I'll Give You the Sun

Loved the flow of the story and the brother and sister's voices back and forth as the story unfolded. The use of art in their lives was essential to the plot and so colorful. I felt the ending of the book was rushed were as the beginning was slow moving. Although this is not necessarily a criticism. I find it hard to believe that Jude's character would toss Noah's CSA application away.

Great story for teens and adults. Themes: art, creativity, twins, death, divorce, suicide, being gay, young love, sibling bonds, sibling competition, grief, creativity, substance/alcohol abuse, teen peer pressure, teen friendships, teen cliques

This was a quick read that I just couldn't put down! The story is told by twins, with each sibling's story in an alternating chapter, only one's story takes place a few years after the other's. I simply HAD to find out what happened in the years between the two stories, how it all ended, and I was so pleasantly surprised by the end. A great read!

There's no words... I literally can't explain how just entirely unlike any other book I've ever read this book is. I can't even write this review correctly. This book is just too good it's amazing. I have never felt so many emotions reading something than I did when reading this book. People need to read it. They just need to. Thank you so much, Jandy Nelson, you remade the world

Don't be fooled, I'll Give You the Sun is a love story. A love story folded into a love story, folded into a love story, like a hall of mirrors. Too beautiful for words. And unlike The Fault of our Stars and All the Bright Places, you won't be violently heartbroken at the end, so that's an extra bonus.

This book is so beautifully written. I can't even form words to do this book justice. Just know that you will fall in love with the characters and then get mad, and sad, and upset with them as if they were your own family.

This book is a story about love, and life, taking chances. A story that makes you evaluate your own life and wonder if the choice you're making are 'remaking' the world! I'm irrevocably in love with 'I'll Give You the Sun'

My god! It's the absolute best book I've read in my entire life. The characters are full of life and definitely aren't perfect so therefore they're really relatable and the entire book I'd filled with original literary devices and just an all-together great story line.

Great book! Interesting writing style and in the beginning it takes some getting used to, but after the first couple of chapters you don't even notice it. Makes you think and you won't be sorry you purchased it.

Grade: C-

At age thirteen, artistic twins Noah and Jude fall for the same boy and their previous close, almost telepathic, relationship evaporates. At sixteen, wounded by the death of their mother two years prior, they barely speak. Each has secrets and knows a piece of the puzzle that can save the other, if they can find a way back to the other.

Major disappointment. After all the praise and accolades, I was so excited to finally have the opportunity to read I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN. Noah narrates at age thirteen, Jude at sixteen, but I couldn't connect to either twin. Both had layer upon layer, which continued until the end of the story. Noah, thought in fanciful metaphors; Jude spoke to her dead mother and grandmother and quoted from a bible of talking to ghosts. I often wondered whether they were mentally ill. I did not believe them to be reliable narrators.

A lot of Jandy Nelson's writing was beautiful and profound, but the pace was so slow, I could hardly enjoy reading. I had to take so many breaks due to boredom that I considered not finishing the novel. Nelson did do a good job weaving together seemingly unrelated people and incidents. The ending was the best part of the book.

Themes: Twins, grief, death, family, LGBT, art, relationships

I understand why the book has been a hit with the critics and some readers. It wasn't for me, but I think readers should look at other reviews before deciding on this one.

I like parts of the book and was intrigued by the potential, but other parts did not draw me in. After putting it down I had to force myself to pick it up again. I enjoyed the first part but then it dragged on. After about half way through I skipped through some chapters and jumped to the end.

Holy hell. Quite honestly, I'm dumbfounded.

This book has shaken my world. What an effing talent with words! This has got to be one of the most originally written novels I've read in my life. The writing was the most supremely and supernaturally cool weave-of-words that I've ever encountered. It's ridiculous. Jandy Nelson is THE Rock Star of Spot-On writing. And yes, I just stole some words out of this gem of a novel.

Jude and Noah are twins. They do what siblings do, love and hate each other. They each have their story and they also share a story, slowly letting us into their worlds and their secrets with their alternating voices. A story filled with love, betrayal, family, secrets, and most of all... magic.

I'm probably one of the only people on Earth who did not love-to-death The Sky is Everywhere. I really liked it, but that's it. So I was not jumping at the chance to read this. But then it got to the point where my feed was drowning in 5-star reviews of this thing and I was like, what the hell.

What the hell, indeed. Here's what this book is: A magnificently plotted story, characters that will crawl into your heart and squeeze hard, and lyrical singsong prose that will leave you breathless--and salivating for more. The author paints like Noah, sculpts like Guillermo, only she uses the 26 letters of the alphabet. It's astounding.

As if I couldn't be more pleased, I'm pretty sure this will become a classic of Magical Realism. I grew up reading, rereading and rerererereading Isabel Allende's The House of Spirits. It's my all-time of all-times favorite book since I was like, 11. So the magic factor in this story was just like my own personal oasis on the driest of deserts.

Word of advice? Read this NOW.

Few books have touched me like this one. For those who have lived well beyond young adulthood and forgotten what it was like to see the world through imaginative eyes, or fall in love, this book will re-open your heart with its wit, its unexpected twists, its comedy, its tragedy, and its hope. I am a fan.

Supposed to be for young adults, so I bought it for my 12 year old niece, who is a very advanced reader. Within the first 10 pages it used language that was inappropriate for even a 14 year old. I would suggest it for 16 and up.

WOW. WOW. AND WOW. THIS NOVEL IS ELECTRYING. HEARTSTOPPING. COMPLETELY MAGICAL.

I'm in my early 30's, and I guess you could say I'm a little "old" to be so head-over-heels in love with a young adult novel by an author who wasn't on my radar less than a month ago. Jandy Nelson is one hell of a writer. She uses a lot of metaphors and her writing style is poetic. The emotions in "I'll Give You The Sun" are COLOSSAL. Every emotion is explored and magnified. Love, loss, pain, jealousy, and betrayal.

The story is told from 2 perspectives. Noah, a shy and highly sensitive 13 year-old boy who loves art, his kooky mom, the boy next door, and his twin sister, Jude. His chapters take place in the past tense. The present tense is told through the eyes of Jude, who is now a wayward, emotionally-blocked 16 year-old girl who has deliberately cut herself off from the world. She is on a "boycott" from boys, wears baggy clothes, has an unhealthy obsession with death, and converses with the ghost of her deceased grandmother. Something catastrophic happened to Jude and Noah around the time they were 14. The story interweaves flawlessly between both alternating points-of-view. At the age of 13, the twins were extremely close. But by 16, the twins have stopped talking to each other and have unintentionally swapped personality traits. Jude used to be a daredevil. Now she's scared of everything. Noah used to love drawing. Now he's too busy jumping off cliffs. This novel is hard to review because so much self-discovery and revelations occur during the course of this 300+ masterpiece. Secrets are finally set free. And the traumatic invent that caused friction for the twins comes to light.

I REALLY enjoyed "I'll Give You The Sun". I found myself drawn to Noah's chapters more than Jude. There is nothing wrong with Jude's chapters but for me - Noah's voice and feelings were more moving and life-affirming. Noah is coming to terms with his sexual orientation. Noah also has a conflicted relationship with his aloof father. And later on in the novel, Noah's world comes crashing down once he learns a shocking secret that causes him to retreat emotionally and spiritually for almost 2 years.

I am now currently reading Jandy Nelson's first novel, "The Sky Is Everywhere" - and I like it so far but my heart and soul will always belong to "I'll Give You The Sun". This book is so beautifully written. The effortless, realistic way Nelson writes about Noah's deep, romantic feels for Brian (the boy next door) is both sweet and unflinching. Some of the themes in this novel brought me back to my turbulent teenage years when first love was EVERYTHING, and heartbreak makes you want to stop trying and exploring new possibilities. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE everything about this novel from the character development, to the plot that flows like water, to the gorgeous way Jandy Nelson's words will melt even the coldest of hearts. I cried so many times when I was reading this book but it felt so good too. "I'll Give You The Sun" will make you FEEL alive. One of the best books I've read this year. INCREDIBLE! I wish I could give it 10 stars.

I picked up I’ll Give You the Sun when it was the Audible Daily Deal. I had it checked out from the library at the time, so I was very excited to get the audiobook. I’ll Give You the Sun is a young adult novel written by Jandy Nelson.

This is the story of a pair of twins who live in California. Noah narrates half of the story, which takes place a couple of years in the past. Jude narrates the other half, which takes place in the present day when the twins are 16 years old.

When Noah narrates, he is a gifted young artist with a quirky way of looking at the world. He is also falling in love with the boy next door, who is home from boarding school for the summer. Noah has plans to apply to the special art school, but his twin sister isn’t interested. She is much more interested in surfing and hanging out with the popular crowd.

Three years later, Noah is on the cross county team at the local public school. He is dating a girl, and he never draws anything anymore. Jude attends the school for the arts, she is obsessed with superstitions, and she doesn’t really have any friends. The twins, who used to be inseparable, are no longer friends. Something has happened to tear them apart, and it will take the entire book to get to the truth.

I’ll Give You the Sun is an amazing book. It’s about life, love, growing up, figuring out who you are, acceptance, and so much more. I really enjoyed the plot device of two separate narrators; this has been done a thousand times before, but the perspective from two different time periods was refreshing and frustrating. It was refreshing because it kept the story interesting and prolonged the suspense, but it was frustrating not knowing what the characters were thinking. In a sense, Noah and Jude are unreliable narrators because they both have secrets that they would rather not reveal. But they must acknowledge each other’s pain if they are ever going to move forward.

The Audible edition was extremely well done. Julia Whelan narrates Jude’s parts of the story, while Jesse Bernstein covers Noah’s perspective. Both readers brought appropriate amounts of enthusiasm and angst to their respective roles.

I would absolutely recommend I’ll Give You the Sun. This is one of those young adult books that will appeal to a broader audience. Noah and Jude have their flaws, but we were all teenagers once, and this makes them easy to relate to. This was a wonderful book, and I’m definitely going to add Jandy Nelson’s other book to my reading list.

This book should not be read quickly, it should be read slowly and savored. The writing unfolds with vivid imagery and the story doesn't give up it's secrets right away, it leaves a trail of bread crumbs for you to follow that is at times wrenching, at other times beautiful. It is the story of two twins and their very different 'coming of age' journeys. The perspective of the story goes back and forth in time because one twin who holds the key to a situation that is effecting the other twin in the present. Both stories are very gripping with cliff hangers when the story switches back to the other twin. I could not put it down and at the same time I didn't want to read quickly because the writing needed to be appreciated like good chocolate or fine wine - you don't gobble it down all at once.
I can definitely see why this book has won many awards. I loved it so much that after I finished reading my digital copy I ordered a hard cover edition with dust jacket to keep on my shelf. I plan to re-read it occasionally to remind myself what truly great writing looks like.

“I gave up practically the whole world for you,” I tell him, walking through the front door of my own love story. “The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you.”

