heal as Noah falls in love with the boy who collects stars. And later on, Jude finds their story come together with her soul mate, with a soul like a sun, who makes her feel better than she has in years.
“In a flash, we're through the door, across the street and into the woods, running for no reason and laughing for no reason and totally out of breath and out of our minds when Brian catches me by my shirt, whips me around, and with one strong hand flat against my chest, he pushes me against a tree and kisses me so hard I go blind.”
“He's the one. And some thoughts once thought are very hard to unthink.”
Ugh I loved this book again, touched me deeply to see the relationship between these siblings, and not just siblings but twins.
The story was told differently, divided up into 8 sections, by a younger Noah and an older Jude at different stages of this difficult time for them. It really worked out beautifully as the past caught up to the present and it all played out so lovely.
The characters were extremely interesting and likable with the problems and feelings they faced and how they dealt with them. And then the character change where the roles seemed to be reversed and we see how Noah and Jude are at present. Hostages in themselves, as well as their father, as their lives are on pause due to tragedy and breakdown in the family. Going nowhere, not doing what they're really supposed to be doing.
Lies. Regrets.
“When people fall in love, they burst into flames.”
I really fell in love with Noah and Jude as they fell in love. The struggles that Noah goes through with Brian while Jude's brash behaviour haunts her from before the accident as she tries to move on with Oscar who seems to be exactly like her.
“It’s time for second chances. It’s time to remake the world.”
The writing in this was certainly beautiful, again, it is one of those deep sort of books with lots of questions and magical thoughts, but you just get sucked into these characters and their tragic, heartfelt, beautiful story.
A wonderful read!