I'll Give you the Sun, by Jandy Nelson - Sian
The first of our Booksellers' Favourite Books! This one is Sian's.
Jude and Noah are twins. Two of the same. Split-aparts. They're soulmates, have their own language, and share everything as one entity... except for two things:
Their art and their mother.
Teenagers are jealous creatures, always craving love, acceptance, validation, all that good stuff. So when their pillar of grace, talent, and brilliance - their mother - passes away suddenly, the twins are left at sea, trying to find their way with their clueless, bacteria-loving father.
We get to hear this story from the points of view of both twins at different times: Noah at age 14, Jude at age 16. As the book goes on, we start to piece together their story. Who told which lies, who sabotaged whom, who's falling in love and when.
And that's really what this book is. A love story. A love story between two young people and their families, their crushes, their art, and themselves. And they see the world ever so beautifully. Noah paints portraits in his mind, of moments he wants to save. Jude has inherited her Grandmother's "bible", full of doolally nonsense that she's made up, by which Jude lives her life. They seem to speak in poems, in verses, in prophecies, in lyrics, in the feeling of floating. I have never read a book that I so badly wanted to highlight, dogear, and annotate... I still haven't the nerve, but I'm tempted to buy a second copy just to alleviate the guilt of doing so!
This book makes me want to fall in love over and over again. To throw away limitations and rational thinking. To grab life by the paintbrush and just create. To write new rules, reinvent reality.
I've never wanted any characters to be real more than these two. And deep down, ever so quietly, I pretend that they are. Because for all their flaws, diabolical behaviour, and horrendous decision-making, I want to find them one day and drink up all of their light.
This is such a fun read. A reminder of why youth is fun, even with all of pain that comes along with it. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll groan, you'll grieve, you'll gasp.
- Sian
CW: bereavement, assault