Stars (Out of 10): 5.5/10

Overall Thoughts: This book was far from the emotional experience that had been sold to me, and had expected. To be completely honest, I absolutely hated the beginning. Not only did I feel just thrown into the middle of a story, I also didn’t care for the characters. However, the ending did make up for this a bit, which is why this book is still sitting at a 5.5 instead of a 1 or a 2.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Good: I did enjoy the ending, with all the reveals and connections between the past and present made. I also liked how almost every character had a “redemption” in the end, and made me end the book kind of liking everyone. That doesn’t how I felt throughout the book though.

The Bad: I really, really did not like the idea of the story, and the characters that made it up. It felt like Noah’s main conflict was almost fighting for his parent’s attention with Jude, and both became so malicious towards each other because of it. While neither of the two’s actions were right in any way, Noah initiated it by allowing his sister to be completely forgotten by their mom, and ruining all of her chances at gaining her mother’s love and attention.

The Characters: Almost every character we met seemed like a bad person for one reason or another, only for them to get redeemed in the end.The only person, in my mind, that never truly got redeemed was the mother. Sure she had an affair for love, but she split her family up to do so. She also allowed for her love to become a prize in a competition. However I did like the before and after effect we got to see in the two different point of views.

The Plot: I liked Jude’s story a lot more than Noah’s, seeing the after of the mom’s death and all the change it brought. I liked Noah’s story way less, as it brought out the worst in every person, but in an unrealistic way. I get Noah’s wish for attention, but if the twins were as close as originally said, Noah wouldn’t be doing every little thing to wreck his sister’s chance at their mother’s love as well.

The Favorite Character: I ended up liking Oscar, and the growth we saw in him

Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Borrow it

I loved this book. It is technically a Young Adult book, and can be emotionally challenging to read in terms of grief. But there is so much more than just grief here in the dazzling—dazzling, I tell you!—story of twins Noah and Jude. Intense, totally engrossing, beautiful. The Sky Is Everywhere by this author is on my short list of what I can’t wait to read next. - See more at: http://laurieprim.com/index.php/tag/favorite-books/#sthash.1FT8NeY4.dpuf

This young adult book tells the story of twins Noah and Jude through alternating viewpoints set 3 years apart. In Noah's portions of the story, he's a misunderstood misfit one while Jude is the popular one. In Jude's portions of the story, she's a misunderstood outcast while Noah is the conforming, popular one. In Noah's chapters, we start to see a rift forming between the twins, while the rift has already severed their relationship in Jude's chapters.

It took me awhile to get into this book at first, and part of that had to do with the alternating viewpoints. I had just started getting into Noah's storyline when that chapter abruptly ended and I was thrust 3 years into the future with Jude's viewpoint, and then once I really got into her storyline, I was thrown back to where Noah's story left off. I ended up enjoying the book and liked figuring out the disconnect between the two twins and viewpoints, but it was a bit jarring to me at first. Overall I found this to be a touching book about love and family, and it was quirky and fun as well. The imagery of Noah's paintings and Jude's sculptures was great and really helped bring the book to life for me. Despite the bumpy start, I ended up really enjoying this book.

This was a really well written book. A pair of teens entering that all-important time of their lives lose their mom. They become separated from one another, and cannot or will not try to reconnect.

The interesting part of this book is the perspective of the two parts of the story. When we look at the boy's (Noah) perspective, it is from age 13 leading up to the accident that kills their mother. When we follow Jude, the sister, it starts from age 16.

There is a big time gap of three years, and the reader cannot help but wonder what has happened in that time to pull these two apart so far.

This is also a book about being artists, and being who you really are. Putting up fake walls to fit into your perceived place in the world.

It is definitely worth a read. The visuals given from the perspective of these two young artists are too good to pass up.

IT'S JUNE! You know what that means? PRIDE MONTH!!

I think it's only fitting that my first June book review be one with an LGBT+ main character. So, without further ado, I present the review for I'll Give You The Sun:

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction

Age Recommended: 15 and up

This book is extraordinarily written from the perspective of a set of twins - a brother and a sister. The story goes back and forth over a 3 year period and offers a lens into each sibling's journey through life. We see the brother as he is overcoming his fear of being outed to the world as a thirteen-year-old and the sister as a sixteen-year-old who has somehow managed to become the recluse in the family after her brother's acceptance of himself.

Freak. Homo. Pussy. Bubble. 

Thirteen-year-old Noah gets called of these names and more on a daily basis. Where he finds the strength to put up with it, he doesn't know. His mother is the rock he leans on and his twin sister, Jude, is the only one that understands him when the going gets tough.

Then enters Brian. Someone who's very similar to Noah, but yet so different when he's with other people. Brian's the pitcher on the baseball team, popular among all of the people at school, and everything that Noah could never be. But the price of this is a facade, carefully built so that nobody would ever question his identity.

Then, when Brian invites Jude on one of his special outings that used to be with just Noah, and Jude takes Brian into a closet during a high school kissing game, Noah isn't sure his life will ever be the same again.

*flash forward to three years later*

Jude has become the recluse of the family. Talks to no one, keeps to herself, and tries to find solace in her art. But her art never turns out the way she wants it to. Why? Her mother's ghost is destroying all of her art because of the terrible things she did three years ago.

The lesser artist of the twins, Jude still finds herself in one of the most prestigious art schools while her brother stays behind and is left to deal with the real world. Jude knows how she got here but she'll never tell, not even when her brother is trying his hardest to fix a problem that he didn't create.

The bond between them has weakened after their mother's death and neither one of them knows how to strengthen it again. These three years have done terrible things to their family and reconciliation is a long path to walk.

-

I’m pretty sure my heart’s still breaking months after finishing I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. I’ll admit I was skeptical about this book. In general, I’m not a fan of young adult contemporary fiction. I’m many moons removed from being considered young adult so I often struggle to identify with the characters of this particular genre. However, I’ll Give You the Sun strikes an excellent balance between the modern day struggles of teens, their parents and a genuine romance I’m sure just about anyone can identify with.

The way the story was told—the past from Noah’s point of view and the present from Jude’s—gave the story depth and offered different ways of viewing the same story. As a reader, I was able to walk a mile in each twin’s shoes and feel their experiences. My heart ached for Jude and Noah as they dealt with a family tragedy and the evolution of their personal relationships. Since I, too, have experienced the same tragedy, I know how the family dynamic changes after such an event. Nelson accurately depicted that change in the pages of this novel.

Each love story in I’ll Give You the Sun felt real. The love of art. Sibling love. Newly found love. Old love. Forbidden love, I’m not sure how Nelson did it and even though I knew that not everyone could end up together in the end, I was hopeful that everyone would live happily ever after.

I’ll Give You the Sun provides a real contemporary look at love and relationships. It examines how individuals see the world and if we could stop for a moment to see and share the story together we might have a greater understanding of how we fit together and can make the world a better place.

Genre: YA
Read: July 3, 2015
My Review:
Well, as my title implies, this book was NOT what I was expecting. And all expectations came from the cover. My mistake. From the cover one expects a happy story full of sunshine, but this book isn't even in that category. It's much more of a find-yourself story.
Now, this book wasn't necessarily horrible, but there were a few major issues for me. Like the fact that all the characters were extremely eccentric. I don't even have problems with weird characters, but these characters were just unrealistically so. Not to mention that every single character kind of freaked me out, because not a single one is innocent. And, again, the loss of innocence was way exaggerated because the things that the characters did were horrible. Every single character in this book has lied, cheated, or just was a general jerk at one point. Another point is that the characters all knew eachother, or have met before. The story points to fate, but being the scientific person I am, I just find it wholly unrealistic. Also, I had insta-love vibes, like right when the character meets their potential love interest, they already have googly eyes. Basically, every issue I have with this book has to do with how unrealistic the story was.
On a positive note, this story was not all-bad. It's redeeming factors were the relationships. Yes, I previously complained about the insta love, but that wasn't very true for ALL characters. I really liked the twin'a relationship for one, no matter how dysfunctional they got. I also liked their mom, dad and a future character that they deeply bond with. So the family aspect was really great, and it was to great that it earned the 3 stars, because I honestly can't think of any other redeeming factors.
Overall, this was an okay read, somewhat a waste of time because of its massive size, and inconclusive ending.
Recommend: Meh...

I am speechless. I don't even know how to put all of these feelings into words. The book was, to be simply put, absolutely amazing. There is a literary style here that I have never encountered before, and I definitely enjoyed each and everyone one of the brilliantly artist endeavors taken throughout the story.

The characters are an entire story by themselves. I was so happy. I was so angry. Both of the main characters could send my heart soaring or plummeting in a page turn. My breath would be caught in my chest. There were times when I wanted nothing more than to throw the book against the wall in utter rage, but I couldn't bring myself to stop turning to each new page.

I highly recommend this book for everyone. It gives amazing insight into so many different aspects of life, love, and loss. I urge you. Please get this book immediately. You won't regret it!

I seem to be among the minority here, but I felt like this book was completely over the top even for a YA novel. Noah and Jude are artistically gifted twins. After a series of dramatic events when the twins are 14 years old, their close (albeit competitive) relationship is severed and the two scarcely speak for two years.

The novel alternates between two perspectives. Noah tells the beginning of the story, or what precisely happened when they were 14. Jude tells the end of the story, or how the two uncover the truth when they are 16. I enjoyed Noah's narration far more than Jude's; it felt more authentic and was tempered with a humor that I enjoyed, whereas Jude's narration was darker and angry and somehow less believable, at least to me.

I won't get too specific at the risk of causing a spoiler, but by the end of the book there is whole lot of "OMG I Found My Soul Mate" going around. And while I understand that this is a YA novel and teens often over-dramatize emotions, I feel like the story paints a somewhat unrealistic picture of what love is and the likelihood of finding it at age 16. So if you aren't an actual "young adult," reading the end of this book might cause you to roll your eyes. More than once.

On the upside, the writing itself is lovely. In places, it often reads like a poem.

How good is this book? Well, first of all, "good" is an insult. Let me see if I can come up with something more effective. How compelling? How intoxicating? How sublime? How FREAKING TRANSCENDENT is this book?

It is so compelling and intoxicating and sublime and transcendent that I am worried about writing this review for fear that I will not do Jandy Nelson justice.

Noah and Jude are twins who look nothing alike. He's dark and awkward and socially withdrawn, while she is golden and bright and open to friends and engagement. The two have an ongoing barter system of sorts in which, believing that they own the universe, they offer its various parts in exchange for something. When Noah, an artist who draws and paints, sketches a cubist-style portrait of a mysterious - and naked - British male model, Jude offers him the sun in exchange for the drawing. It magnetizes her, and she must have it.

This turns out to be one of the last friendly exchanges between the two.

It isn't that Noah and Jude are combative or competitive with each other. Quite the opposite, in fact. Noah acknowledges certain truths: their father loves Jude more, and their mother shows no preferences. The latter point, in fact, becomes the chisel that causes the first fracture. Remember that Rod Stewart lyric? The first cut is the deepest? Such is the case between Noah and Jude.

Exacerbating the situation is the appearance of Brian, the boy next door. That first cut? It has a partner now, and so strong is the resentment that Noah and Jude hold against each other that their relationship might never overcome the onslaught.

Told from both Noah and Jude's perspectives, the time frame jumps back and forth between Noah's story, the "before," and Jude's, the "after." You see what divided the twins, and you see what might tear them asunder for the rest of their lives.

