Sorry I was pretty MIA last month, I had a bunch of different competitions I was at and haven't had much time to read.
I picked this book up on a whim after spotting it in the library and remembering all the hype over it and this book did not disappoint.
I'll Give You the Sun follows a pair of twins named Noah and Jude who are inseperable. After a tragic accident, they stop talking to each other and completely destroy their relationship. The way this book is written is in a before/after plotline with 13 year old Noah narrating before and 16 year old Jude narrating after. It's honestly the kind of book you don't want to know much about before going into because the plot can easily get spoiled in a summary.
I expected this book to be a contemporary novel, but it actually contains some magical elements. I still would not call it full-on fantasy, yet I was definitely taken aback by the sudden magic so do be warned.
This book took me a while to get into, just because the beginning feels a bit slow and it takes a while to become invested into the story. Last year, I tried to read this book but I stopped before the end of the first chapter (no, I was not being quick to judge, the chapters are very long). You have to meet the characters and learn their quirks, then wait for the story to take off. About 200 pages in, the plotline took off for me and I finished the rest of the book in a matter of a few hours. The way it's written made me read physically slower as well, with the heavy metaphors that took a few seconds to digest.
Both points of view had little quirks to them with Noah's being art and metaphors while Jude's were excerpts from a family Bible. I found the imagery from Noah's narration a bit jarring at first, sometimes saying how he felt in actions. His metaphors were like those in We Were Liars but I found myself quickly able to adjust. He also would paint beautiful images of how he felt, giving the trees and sky different colors based on his mood. Along with that, he'd stop at random moments in the story and create imaginary self-portraits with descriptive titles to show how he truly felt. They helped me understand his character a lot and how he wanted ro react to situations. In Jude's narration, she would point out different Bible excerpts based on an action that happened and what type of luck the action correlated to.
I wasn't a huge feeler on the emotional level with this book because I felt as though a lot of what happened was predictable. There were moments that made me sad or laugh, but I wasn't as affected by the feels as a lot of people have said they were with this book.
That's the end of my non-spoiler review, so come back when you've read I'll Give You the Sun so we can discuss. Comment below letting me know what you're currently reading as well as some contemporary suggestions that you think I would enjoy. Bye non-spoilers!
I loved both Noah and Jude and I was really surprised that there wasn't one specific narration that I enjoyed more. As I was reading each narrator, they became my favorite, but it would immediately switch with the narrator. When I usually read from multiple points of view, I tend to only like one point of view, but I was pretty evenly split with this book. I did enjoy Noah's a tad bit more because I loved his romance and also the language used.
Noah was an absolutely adorable character because he was so solidly himself. I loved everything about him, down to his phrases such as a "functioning umbrella." Some of the self-portrait titles were hilarious while others were heartbreaking and made me want to go hug him. His romance with Brian was adorable and made me so happy to read about, but I didn't like the way it ended. I wanted by ship to be together, but it felt way too perfect that Jude was able to suddenly get Brian to see Noah after years of ignoring him.
I liked reading from Jude's point of view because she was broken in so many ways. Watching her piece herself back together slowly made me proud of her as a character because she had to go a bit backward to move forward. Her romance with Oscar felt a bit too predictable and also made me a little uncomfortable. Having them wait until she was out of high school would've made the ending a bit more realistic and I would've felt better as a reader.
When we met Guillermo, I knew that he was in love with Noah and Jude's mom, which took away a lot of the big reveal for me. A lot of the plot felt predictable in that case, but I nonetheless enjoyed it. Guillermo was so much fun for me because he was such a lively person with Oscar and just reading about his sculptures made me wish I could see them in person.
Overall, I had a lot of fun reading I'll Give You the Sun and am very glad I picked it up. Please comment below and tell me what you thought of it as well as what your favorite part was.
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Thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you soon,
Caramel