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A review by pagesplotsandpints
The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
5.0
Full review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: For some reason I've been encountering a lot of books lately where I start them and the story is good -- not yet great -- and then somewhere in the middle of the book, I fall in love. THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE was no exception to that trend, and in no way is that a negative thing! Sometimes I get confused on how I should really feel about the book if the ending is so much stronger than the beginning, but isn't that the whole point? The story gets better as you go along and who cares if the end result is that I loved it!
In the beginning of this story, I felt like we were very much getting the set up of Lennie, her wacky family (Gram & Uncle Big), and life after Bailey's death. It was a necessary set up and immediately we are put into the "teen mindset", with the narrative being told directly from Lennie and in a very much juvenile voice. I felt like that really helped me get into the characters and put a lot of emotion into the story since we get it streaming straight from Lennie. It actually made for a lot of fun at times as well because we also get the goofy over-excited gushing and lots of "Nuh-uh"/"Yuh-huh!" between Lennie and her best friend Sarah. It could have been annoying if it was overdone, but it was a nice balance and it made it cute and enjoyable! It's kind of how much I loved If I Stay for how mature its tone was -- I loved THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE for how realistic its teen voice was.
I think the story was particularly heartbreaking for me because it sort of put me in Lennie's place. I'm the younger sister and I've grown so much closer with my older sister (the only sister I have!) in the past few years and she really is one of my best friends. It's quite devastating to have to imagine myself going through that, so when I got so involved in the story, it made Lennie's grief that much stronger as I was reading.
I actually liked the back-and-forth of Lennie going between Toby and Joe. Not in the sense that I agreed with it, but in the sense that it made sense to me. I feel like going through that kind of grief, it's logical to go where you find comfort and at the same time Lennie almost felt wrong falling in love when she was in so much pain. It was a good story line in the book and just added that much more to the story versus just a straight-up whirlwind romance.
I absolutely adored the quirkiness of Lennie's family! For some reason it had a very WALK TWO MOONS feel for me all throughout the book. I think it's because of the relationship Lennie has with her grandmother and I pictured Big as the father-figure even though he's Lennie's uncle. It also had the missing mother element as well. I really think that made me that much more connected to the book since WALK TWO MOONS is one of my favorite books from my childhood.
In the beginning of this story, I felt like we were very much getting the set up of Lennie, her wacky family (Gram & Uncle Big), and life after Bailey's death. It was a necessary set up and immediately we are put into the "teen mindset", with the narrative being told directly from Lennie and in a very much juvenile voice. I felt like that really helped me get into the characters and put a lot of emotion into the story since we get it streaming straight from Lennie. It actually made for a lot of fun at times as well because we also get the goofy over-excited gushing and lots of "Nuh-uh"/"Yuh-huh!" between Lennie and her best friend Sarah. It could have been annoying if it was overdone, but it was a nice balance and it made it cute and enjoyable! It's kind of how much I loved If I Stay for how mature its tone was -- I loved THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE for how realistic its teen voice was.
I think the story was particularly heartbreaking for me because it sort of put me in Lennie's place. I'm the younger sister and I've grown so much closer with my older sister (the only sister I have!) in the past few years and she really is one of my best friends. It's quite devastating to have to imagine myself going through that, so when I got so involved in the story, it made Lennie's grief that much stronger as I was reading.
I actually liked the back-and-forth of Lennie going between Toby and Joe. Not in the sense that I agreed with it, but in the sense that it made sense to me. I feel like going through that kind of grief, it's logical to go where you find comfort and at the same time Lennie almost felt wrong falling in love when she was in so much pain. It was a good story line in the book and just added that much more to the story versus just a straight-up whirlwind romance.
I absolutely adored the quirkiness of Lennie's family! For some reason it had a very WALK TWO MOONS feel for me all throughout the book. I think it's because of the relationship Lennie has with her grandmother and I pictured Big as the father-figure even though he's Lennie's uncle. It also had the missing mother element as well. I really think that made me that much more connected to the book since WALK TWO MOONS is one of my favorite books from my childhood.