This novel is an ode to art and the power it has over us. Jandy Nelson uses magical realism to show the depth and breadth of art - the way you can actually see someone's spirit in the colors and bursts and flares that emanate from them. Jude is an artist, too, only her form is sculpture. One twin draws and paints, the other molds. Separately they create beautiful parts, but together they could create stunning fullness. Noah, however, is not inclined to any sort of partnership with his sister. As he observes, "Revolutionaries aren't team players."

Noah certainly is a revolutionary, although he heads in a direction he does not anticipate. The same goes for Jude, who is every bit as revolutionary as her brother. She does not see art as her future, yet it is there, within her grasp. She needs Noah to help her find her way, though, just as he needs her.

As much as this is a book about the power of art, it's also about the power of love. Jude and Noah each realize love's destructive power; for the most part during their sixteen years, destruction is what they know best. But as Jude comes to see, "Love does as it undoes. It goes after, with equal tenacity: joy and heartbreak."

Yes, twins joy and heartbreak are as physically present as Noah and Jude. You can't have one without the other. You can't know joy unless you've experienced heartbreak, and vice-versa. Jude puts it this way: "We are, each one of us for the other, a key to a door that otherwise would've remained locked forever." What she and Noah need to understand is that they are the keys for each other, and without each other, parts of them - important, vital parts - will never be opened.

I could go on and on about symbolism (the names 'Jude' and 'Noah' alone) and subtext and all that sort of stuff. The literature geek in me is so excited about this book that I made it part of the reading list for my AP seniors this year. I cannot wait to analyze and discuss it.

You need to read this book is you appreciate lyrical writing. You need to read it if you like characters who make you feel, all the way to your toes. You need to read this if you want to experience joy and heartbreak yourself.

It's that .... good.

Published on VoxLibirs.net
@VoxLibris

Zoe's Review: I have been really afraid of reading this book for a very long time. I was afraid that it would be too hard to read about twins getting split up. But it was not as bad to read about as I thought it would have been. As you follow the story of Jude and Noah, you read their perspectives in present time and two years ago. You see how the things that happened to Noah when he was 13 affect Jude's actions when she is 16. It could be a little confusing jumping back and forth to the two times, but it is really cool how everything lines up eventually. This story is just following Jude and Noah's journey to becoming themselves. I think it did a really good job of showing how that can be hard being a twin. Being a twin, I give this book a A- in getting the twin thing down. Another thing that I liked about this book is the way that it showed what it is to truly be an artist, it is not to like to paint and draw and sculpt, but to need to paint and draw and sculpt. This part really stuck with me along with other parts of the story even after I finished reading it. I would recommend this as a really good deep book, that makes you look at yourself and the people around you in a new light. I guess it could also be described as a coming of age story. I would say the age group could range from middle school to high school because those are the places that it takes place in the book (nothing lower then middle school due to some of the content). I give this book five stars because I really loved the story and how everything came together so nicely but not perfect. Also I am giving this book five stars because the way it stuck with me after I finished it.

Maci's Review: Heart wrenching and joyful at the same time I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson is a book that everyone needs to read. It is one of the most true love stories that I have ever read, despite it not being a love story. Jude and Noah are JudeandNoah until they aren't. Their story is in two parts, before and after. Before is told by Noah and After by Jude. Noah is trying to be himself and make the art that he loves, but when they decide to apply to the nearby Art school they also feel like they are competing for their Mother's love. Jude is trying to punish herself for what she did, but she starts to find hope and wants to try to fix NoahandJude, put them back together. This is one of my favorite books because it is a story about love (family and romantic love) and utterly destroyed hope. This book gives you hope and then utterly destroys you, it is amazing. I also like how it got the twin's relationships right, how hard it is to be independent people (being a twin myself). I would recommend this to anyone who values love, but be prepared to be destroyed.

I never write reviews but oh my Clark Gable. Where do I start. This absolutely ripped out my heart and made me cry, but also laugh my a** off. Before I decided to read this book, I'd honestly thought it was super overrated but now I have also fallen in love with this. It was so well write and the two pieces of the story told, one half Noah the other Jude, fit together perfectly. It was realistic yet had the fun fictional charm and some small details that seasoned it nicely. I usually am never extremely emotional or anything about books like this (mostly the genre) but this was a hurricane and I loved every second of it. I myself don't understand how I decided at 1 in the morning should write a review for this but really, it was everything I hoped it to be and more (I mean really I was rooting for Noah and Brian since they literally met lmao and they could've just gone desperate ways in the end which would also be good buuuut) and probably one of my new all time favorites and going to read it 50 more times because really it is that good.

I’ll Give You the Sun is a vibrant story of art and emotion, described in a beautifully artistic way. There are some things that can’t be described in simple terms, like the estranged twins and the hurt and pain of losing your mother and your best friend. But this story does it’s damnedest to get those complex emotions across, through Jude and Noah’s very different point of views.

I’m not gonna lie, I’ll Give You the Sun took a while to get into. Noah’s point of view is from an artistic mind, something I can’t really relate to, and the way he puts things edges on too much of flowery prose. He describes the simplest of moments in an incredibly abstract way, illustrating the deep complexity of his emotions. He’s a man of few words, but he processes things incredibly vibrantly in his mind.

Although Noah wasn’t someone I could immediately connect with, Jude was more readily available to me. She’s obviously hurting, by navigating through the confusion of puberty and teenage life without her twin as her confidante and best friend. Jude has lost a lot of people dear to her, and we see her point of view three years into the future, as opposed to the rebellious sister that Noah tells us about. Although the timing of Noah and Jude’s story were separate, they did end up coming together in the end, helping us to understand the pain, love and loss that each of them experiences.

There are two separate love stories here, Jude, with the wild and handsome model who has captured her heart, and Noah with his feelings for his friend Brian. Noah knows that he’s gay, which is something that he’s been struggling to come out with, and part of the reason why he pushes Jude away. Their pining, pain and emotion for their beloved, and resentment towards their twin and their parents, were communicated clearly and had me wondering whether they were ever going to figure things out. But I loved how the romance wasn’t perfect, how there wasn’t insta-love and both sides took a while to figure things out. It’s this complexity in their emotions that made it feel more realistic, for things rarely ever go smoothly the first time.

Family plays a big part here, not only with the twins but also parents who are undergoing a separation. Both Noah and Jude cope in different ways, Noah who blames himself and Jude who simmers with guilt and lashes out to everyone. There’s some wonderful deeper concepts on life here, I was pleasantly surprised with how it was applied. For underneath all of the fancy descriptions, of the purple prose and the artistic way of wording things, there is a deeper message; of accepting others for how they are and for how differently they will turn out. This is what really resonated with me, how the people that you love will disappoint you but in the end you will still love them because they are simply figuring out their own story.

Beautiful artwork is spread throughout the chapters, which I really enjoyed, making the entire novel into a work of art in it’s own right.

I’ll Give You Sun is a beautiful, artistic rendition of teenage love, life, and loss told from the point of view of two estranged twins. It’s a story about finding oneself, about pursuing your passion, about staying true to oneself, about acceptance of others’ imperfections and about art. Although it was deep, meaningful and complex, I had trouble connecting with some of the flowery prose in this novel. It isn’t for everyone, but for those who can break through the artistic words and discover the deeper meaning in the story, it’s a beauty.

Check out Happy Indulgence Books for more reviews! happyindulgencebooks.com

This book is about preternaturally-gifted twins coming of age and losing a parent. Since I read this as an adult and not a YA, I chuckle at the whole "found my soul mate and my life's passions at 15" spirit to the book, but okay -- that is the genre and I don't live there I'm just visiting. You're probably not as tired of alternating narrator books as I am. I'm going to have to pause reading any more for a while until I get out of that funk, but it just seems like one is always better such that I read the other narrator's account begrudgingly like you do the whaling chapters in Moby Dick. In this case, I fell in love with Noah from the start (so imaginative! so emotive!!) and trudged through Jude's chapters (so backstabby!). Her folksy "Bible" suggestions (ex: put an onion in your pocket) reminded me too much of Grandpa Simpson and became tedious after a short while. Comparing Noah's beautifully strange way of looking at life with her babbling to possible family ghosts....well, hers just didn't stack up for me. I wanted a whole Noah book so much.

Noah's opening to the book is worth the read of the whole book alone; it's that good. He seems to be a bit synesthesical in both his painting and his views on people around him. Just brilliant opening. Love, love, love. Lots of respect to the author.

Lots of heartbreak ahead if you read it. It will stick with you. That's the mark of good writing, but if you're feeling blue, you might wait until things are better unless you're one of those people who can cheer themselves up that way.

I really enjoyed this book and had a few belly laughs at some of the antics and enthusiasm for the written word. Nelson is truly a colourful writer, with descriptions that you can't help but fill your head and imagination with. It's about art and boy, the picture she has painted is so vivid, hard to beat.
Although some of the themes I don't enjoy were in this book, but all and all it was certainly an entertaining read.
It is broken up and narrated by two twins, Jude and Noah (Sister and brother) who both have secrets to keep from each other and the rest of the world. Oh, and there are other colourful characters too Giermo the rock sculptor and the pommy guy Oscar, who have their own secrets and totally different views of the world.
A great story that roles along at a break-neck pace which is just delightful to follow (most of the time).
The Girl Who Was Buried in Her Ball Gown

This book follows the life of Noah and Jude, the twins, who were inseparable but they started to faced different problems and phases and so they fell apart.

First of all, let's talk about Noah. I didn't liked his character in the beginning. I thought he was selfish because he acted like he wanted everything for himself. I knew I was wrong after he told the truth to Guillermo, Jude and his dad. He was protecting his family. He wanted them to think they were going to be a happy family again. In some way he felt responsible for his mother's death. About Brian, well... Noah was selfish with him. He wanted Brian completely to himself. He couldn't have friends <> because Noah felt betrayed. They were both gays, they had feelings for each other, but Brian had to hide his true self in order to achieve some things because if the world knew he was gay, he wouldn't get anything. That part felt so real, because that is what the LGBTQ+ live day by day, and it's sad.

“Sometimes you think you know things, know things very deeply, only to realize you don’t know a damn thing.”

Jude was my favorite. In some ways I thought she was me. She lost herself once, and then she did everything in order to find herself (that's how I saw it). She believed everything her grandma taught her before she died. She did everything her grandma had in her "own bible" (I thought it was cool). She believed in ghosts ( HOW COOL IS THAT?), her grandma talked to her as a ghost and her mother broke everything she did as a ghost. I really enjoyed how she and her mentor (Guillermo) helped each other without knowing it. Guillermo was lost, he didn't do art anymore but then, Jude came into her life and helped him t get out of his misery. Along the way, she met this sexy and mysterious guy who lived with Guillermo. Oscar, the mysterious guy, was weird like Jude and I think that was what brought them together. As I said before, in some ways I thought Jude was me, but I also thought Oscar was me. He was the kind of person who shut his feeling, the kind of person who wouldn't let anyone in. I AM LIKE THAT.

“His soul might be a sun. I’ve never met anyone who had the sun for a soul.”

