Saturday 7 February 2015

I'll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

So, I feel kind of silly reviewing this book. I mean... It just won the freaking Printz. Obviously it's amazing. But it was the book I was reading to review! (And I happened to finish it on the day it won the Printz, so that was kind of cool). So, here we are. I'm reviewing the Printz winner.

This was a book that I've wanted to read for awhile. My husband told me months ago before he had even finished reading it that I HAD to read it. And he often has good taste. But I had a huge stack of to-reads so I was just like 'yeah, okay. Add it to the pile.' And then eventually he took it back to his classroom cause I was too slow. And then, when I finally did get my hands on it, I was like, 'oh my gosh. Why did no one tell me to read this?' Which... if you were following... they did. So, silly me.

The story of Jude and Noah moved me almost from page one. I love complicated. I love imperfect. I love real. And I love beautiful writing. This book is all of those things. Generous helpings of all of those things. Jude and Noah are twins who have basically had a falling out. If you can even call it that; it seems too simple and understated for what happened, but that's what I'm going with. And it takes 3 (ish?) years for the air to be cleared. Jandy Nelson beautifully illustrates the pain, misunderstandings, and wishes for better that these two experience trying to make up for/live with their mistakes.  This book is just full of beauty. Everything else I try to say just seems inaccurate and like it's falling short of reality. So, really. It's just beauty in a book.

I'm so thankful that I did eventually pick up this book, and I'm so happy that it won the Printz, and if you're one of the few people out there who hasn't picked this book up and read and loved it... you should fix that.

<3