I enjoyed how art was a main part of the story. I loved how Noah created portraits inside his head, and how Jude started creating sand sculptures and later changed into stone sculptures. The most beautiful thing was how they find their way together throughout the story. As the quote says "maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story". Even though they had their issues and their own problems, they were the most beautiful siblings I've ever read. Having a parent who cheated was heartbreaking, and I know a lot of readers felt sad when they read this part because a lot of people have dealt with that. Every single character was important in this story. Every single character was unique in its own way. I would love to read more about Oscar, the twin's parents, Guillermo...

“We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”

A book about art, reality, love, forgiveness, loss, strength, family, and union. Such a unique story... I can't find one similar to this one (if you know one let me know). Jandy Nelson has an amazing - beautiful writing style, and it is really easy to read. This book is a roller coaster of emotions. You will cry, laugh, throw your book into a precipice, try to catch the book before it's too late (HAHAHA, I'm kidding). You don't have to find reasons to read this book.; you just have to go to the bookstore, buy this book and start reading it without complaining. You won't regret it. Hands down to Jandy Nelson, now she's an auto buy author.

I'll Give You the Sun is the story of twins Noah and Jude. It's told in alternating viewpoints, but what makes this book so cool is that Noah's chapters are from the past, and Jude's are from the present. It's the sort of set-up that makes you go, "Wait a minute..." when you think about it too hard, but Nelson pulls it off beautifully. Noah starts the story the summer the twins are thirteen, when both Noah and Jude begin thinking about applying to an arts high school. Jude's story begins three years later, after a tragedy has occurred and the twins have stopped speaking to each other.

I think oftentimes when you have a book with multiple viewpoints, the author tends to gravitate towards one viewpoint as being the protagonist, even if that viewpoint shares the same amount of page time as the others. And even if that's not the author's intention, readers are biased and tend to form attachments to certain characters. I totally expected this to happen to me as I was reading I'll Give You the Sun. I thought that at first, maybe I'd love Noah because he starts the book. But then Jude came blazing onto the page and I was completely swept up into her story and her pain and tragedy. But the entire time that I was reading this book, I loved each character fiercely and equally. I was fully invested into each of the storylines, and I was so, so impressed at how they entwined and surprised, all the way until the end.

I also loved how the love of art and magical realism fed into each other throughout the story. Noah and Jude are both creative and very gifted, but in different, interesting ways. Jude is being haunted, which is why she believes that none of her artwork survives. Noah sees and experiences the world on a another level than most other people. Their search for art and avoidance of the truth and tragedy are what ultimately bring them face to face with each other and what happens at the end of the summer they were thirteen.

The writing is superb, and the imagery is beautiful. The characters are fascinating and flawed. I don't have any more words to describe this book. I'm so happy it won the Printz. Just go read it and love it.

Jude, the daring girl on the beach, is always ready for the next party. Noah, consumed by his art, prefers solitude. Once inseparable, these twins find that extreme sibling rivalry is driving them apart.
Competing for attention--their mother’s.
Competing for acceptance--to a prestigious art school.
Competing for affection-- that of their new smooth, base-ball playing neighbor.
As these conflicts seem to be reaching a point of crisis, an unforseen family tragedy devastates both Jude and Noah. Result: ROLES REVERSE!
Ms. Nelson has crafted an intriguing read as the story continuously alternates from Jude’s perspective to Noah’s. Beginning at age thirteen through age sixteen, the reader is privy to their most intimate thoughts and dreams during these turbulent teenage years. Her skilled writing evokes in her readers the same emotions as those of her characters as they encounter loss, betrayal and first love.
Thus, in the spirit of Edwige Dandicat’s, Untwined, those seeking a glimpse into the often unique twin relationship will be caught up in the many intricacies of this tale.
I’ll Give You the Sun, was the recipient of numerous literary honors as well as named “Best Book of the Year” by both Publisher’s Weekly and the School Library Journal. This captivating
second novel by Jandy Nelson has earned her recognition as a prominent player in the world of Young Adult fiction.

It's been a couple of weeks since I read I'll Give You the Sun, but I'm still not sure how to even begin to explain how I feel about Jandy Nelson's sophomore novel. Honestly, I'm going to have to run with another art comparison here: I'll Give You the Sun made me feel like I was watching color slowly fill in a black and white sketch, combining beauty and whimsy in a novel that completely swept me up.

Seriously, there's no doubt in my mind that Nelson's writing is gorgeous. It's fully evocative, bringing to life each element - characters, settings, story - with perfect artistry. I fell in love with how I'll Give You the Sun was told, and how it expertly peeled away the layers of the complicated relationship Noah and Jude have.

Personally, the depiction of complex family relationships (particularly between Noah and Jude as twin siblings) is probably the main selling point of I'll Give You the Sun. With family, there are so many facets that are constantly tackled: whether to lie to protect others or expose the truth, growing up and discovering new things about yourself that might change everyone's perception of you, the trap of favoritism, the occasional miscommunication (or even lack of) or even a sense of displacement if you feel different. Nelson deftly tackles them all, even as she makes it clear that the relationships you've got with family are among the most important relationships in life.

Noah and Jude are as different as night and day, but I loved them both just the same. They were real characters, with characteristics that made them remarkable and flawed. Getting inside either one's mind, depending on whose chapter I was reading, was incredibly easy, and I constantly felt like I was getting to know them better with every single page.

I'll Give You the Sun was just wonderful. I was seriously caught up in every moment, to the point where I barely set the novel down as I read it. Plus, I love that art was heavily involved in this tale, especially because it inspired me to continue to create (even if I'm no artist)! If you're a Jandy Nelson fan, I'm sure this is already on your to-read list; if you've not read her novel before, well, what are you waiting for? You should get your hands on this one when it releases, and her debut novel, The Sky is Everywhere for good measure!

Siblings. They love each other, but 99.9% of the time, they’re at each other’s throats. Jude and Noah are no different.

Okay, so it was nice to see a sibling relationship that wasn’t all cute hair ruffles and hugs and butterflies, because we all know life isn’t really like that. However, there just didn’t seem to be enough brother-sister interaction in this book, despite the book’s focus being on a twinship. (A twin relationship, get it?)

The book starts out introducing Noah, a shy, introverted, creative boy who just so happens to like boys. And, while he was adorable and awkward and all that I secretly want to read about when it comes to dorky boys trying to figure their lives out, his inner monologue was a little chaotic and random at times. Actually, both narrators’ inner dialogue was just weird. It was almost like the author was trying too hard to be artistic and smarmy. Kind of like John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars had two characters who seemed waaaaaay too mature and sophisticated. Noah, as a thirteen-year-old, was wise and creative beyond his years. And while this is entirely possible in real life, it’s just not probable. I don’t mind smart narrators, in fact, I prefer them, I just don’t want to feel like I have to wade through a million metaphors and fancy descriptions before I get to the actual story.

Noah’s chapters in this dual POV book still had me binge-reading though, despite the smarm. I loved his interactions with a certain love interest someone, and I also thought his relationships with his mother and father were both sad and entirely relatable. Now Jude on the other hand, I just couldn’t find myself liking her point-of-view. Probably because her scenes go three years into the future, so now she’s a sixteen-year-old girl and I feel like she should be less dramatic. Yes, high school kids are dramatic, but considering how advanced and sophisticated Jude was supposed to be, her dialogue just came off all wrong.

I probably sound like I’m completely bashing this book, but it’s not like that at all. I actually read this thing in less than a day. It was a beautiful book with a great storyline about loss and redemption, but some of the character’s thoughts and actions were just a little too weird for me at times. I also really, really, REALLY wished there had been more to the story. It ended so freakin’ fast! I feel like I should have gotten an extra chapter in Noah’s perspective in the present time. Or even one in the past. Jandy, please, give me something!

Oh, but I have to mention, I don’t approve of Jude’s romantic relationship with a certain someone. Jandy barely touched on the reason these two should wait to get together, but she ended up throwing that entire conversation out the window. Ugh!

All in all, this book has a message. Is the message one I would recommend for every reader? No. If you liked The Fault in Our Stars, or even any other sad book with mentally-advanced characters, I would say go for it. If you didn’t like The Fault in Our Stars, don’t worry. You can like this book, you just have to know going in that you’re probably not going to understand all the references to famous artists and whatnot.

4/5 stars

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

I first read this book via audiobook that I checked out from my public library--wow, oh wow! It is AMAZING!!! Subsequently, I bought it in hardcover for my classroom library, then via Kindle e-book so I can always carry it with me on my phone's Kindle app and my iPad's Kindle app. As a high-school English teacher who just wants kids to be readers, I myself try to read a wide variety of books so that I can recommend the right book to the right kid: YA, classics, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.. _I'll Give You the Sun_ has made my list of all-time favorites, and that's saying a lot.

This book broke my heart in so, so many pieces. I didn't even realize it was breaking until it was done.

Allow me this: ohmygod. OHMYGOD.

I'll admit this to myself and to anyone who reads this review: this book is weird. (Weird good to me, but still weird).

It tells the story of Jude and Noah, twins, and their struggle to put themselves back together after a tragedy marks the breaking point on the unstable floor they had been walking on for some time.

Told from both twin's set of view, Noah's at thirteen, Jude three years later, it captivates the tragedy and sets it free in the end. It's full of raw emotion, of resentment, of anger and regret. But if I had to describe this book with one word, it would be passion. Passion pours out of the pages of this book and drenches you. Passion for art, for love, for living, for making something, for being someone.

Both Jude and Noah are such passionate characters, I know for sure not many are going to see them as such— they'll most probably only see the folly, not looking at the magic on the other side of the coin.

Being an art student, this book was incredibly visual to me, and it rang so real and true it felt overwhelming at times. I suffered the loss the twin's did, so it was as if Jandy Nelson took my life and reinvented it around the twin's, making it their own. It was incredibly fantastic.

I never want good books to end, but sometimes I'm okay with them ending. Not this one; I wanted it to go on forever.

This will stay close to my heart for a long, long time, as it stayed stuck in my head completely, overshadowing everything else, for the whole two/three days it took me to read it.

I really hit the jackpot a few times this past year. There were some really outstanding books that I had the good fortune to read. For a change, I have been enjoying quite a bit of contemporary fiction; not a bit of fantasy in those chapters. This is the heart-wrenching kind; the variety that makes you feel, sometimes in surprising ways. So, following in that vein, I am glad to make an extraordinary book my first read of 2015.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy NelsonI'll Give You the Sun is the story of Jude and Noah, boy and girl twins whose relationship changes once they start keeping secrets from each other. They used to be very close, the kind of twins who can communicate without words. Then, one night, their mother dies in a car accident. It tells of how they, along with their father, deal with her death along with unresolved issues regarding self-image, how others see you, what you give, what you hold back and betrayal. How people tear themselves apart, re-assemble to hide the dark, mushy interiors, only to find themselves unable to escape the past, the present or the future. How, perhaps, the bad parts were always going to happen and the future still hasn't changed no matter what. About maybe believing in ghosts, superstitions, the stars, family - and knowing when not to. And when to forgive, let things go and move on.

The story alternates between the twins, and they can't hide the truth from you, O Trusted Reader (though you get it piecemeal). The writing is that kind that has a little extra something, whether it's the quotes from their family "bible" (If you dream you're taking a bath, you will fall in love) or the way Noah sees the world in paintings and their titles (Self Portrait: Boy Remakes World Before World Remakes Boy). It's the kind of writing that epitomizes showing, not telling. It makes you feel the story, like you are living in it.

Didja Like It?: I know that's a messy jumble of words, but though it is a simple theme, there is so much going on in this story. There are love and loss in many, many different forms; the romantic kind, the parental kind, the sibling kind. There are misunderstandings, misinterpretations, misjudgements.

I haven't read anything like this. It is infused with heartache and clarity and shackles and bonds. It's got emotion at crazy highs and desperate lows. It's about giving up all to gain everything. It's about chances, second chances and last chances. It's magical and scientific.

To Read or Not To Read: This is the book to read. You'll want to absorb it into your heart, make sure everyone knows that you care about them, and do all the right things for the rest of your life.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson was published September 16, 2014 by Dial Books. Ink and Page picked this book up from the library, and will forever thank the book gods for guiding her to it.

Rating: 5

Genre: Young Adult Fiction Contemporary Romance LBGTQ+
Ages: 14 and up
You Might Want to Know: There is underage drinking, smoking, drug use, sex.

I’ll Give You The Sun introduces us to twins Noah and Jude, who are torn apart by the death of their mother. The book tells us Jude’s story in present day, whilst she is sixteen, and follows Noah’s story a few years previously, whilst he is thirteen. This change in time is one of the reasons why this story was so compelling for me. As readers, we already know bits and pieces about the events that have taken place, and it makes us eager to learn how it all unfolds.

This is a story that is all about the characters. They’re beautifully complex. Both Jude and Noah have flaws, they’ve both made decisions that weren’t very sensible, they’ve both contributed to the wedge that’s between them, and watching them try to fix everything is as touching as it is heart-breaking. Jandy has a way of making her characters so perfectly believable.

There are many themes explored within this novel, grief and how it affects people in different ways being one of them. The changes in both of the characters are evident in the switching of time-periods, and it’s both sad and fascinating to see the difference in them. Jude and Noah at sixteen are almost the complete opposite of Jude and Noah at thirteen. The twins deal with their grief in separate ways and I loved seeing how that grief pulled them apart and brought them together again.

The relationships in this book are wonderfully presented, not just the bond between Noah and Jude, but everyone else they connect with as well, such as Brian and Oscar. I absolutely adored the build-up to the romance between Noah and Brian, but the difficulties they faced tore at my heartstrings.

Emotions and learning to deal with them are also huge part of this novel, and it’s written in a way that allows you to connect with the character’s situations, whether you can personally relate to them or not. I’m sure there are plenty of readers who will be able to find comfort in the words of this story.

I’ll Give You The Sun is utterly gorgeous. It’s that simple. Everything about it is beautifully crafted; the characters, the build-up of the plot, the jumping back and forth between present and past. Even the pages were visually stunning in this edition of the book.

I flew through this in a matter of days and was completely sucked into the artistic and glorious world of these twins. Their unique personalities are ones I certainly won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Jandy is such a wonderful storyteller and I adore her writing style. Her books are pure art, a magical mix of prose and poetry. If you have yet to read her glorious novels, I highly suggest you give them a try!

I’ll Give You the Sun is a beautiful book that is so full of love, and loss, and life, that it seems remarkable the story could have been contained in 371 pages. I’ll Give You the Sun was one of those rare books that settled deeply into my heart upon first reading and reminded me why I love books and stories so much in the first place. I know I’m gushing all over the book right now, but it is most definitely deserved for this important and gorgeous story.

I’ll Give You the Sun introduces to us the artistic twins Noah and Jude(and sometimes NoahandJude). The story is split in two timelines–one happening when the twins are thirteen/fourteen and the other when they are sixteen. In the earliest timeline, Noah and Jude are still NoahandJude–though they begin to drift due to circumstances. Both are artistic but Jude is popular and beautiful and likes to be social, whereas Noah is shy and awkward and barely talks. In the later timeline, Jude has hidden herself beneath baggy clothes and retreated, while Noah fits right in with the world around him. It’s a shocking change of pace, and the book explores how they got to where they did and how they move on from there.

Even though the main characters are Noah and Jude, there are so many fully-realized characters in this book. There’s an enigmatic artist, a former addict turned college student and art model, the boy next door who strikes up a friendship with Noah, and Noah and Jude’s parents. It’s rare for parents in a YA novel to get the kind of treatment that the parents in I’ll Give You the Sun receive. Noah and Jude don’t have great relationships with their parents most of the time, but as the story progresses it becomes clear how some of Noah and Jude’s preconceived notions about their own parents are wrong, and how hard their parents are really trying. It’s a really thoughtful exploration of family, even at the darkest time when everyone seems so messed up. I wouldn’t call the family healthy or functional, but they’re not made into the bad guys.

It’s rare for a contemporary to feel like so much is going on in the book, but there are a LOT of factors going into I’ll Give You the Sun. If I were to describe this book in two words, I think I would use “quietly intense”. It’s a very character-focused book with a lot of introspection, but the plot never slows down. It’s also a testament to Jandy Nelson’s writing that she uses conventions that often annoy me in lesser works but makes them brilliant here. So much of I’ll Give You the Sun is based upon misunderstandings, but because the characters are so rooted in who they are the miscommunication made sense to me instead of feeling like a cheap way to create conflict.

I’ll Give You the Sun did coming-of-age so well. Coming-of-age stories aren’t always my favorites(though when they’re done right they are–the thing is that they’re often so tricky), but I’ll Give You the Sun just worked because it didn’t point arrows to the big moments that changed everything(even when those moments were present). Despite the split timeline, the book never felt disjointed. Even when the characters were so different than their past selves, I as the reader understood exactly how they got there.

The highlight, however, of I’ll Give You the Sun was the writing. There were parts of the romance that I would have hated, except everything was so well-written and so interconnected that it just made sense, even when the romance moved fast. In a lesser book, I would have rolled my eyes and called it cheesy, but this book did everything so well that I loved every bit of it. The characters, the plot, EVERYTHING was just perfect. The writing itself is gorgeous, even though it took me a few pages to get into the rhythm. Nelson’s writing is unique and heavy on the metaphors, but it made perfect sense to me considering the two narrators of this book are both artists. I marked up so many passages to re-read. These are some of my favorites:

"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."

"Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people,’ I say. ‘Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.” Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things."

"Quick, make a wish.
Take a (second or third or fourth) chance.
Remake the world."

As much as I can go on about how great the machinations of I’ll Give You the Sun are, what makes this book special is the sum of its parts. There’s so much life bubbling up from the pages of this novel that reading it felt a bit like being washed completely in life instead of retreating from it. It’s a special book, one I know I’ll return to over and over again, and place in other people’s hands.

This is a wonderful story and I think a lot of that has to to with Jandy Nelson's unique writing style. I don't think I've read anything quite like it. The way she writes what the teenagers feel and think, for example is perfect. She communicates not only what they are going through but how they are processing everything in a typically teenage way of not having the right words or enough life experience to express, understand or process what they feel is true but.... My sentence right there shows the difficulty of expressing with wonderful words what a teenager feels - because there aren't words. It's the same thing with art. How do you express with words, how art makes you feel? People try bit we blunder (hence the cliché "a picture is worth 1,000 words). If you're a plot driven kind of person, this may not be your cup of tea, although it surely does have a plot that keeps you guessing, there are many books with that. It is Nelson's ability to communicate the intangible, artistic, creative elements of the character's lives that sets it apart. I think it should be required reading in school, if for no other reason than to expose teenagers to her unique writing style and to experience characters going through the strange and confusing pov most teens can relate to.

This is my favorite YA book that I've read since I was in the YA category in terms of my age. The blurb of this novel didn't sell me on pushing this up on my to read list, but I picked it up in Paris after my nook died and my friend said she also wanted to read this. I snatched it up so we could share it on vacation in Amsterdam. (Am I worldly now??)

I have never read a book quite like this -- there are paint splatters on pages that add depth to the stories and emphasize certain points and it's so BEAUTIFUL. and so is the story: about siblings and first loves and first mistakes and struggling with the love (or lack thereof) of a parent. It's perfect. I loved it. Read it.

Heartwarming. Mind-numbing. Jaw-dropping. This book is perfection! I wanted to devour it and savor it at the same time while reading it. I'll Give You The Sun is a new favorite.

The writing is so alive and vivid. I love love love the prose! It's actually my favorite aspect of the book. I love the poetic quality to it, the way it successfully conveyed the emotions of the characters, the way it also invoked emotions from me as a reader. Reading this book is an emotional journey for me, as it touched and moved me in more ways than one. This is one beautifully written story.

And don't get me started on the characters! They were absofreakinglutely amazing! Noah and Jude and Oscar and Guillermo and Brian were all far from perfect but I love them to bits, flaws and all. Even the twin's parents were quite interesting. It seems like every character in this book should not be taken at face value, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just that everyone has layers and layers of stories and secrets within them that add color and depth to each character. One thing is sure, though: Jandy Nelson creates characters that are so alive, real and relatable.

I loved the relationship between Noah and Jude. The love-hate thing going on was heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time. Guillermo and Oscar were both complex characters, too, and they complemented well with the twins' characters. Brian wasn't difficult to like and I understand how he fell for Noah and vice versa. I liked the art theme, too. You don't have to be an art enthusiast to appreciate the story. It just made it more interesting and unique. The connections between the characters did not took me by surprise that much, but twist was still good. Really good.

Honestly, I am in awe. I rarely come across books as good as this one and it's always a one hell of an experience for me. You know, I'm just going to shut up now and just let you read this book. You won't regret it, I swear. READ. THIS. NOW.

I started reading this book way back in March as part of the TBR Pile Reading Challenge at Bookish. That challenge features a read-along every other month with two sets of discussion questions - one on the 15th and one of the last day of the month. I got my first set of discussion questions in and posted them here. I set the book aside to read some books and never got back to it. I have a copy from the library so last week when I saw I was running out of renewals, I decided I wanted to finish it before I had to return it. I'm so glad I did. While the first half of the book is engaging, due to the nature and enormity of the secrets being withheld, it is a bit confusing. There are so many unanswered questions. As the puzzle pieces fall into place in the second half, a rich story of family, fate and finding your true self is built to a climactic - and happy - resolution.

Both Jude and Noah will at times endear you and annoy you. A terrible tragedy has separated these inseparable twins and it will take an odd series of remarkable events to bring them back together. Most of the supporting cast, including a ghost or two, are well developed and relatable. I felt that Oscar was overdrawn - all motorcycles, tattoos, checkered past with a James Dean swagger. While the character was a necessary part of the story, I think he could and should have been less of a caricature That being said, the book is told from first person perspective and we “see” this characterization of Oscar from Jude’s perspective. The other author also does a pretty big disservice to another character nicknamed Zephyr. Again, I think this is the result of holding to Jude’s perspective but it would have been nice to see Zephyr redeemed.

I really like the writing style - once I got used to it. Noah, in particular, writes in colors and art. His descriptions of everyday life are as if he were describing everything as artwork. He says he can see people’s souls - his mother’s is a massive sunflower so big there is hardly room for her organs. Most of his inner dialog is this descriptive and every scene in his life includes a note on how he would paint it: (Self-Portrait: Throwing Armfuls of Air into the Air). I would recommend this to anyone who likes art or is an artist and who enjoys young adult fiction. While there are sexual situations, nothing is graphic. For the average teenaged reader, I would recommend grade 9 and up. I would let my advanced 12 year old son read it but he would not like it due to smoochy stuff. (Yay! So happy about that. How long do I have?).

When I first started reading this book I DID NOT want to put it down, but I had to sleep!

I fell in love with Noah right away. He was a whirlwind that came in and swept me away! His banter with people and in his mind was just out of this world. I felt sorry for him for having to hide himself from everyone but his twin sister Jude. Here is an example of his larger than life brain and crazy random stuff that he would come up with in his head... well.. the stuff always related to something, but still, listen to this:

You probably don't know this, because I'm like the only one in the world who does, but a dork is the official name for a whale dick. And a blue whale's dork? Eight feet long. I repeat: EIGHT FEET LOOOONNNNG! This is how I've felt since it happened yesterday: (Self-Portrait: The Concrete Dork)

Yeah, right? He's something else....and I'm going to have to look that up and see if it's true! Lol

The author tells the story in two mind-frames. She has Jude tell some of her story and then switches to Noah, etc. She also has years of their births that these events took place. I very much enjoyed this because you could be in each of their minds and feel what they were going through. She also wrote a lot of the things in a beautiful artistic way. It was wonderfully creative!

I didn't like Jude much at all until about half way through the book. I don't know why, she just seemed kind of boring until her story really took off. I WAS however, very mad at her for what she did to Noah! NO SPOILERS! I feel like in the end it might have worked out for the both of them, I'm still up in the air about it.

Noah, was picked on by a group of bully/jerks all of the time. This all came to a halt when he met Brian... the best boy ever... in Noah's mind anyway. They had such good times together and Brian took care of the bullies in his own way.

Noah and Jude's mother and father were a little off, but who isn't. I don't really like the way Noah's dad treated him in the beginning, but toward the end of the book he is a better father. I guess some things have a silver lining.

Overall I loved the book! There is tragedy and so many hurtful things, but there are good things that come out of it too. I really look forward to reading the other books!

MY REVIEWS:
[...]

I'll Give You the Sun is so good that I don't even want to write a review for it. The only other book I've felt this way about is Jellicoe Road - I figured I could never do that book justice in a review, so I just... didn't. I feel the same way about I'll Give You the Sun, but since it's an ARC, I kind of have to write a review. Even though I don't think my words could ever explain the perfection that is this book.

I'll admit that it took me a while to get into I'll Give You the Sun. I thought that was because the pacing is kind of slow, but honestly, it's just because I don't usually read books as literary as this one. I'm used to flying through books in a day or two (at least now, during the summer). But I'll Give You the Sun is not the kind of book you can read in one sitting. It took me almost a week to get through I'll Give You the Sun because it's the kind of book that you can only read small parts of at once because you need to stop and marvel at the beauty of the writing and think about the story and life and everything. This is not my regular kind of read, but it stands out in the best way possible.

I went into this story expecting it to be contemporary, but that's not entirely accurate. I guess magical realism comes closest to what you could classify I'll Give You the Sun as, even though I'm not sure that's exactly right, either - it's never really revealed whether the ghosts and the magic are real or just perceived. That wouldn't usually be my kind of thing, but it totally works; the fact that the twins' mother's ghost affects their lives feels completely natural. The magical realism is integrated seamlessly into the story, and Jandy Nelson totally makes it work.

I loved the characters in I'll Give You the Sun. Both Noah and Jude have made mistakes, and they've done some pretty bad things to each other and to the rest of the family. But their feelings about these mistakes are so honest and complex and relatable that it totally works. Both of them are very different from myself, but I understood them and felt for these characters so much. They're more than characters to me; they feel like real people. I don't know how else to explain them; Noah and Jude are simply amazing characters.

The plot is not one that I would usually love. The two stories - Noah's from when they were 13 and Jude's from now, when they're 16 - work together in so many intricate ways. It would have been easy for these relations to come across as contrived and unrealistic coincidences, but somehow, Jandy Nelson makes them work. I was surprised by every revelation, yet they felt completely natural. Maybe it's because of the magical realism, but I never doubted whether any of the plot twists were realistic. These two intertwined stories are so complex and impressive, and I loved it.

I'll Give You the Sun is absolute perfection. I was expecting greatness from the author of The Sky Is Everywhere (one of my all-time favorites), but this was even better than expected. I feel like none of what I've said really shows great I'll Give You the Sun is, and but you absolutely have to read it. I'll Give You the Sun is a beautifully honest, complex, thought-provoking story. If Jandy Nelson's next book is just as great, I will gladly wait another four years, like we did after The Sky Is Everywhere. (Who am I kidding!? GIVE ME MORE NOW.)

I felt like I was reading not a book, but a piece of art. The writing seems like it can't be contained by a piece of paper, like the words are dying to fly out to you so you can experience the story quicker. Although I warn you, if you're not a fan of purple prose, of prolific metaphors or comparisons, the writing will be much more difficult to swallow for you.

I absolutely loved this book. it was beautiful, and heartbreaking, and brilliant, and strange. It was a plethora of emotions and thoughts that were just THAT good.

This book is about a broken family, it's about a girl learning to love again, about a boy trying to discover who he is. This book is about so many things at once but never does it feel like too much. It's narrated by both Noah and Jude. Noah 3 years ago and Jude now. They both tell us their side of the story, which is extremely enlightening when you find out both sides. I found that I liked Noah's POV more because between him and Jude, he was the introvert. I felt like I related to him more. Jude came off as irritating to me at first maybe because she was so closed off on the world. It wasn't until I got to know her through Noah's POV and as the story progressed that I liked her more.

It deals with topics such as grief, loneliness, sibling rivalry, sex, sexual orientation, and family so realistically and so well put together that it'll be hard for oh to believe that this is a work of fiction.

The way the story flows from past to present so effortlessly makes me believe Jandy Nelson doesn't write, but create magic with her hands. This book was magic to me.

It made me smile, laugh, cry, explode in anger, and drown in sadness. It made me want to create something with my bare hands. As I have not a single creative bone in my body, I'll let my review be my "work of art" so to speak. This book is unlike any other. If you have it on your bookshelf but haven't gotten to it, read it. If you see it on a shelf in your library, borrow it. I hope you won't regret it.
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At thirteen, twins Noah and Jude are close. Their family is whole. Everything seems perfect. From a distance. Close up it's easy to see that Jude is making bad choices that are pushing her toward a serious fall while Noah is struggling just to keep himself together under the pressure of fitting in with the painfully normal world. Art has always been enough to get Noah through. When he falls hard for the beautiful boy next door, he isn't sure anything--not even painting--will be enough to make things right again.

At sixteen the twins are barely speaking and nothing is perfect anymore. Noah hides his hurt behind a facade of normalcy that seems to fool everyone but Jude. Jude, meanwhile, is not-so-quietly falling apart trapped on a path she never expected and is not sure she wants.

Both Noah and Jude are haunted by old ghosts and past mistakes. With the help of a curmudgeonly artist and a spectacularly messed-up boy, Jude thinks she can put the pieces of her family back together. Except she only has half of the pieces. It will take both Jude and Noah, together, to make things right in I'll Give You the Sun (2014) by Jandy Nelson.

I'll Give You the Sun is Nelson's second novel. It is the winner of the 2015 Printz Award and the 2015 Stonewall Award.

Nelson delivers one hell of a story in her sophomore novel. I'll Give You the Sun presents two stories simultaneously in alternating sections (no chapter breaks). Noah begins the novel with his story "The Invisible Museum" when the twins are 13 and on the cusp of some major changes for themselves and their family. Jude handles the latter of of the novel's plot in "The History of Luck" when the twins are 16 and deeply troubled.

I'll Give You the Sun has mystery, romance and elements of magic realism. The prose is imbued with an ode to the power of art and creation as well as some deeply powerful ideas about feminism.

The novel moves along with clever intersections between Jude and Noah's stories. Both Noah and Jude have voices that are breezy and approachable in a way that draws readers immediately into their stories and their lives. Although the two characters often sound very similar in their narrations, there is a fair argument that the similarities are intentional since they are twins. It's more difficult to explain Noah's often literary and lyrical voice when he is only thirteen for much of the narrative--something that is balanced out with behavior (from both twins at that age) that is often painfully thoughtless or selfish.

This book isn't always easy to read. The end of Noah's story leaves both twins damaged and reeling from a variety of catastrophes. In Jude's section, they are both hurting and struggling to survive without much hope for anything more until Jude decides to take a chance. I'll Give You the Sun is at its strongest when these two characters realize they have to take action if they want to thrive.

Nelson's writing is spectacular making I'll Give You the Sun a vibrant story about family, recovery, art and love. Not to be missed.

Possible Pairings: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo, A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu, Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley, Alice, I Think by Susan Juby, Undercover by Beth Kephart, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb, Damaged by Amy Reed, A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell, Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

*A copy this book was acquired from the publisher for review consideration at BEA 2014*

Although I didn’t love I’ll Give You the Sun, I keep thinking about it and its primary theme of “Be True to Yourself, No Matter What.” Twins Noah and Jude’s love and jealously of each other fuel the book. They both commit some incredibly cruel acts toward each other. Both think they hate their mother for being true to herself, and both believe they caused her fatal car accident. This is author Jandy Nelson’s second book; her first was a successful young adult novel, and at times I felt I was reading a YA novel. I grew weary of the text being interrupted by Grandmother’s aphorisms and Noah’s painting ideas. However, once I reached a certain point in the book, I couldn’t put it down, reading through most of the night which gave me a good book hangover the next morning. You’ve experienced those, haven’t you?

5/5
this is the easiest rating I have ever given. this novel made me feel something (besides tired, since I stayed up until 3 to finish it). the writing is beautiful. the story is beautiful. the characters are beautiful. I'm so happy I have this in my life. it may be my favorite book now (or at least one of them).

“I’ll Give You The Sun” is a story about fraternal twins, both resoundingly artistic with jealousies and rages that compete with mythological gods. This story is told in alternating voice, between the siblings, and in alternating times… before and after. Before what and after what are the mystery of the novel – and there are several befores and several afters hidden in the pages. In the end, it’s a heartbreakingly beautiful story about family, unconditional love and conditional love, first loves and deep seeded regrets. The plot in itself is outstanding – a very richly layered story with fully realized characters, both young and old. I feel in love with everyone in this story, and saw a little bit of myself reflected in each of them.

But the story is not what makes this book great – it would have been pretty good if anyone wrote this plot, probably – but what makes this book shine is revealed in the cover: huge implications in small words, “I’ll give you the sun” indeed - the title surrounded by a radial explosion of colors. That’s what this book is – words crafted so unusually, so cleverly, so astoundingly that they paint in your head. It’s overwhelming at first (I was actually a little put off the first fifty or so pages, which is ironic as this ended up being what I liked most about it), all that language, all those images, but it tames down a bit after a while. Or maybe I just grew accustomed to it after a while, I’m not sure. I’ll have to re-read it for closer inspection. And I’m sure I will re-read it.

Though I loved all the love stories in this book (there is more than one), the one that hit me hardest was Noah’s. Torment, fascination, recognition… and always that burning question “Are they?” I cried on and off repeatedly while reading it – sometimes with joy, too. The only problem I had with the book was the character of Zephyr... and the bag of mixed messages there, but it’s only a side plot so I’ll happily put it aside for now and just bask in the contentment of finishing an excellent book. Anyways, it was a remarkable novel and I highly recommend it.

This book is incredibly hard to review because it’s so hard to even describe. The story is told in alternating POV’s. We get Noah’s POV, describing what happens when the twins are 13 years old and starts out when they are still very close. Jude’s POV jumps to when the twins are 16, and we see that a huge rift has formed between them. As the story unfolds, we slowly start to see how this happened – how both small moments and huge events chipped away at their relationship until the gulf between them feels impossible to traverse and they can’t find each other at all anymore.

I don’t want to go into the specific plot much because it’s best if you discover it on your own. Instead, I’ll just jump straight into my review.

What I LOVED:

Artistic, beautiful writing.
I absolutely ADORED Noah’s voice – the way he saw his whole world as art. I’m not at all artistic, but Nelson made me feel like I could be an artist with her descriptions and depictions of life through the lens of artistic expression. I saw the world through Noah’s eyes, and though it was often strange, I understood him on a level that I don’t often understand characters in books. I felt Noah. He just describes everything in this artistically beautiful way, and I loved seeing the world through his eyes. Jude’s POV is often amazingly profound as well. Honestly, I could spend hours just sitting here and quoting the whole book. Instead, you should just read it.

Romance written with depth.
Even though both Jude and Noah start to fall for their respective love interests rather quickly, neither relationship feels like insta-love because there is so much depth to their interactions. I found this to be especially true with Noah and Brian. Every moment that Noah spends with Brian is meaningful, partially because Noah is just starting to understand his feelings and the fact that he’s gay. Every interaction is profound for Noah, and that gave those moments weight for me, as a reader, as well. I felt these moments deeply, just like Noah did. The same could be said for Jude and Oscar.

Neutral:

Strained relationships.
Sometimes Noah and Jude’s relationship was hard for me to understand. They went from being incredibly close to purposely hurting each other in such a short time period – I had a little bit of trouble understanding how jealousy pulled them apart so completely and made them. This wasn’t exactly a negative (which is why I list it as a neutral) because that was kind of the point of the book – how relationships with those we love can be messy and hurtful and painful, but if we confront these feelings and repair those relationships, we can rise above the pain and come out a better, more complete person. In that way, it was beautiful. But sometimes the road to get there was hard for me because I didn’t like the choices that Jude and Noah were making and I didn’t always completely understand them. Of course, in real life, we make decisions all the time that even we, ourselves, don’t completely understand! It also took me a little longer to connect to Jude than to Noah (partially because I was having trouble liking her at first), but I couldn’t bring myself to take off any more than a half star because the beauty of the book outshines these issues (at least it did for me).

What more can I say about this book? Honestly, I could probably go on and on, but I’ll stop there. I’ll Give You the Sun reflects the beauty of artistic expression and the joy, pain and complexity of love in all its forms. It describes the myriad of ways that our relationships can break us down when we let them fester, and how love and loss can affect us in profound ways. But it also demonstrates how learning to rebuild those relationships can re-make us – turn us into better versions of ourselves. In short, you need to read it. I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

I confess I had a hard time when I first began reading. Noah's voice is so perfect, but it was also so creative/artistic/foreign to me: during the first couple of chapters, I found myself wanting to skip past the extremely detailed, visual language until something happened. Then came Jude, and she was my rescue. I'm so glad I stuck with reading, because I came to understand Noah too, and to really feel not only with both of Noah and Jude, but with the entire family.

I loved so much of this book, whether it was the alternating viewpoints three years apart or Guillermo or Grandma Sweetwine's bible. The book is not only beautifully written, but also full of little truths. I'll Give You the Sun is so quotable, but I think this one is my favorite: “People die, I think, but your relationship with them doesn't. It continues and is ever-changing.” Despite the ending being a little too easy, and my initial difficulties, there was so much to love that I give it 4.5/5 stars.

I put off reading I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN for years, and now that I've finished, I can't for the life of me remember why. The prose is so beautiful and the emotions so vivid that it's impossible not to feel everything Noah and Jude are feeling--grief and guilt and love and rage and heartbreak and forgiveness. I'm a sucker for stories about broken families learning to rebuild, about first love and falling in love with art and artistry, and this story delivered in spades on all counts. The only reason I'd give it four stars instead of five is because I wanted more from the ending. After everything they'd been through, I felt these characters deserved more.

Otherwise, this was magnificent. An experience from start to finish.

'll Give You The Sun is an unforgettable, heartbreaking novel that will hit readers with so many emotions and will leave them breathless. Jandy Nelson's writing style is extremely unique and it took me a bit of time to get used to it, but I was extremely impressed with how distinct she made each point of view. Readers will laugh, smile and cry along with Noah and Jude, these are characters that I fell in love with and I just know that countless other readers will too. Few books have emotionally affected me like Nelson's latest and there's something so stunning about this novel.

I'll Give You The Sun is told in two point of views and covers two major points in Jude and Noah's lives. Noah tells the story of when he was 13/14 and Jude tells the story of when she was 16/17; in doing so, both twins give one half of the story and together they give a complete picture of their lives. Everything comes together in such a cohesive, realistic way in I'll Give You The Sun and it was impressive how Nelson connected these two storylines seamlessly. The beauty in this novel is truly in the details and how everything seems to come full circle by the time the final pages roll around.

Jandy Nelson's writing has an almost dreamlike quality to it and this novel is very heavy on metaphors and hyperboles. Each page is coated with metaphors, something that bothered me initially, but I quickly grew to love the way Nelson writes. Each voice is finely and realistically crafted, giving this novel a sense of authenticity and beauty. I definitely prefered Noah's story with his artistic musings and ability to turn any scenario into a work of art. I did really enjoy June's point of view with her superstitions and quirks, but it just didn't live up to Noah's POV.

The romance in this book made my heart beat incredibly fast and I fell for the two couples incredibly fast. I love how Nelson explored Noah's sexuality and his path from questioning if he's gay to his lusting after Brian. The 'questioning' section of this novel was intriguing and not enough LGBT novels address the uncertainty that comes with discovering that you're gay. The romance between Jude and Oscar was incredibly sweet and it definitely made my heart race with excitement. I was initially perturbed by the age difference between these two, but I became so drawn into their relationship that age became a frivolous concern. I loved the way these relationships progressed, the characters fall in love slowly, but surely in a realistic manner.

The only thing better than the romance in this novel was the relationship between Jude and Noah. I have never seen such a true portrayal of the relationship between siblings and this novel chronicles the highs and lows that dominate their lives. As much as I rooted for the couples in this novel, I was secretly harboring a hope that the siblings would reconcile and be the best friends they once were. It was so touching watching the younger versions of Jude and Noah interact, yet knowing that the siblings would become estranged broke my heart. YA novels usually skip over familial relationships, but the magic of this novel lies in the bond between Jude and Noah.

I'll Give You The Sun shows how beautiful and messy love can truly be and what it truly means to live. Nelson explores the love between the two siblings perfectly and readers will root for them to fall in love with their respective partners and mend their relationship. I didn't expect this novel to be such a whirlwind and powerful novel, but Nelson really surprised me with her unique writing and ability to craft such genuine relationships. I haven't read a novel ever like I'll Give You The Sun and books like this one are rare gems that ought to be treasured.

I’ll give you the sun. I’ll give you the flowers. I’ll give you half of the sky, the mountains, the stars.

These are the promises that twins Noah and Jude make to each other in the days before everything falls apart. Though once NoahandJude, an inseparable unit, they turn away from each other after the tragic death of their mother. Their beautiful story—one of art, redemption, discovery, and family—is told in bits and pieces, past and present. Dreamy artist Noah covers the time before the accident when they are 13 years old, and wild sculptor Jude takes over afterward when they are 16 and broken.

When he is 13, Noah is wrapped up in his art…when he’s not wrapped up in thinking about the beautiful boy who just moved in next door. He creates paintings and portraits in his head and sneaks to the local arts school to spy on life drawing classes. Getting in to that school is his biggest desire. Aside from kissing that aforementioned boy next door, that is.

When she is 16, Jude is angry and grief-stricken and superstitious. She sees ghosts everywhere and she’s sure that the spirit of her mother is destroying all of her sculptures at the arts school (which she attends and Noah does not). Her brother has put down his sketchbooks and morphed into a dumb jock, and so Jude has no one to turn to for help with her art. Or her life. When she decides to apprentice with a local sculptor and his enigmatic young assistant, Jude has no idea what kinds of secrets she is about to dredge up.

Each sibling only has half of the story, but each of their perspectives is raw and important and electric. When combined, they form a full and beautifully interconnected narrative. Both Noah and Jude are great characters with unique voices, and their combined story isn’t like anything else on the young adult market right now. Jandy Nelson is a dynamo of an author, and it’s no surprise that this book won her the 2015 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Mature readers will love the lush language and the host of unconventional characters who inhabit these pages, even as their hearts get broken.

Read alikes: The Sky is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson; We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart; Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell

This review originally appeared on abookandahug.com

I'll Give You the Sun follows a set of twins: Jude and Noah. I really don't want to give a summary of this book, because I feel like if I do, I'll be giving away too much and I don't want that to happen. So instead, I thought I'd just give my thoughts after reading.

First of all, I love how everything connected perfectly. You'd be reading from one perspective and then you'd read from the other and you'd realize that they were both talking about the same person, and it literally just blew my mind when I'd realize those sorts of things. Also, the characters in this book were just amazing. I loved all of the relationships that were torn apart and then formed back again; watching each character grow older and see how they change as people. It was just an interesting thing to read about.

An awesome aspect of this book is that it's told in two different perspectives through two different perspectives. Jude tells the twin's story at age 16, while Noah tells the twin's story at age 14. It's great to see how much they changed between those two times. Art played a major role in this book, which was quite a unique spin. I'd never read a book where art was such a huge part of the story, so it definitely added to the reading experience for me.

My favorite of the two twins would have to be Jude's, just because I enjoyed her side of the story more. Noah's story was okay, though at times I got a bit bored. My favorite character would have to be Oscar though. He was so sweet and nice and I loved everything about him. He was just an all-around fantastic character. I'd definitely recommend this book to friends and I'll be sure to pick up Jandy Nelson's other novel.

Spoilers

I absolutely love NoahandJude or maybe it's Noah and Jude. I love this whole book. I wish that maybe we would have got an end chapter that fast forwarded into Noah's mind again at 16 so we could see if he was leaning towards CSA or not. Also I would have loved to see how absolutely ecstatic he was about Brian. I love that this story was about family dynamic more than a love story. I do appreciate that it had multiple love stories intertwined into the bigger picture though. I really wanted to hate Guillermo but I can't. I can't even hate Mom. Jandy Nelson is a beautiful writer. I can usually call what's going to happen in a book but with this one I didn't want to think of what was going to happen next, I was living in the moments. This is the type of book that you want to finish to know how it ends but each time you turn the page and get closer to the end you really just want it to keep going. I could read a million books about Noah and Jude. This is a perfect book. One of my favorites for sure.

The last line of the book's description nails it: "...will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once." Both heartbreaking and lovely, this book is a must-read! I do have to say that the writing style took me a minute to get used to (ex. Noah's over-active artist imagination) but once I figured out what was going on, I absolutely loved it.

Favorite Lines:
"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."

"We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story."

"I remember Guillermo saying the cracks and breaks were the best and most interesting parts of the work in my portfolio. Perhaps it's the same with people and their cracks and breaks."

I'm not sure what I expected when I picked up I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN. I knew the basics: dual POV, everyone seems to love it, LGBTQIA+ themes, and then it went ahead and won the Printz a few days after I started reading, so I knew chances that I was going to like it were high.

But wow, you guys. I really really loved this one.

I'm not an externally emotional reader. I mean, I obviously have feels like everyone else, but I've yet to read a book that made me cry, as I've confessed here before, and I'm usually pretty good about keeping a stoic exterior while reading. But I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN put me on the brink of tears several times, which is ridiculously rare for me, and I just loved Noah and Jude so much, and the writing!

The writing. I think Nelson's prose is one of those love/hate varieties, but I definitely fell on the love side. Both Noah and Jude's voices were a little out there with some of the imagery and analogies, but I felt like I really got it, and it totally made sense to me with their very artsy personalities, and it just felt so fresh, and wonderful, and fit the tone of the book beautifully.

Noah and Jude aren't perfect. They both make hurtful, cringe-worthy mistakes with big consequences. They're emotional, and young, and full of dreams, and highs, and lows, and I became so very emotionally entangled with their stories.

I often tell people that the best books make you feel something. I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN didn't make me feel something--it made me feel everything. I loved every page, and Nelson's got herself a new fan for sure.

"Reality is crushing. The world is a wrong-sized shoe. How can anyone stand it?". I'll Give You The Sun is a book written by Jandy Nelson about fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, who go through life's ups and downs. Although they are twins, they see the world from two different points of views. Throughout this book, Noah tells his story at age thirteen, whilst Jade tells her thoughts as a sixteen year old. These twins are so close, but very different. Jade is known for being a very spontaneous, daredevil figure. Noah, on the other hand, is known for being a homosexual artist. Though throughout the entire story we find that the siblings get into arguments, and can be broken apart, but eventually they'll find their way back to each other. Personally what caught my eye was the cover. When I saw this book sitting on the shelf, I thought it looked very interesting just from the cover and title. After reading the blurb on the inside cover, I found that the topic of siblings was interesting considering I have two of my own. The topic of homosexuality also interested me.
My favorite part of the book had to be Noah's story and thoughts. The way his mind worked was intriguing. The storyline addresses whether or not homosexuals think differently from heterosexuals. I thought that learning about this topic and debunking this myth of whether or not homosexuals think differently from heterosexuals was fascinating. Homosexuality is a topic that is typically written about in books directed to teenagers. I found that explaining Noah's thoughts throughout the tragic event that tore the twins apart, and the thoughts that explained the struggles of being homosexual very appealing. One of reasons why I would recommend this book to others is the author's style of writing. The vocabulary and description is amazing. The topics are another reason. Personally I believe that these two main topics of sexuality and siblings are big in everyone's life. I feel that recommending this book to others would help teach them more about how siblings react and even more about sexuality since this is now a common theme in our society. This novel, I'll Give You The Sun, written by Jandy Nelson explains the story of twins who go through a difficult three years, though in the end they fix up the rough patches. Connecting them now for even longer, they've learned more about themselves that they might not have if things had turned out differently. Though things happen for a reason. Do they not? ~Karis

Man, this book simply radiates. The story of fraternal twins told through alternating perspectives and two years apart (the boy, Noah's, begins a few months before and leads up to a life-changing day and the girl, Jude's telling is two years later), develops two passionate perspectives of life, loss, family, and love. The two teenage artists, who were closer than could be, split in their synergy and understanding but ultimately need to find a way back together to know the truth of who they are, what really happened leading up to the worst day of their lives, and how they will move forward. Nelson's writing is wild with metaphor and energy. It bursts with life and feels, at times, like an alternate universe where magic exists and the saddest stories can weave together for redemption and a new beginning. This book is pure emotion and ultimately optimism.

This novel is so beautifully written with such realistic imagery that you'll feel like you're right their experiencing every raw emotion Noah and Jude feel. The twins were once inseparable, different in their own ways but truly shared one soul. Where one lacked, the other added. After the death of their mother (which was more detrimental for Noah because his mother supported his art more) they separate after some tension had already began between the two. In a way their roles switched after their mother's death, causing even more strain between the two. The story was so eloquently written however, with different points of view. My biggest reserve was that there isn't going to be a sequel. Nelson could have expanded into other character's histories and relationships more. There was so much potential and the story has almost a rushed ending. The pieces fall into place but the ending definitely could have been longer. I'll give you the sun has such a wide variety of ideas, emotions, and some supernatural forces come into play. Jude is haunted by her mother and grandmother's spirit. At the beginning of the novel she believes her mom is haunting her, causing so much bad luck. She is very superstitious, carrying hand made 4 leaf clovers and whatever she can find from her grandmother's book. Through romance and art, family is what's is truly important. This novel has so many complex metaphors and symbolism woven beautifully into the writing. For example, Jude tries using clay for several art projects but they kept breaking so she turned to stone. This led her to find Oscar and Guillermo, giving her more answers to her mother's death and ultimately bringing her back to her brother. One of my favorite books, it's only flaw is that it didn't last long enough.

I'm no prude, but I hated the violence of the sexual scene in the first chapter and found it to be a shameful baiting from this author for attention (in the first place, from gullible literary agents). The bullying seems so forced and "on topic." Also, some people seem to think Nelson's style is so "beautiful," but I find it scattered and ultimately unsophisticated, like she's not a natural writer who can just flow with a story. Or tell a good story, for that matter; this one is not compelling and most of the characters are unlikeable and petty. I'll give the book two stars instead of one for Noah, who has a little color and heart. I love great fiction, YA and otherwise. but this is another highly overrated YA novel that does not deserve its mind-numbing hype.

The Writing:

Nelson’s writing in this book is so beautiful and unique! The way she makes you see all the paintings in front of you so vividly is amazingly well done!

It was funny, puzzling, different, beautiful and heart breaking.

The beautiful pros and flows of the book captivated me from the very beginning and held me in its grip the whole way through.

The Characters:

Noah: He was such an interesting character. To follow him as he struggled with love and his sexual orientation was both heart warming and breaking at the same time. I just wanted to jump into the book and help him out.

And these invisible portraits that he makes in his mind described all of his feelings in such a unique way with so few words.

Jude: She was definitely my favorite and it was probably because she was the one that was easiest to relate to for me. Her thoughts on love, boys and family was really a treat to read. And how she follows her grandmother’s “bible” made me laugh out loud while listening.

The Plot:

I think this is the first time that I’ve read a book that has two different plot lines that does not go over the same period of time. But it worked out so beautifully and it was one of the things that really made this book so different and wonderful.

And the way that Nelson intertwine those timelines was handled perfectly!

I did see some of the plot twists coming, but it didn’t really spoil the joy of the book in any way and I can’t really pinpoint why.

Thoughts:

I’d heard so many good things about this book before I started it and I was a little afraid that I had gotten too high expectations, but amazingly enough it lived up to my expectations and then some!

It was just a beautiful book that had me going through so many emotions as the story progressed and the characters developed. I really connected with the twins and when the story was over I wanted it to be more.

A gripping and wonderful story about family, love, growing up and realizing that life is not going to be what you expected. Just as this book ended up meaning so much more to me than I ever expected!

Definitely one of my favorites for 2015!

Haven't bothered to write a review in ages, and I don't usually give 5 stars, but this is one joyous, painful, ginormously big-hearted book. Listened to it on my commute and made excuses to drive. It's a book of art and artistry, relationships, family, death, screwing up, forgiving and being forgiven. It’s also stunningly descriptive of young emotional lives and first loves. Made my heart sing. The kind of book where you think about the characters when you’re going about your business.

“We wish with our hands, that’s what we do as artists.”

“My heart leaves, hitchhikes right out of my body, heads north, catches a ferry across the Bering Sea and plants itself in Siberia with the polar bears and ibex and long-horned goats until it turns into a teeny-tiny glacier.”

“He floated into the air high above the sleeping forest, his green hat spinning a few feet above his head. In his hand was the open suitcase and out of it spilled a whole sky of stars.”

“Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people,” I say. “Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.” Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things.”

“Sometimes you think you know things, know things very deeply, only to realize you don’t know a damn thing.”

I was actually debating on giving this book 3 stars because of how long it took me to get into it. There were definitely parts that I loved more than others, and the flowery language/descriptiveness of Noah was a bit much at times... but the ending, the message, the eventual overlap just made my heart flutter a bit and eventually change my mind.

I'll Give You the Sun is about family, siblings, love, hate, courage, and self discovery. It's a coming of age story, a tale of prophecy, and more... It's definitely worth the read. Jandy Nelson, you've warmed my heart yet again!

This is one of the best young-adult books I've read so far. The different ways Jandy Nelson writes from the twin's perspectives and how she intermingles their stories is one of the most inspiring things I've seen.

This book makes me want to be a better writer.

By reading how differently Nelson describes Noah's worldview from Jude's, you truly get some insight on how their parents treat them differently and how they mold each other's experiences.

One important thing I like about this book is that though the characters make mistakes and do things that hurt others and each other, neither of them are considered bad people. There are no villains in this story, just people who do bad things for different reasons. Though at some point, one character may hate and dislike another, they eventually learn that there was a reason they did it, and though it may have been bad from their perspective, at some point it must have made sense in the other's head.

This is an excellent story in ways of telling it, characters and their development, relationships, forgiveness, and the bonds of family.

I gave this book 5 stars because it deserves it.....personally I think it deserves more than 5 stars it deserves a billion stars!! (Sorry I really liked it) One thing I really liked that this book was centered on family...but it also had a very great plot, climax, and ending. I LOVED the quotes and how amazing Jude and Noah's minds are. I could go on and on about how amazing it is, but I won't, you have to read it to understand my babble anyway.
Another thing I LOVED about this book is how REAL it felt...I found myself relating with this book more than I ever have with a book before.
BUT this book is defidnitely NOT for ANYONE who is homophobic or under the age of about 13. It does have MANY curse words, and violence and behavior that is PG-13 DEFINITELY.
But those thoughts aside, this book was still GREAT, and I encourage anyone who is not homophobic or under 13 to read it.

I wish I could say something more positive! The story just didn't grab me and take me in. And at times the little "paintings" were distracting. The characters were mostly miserable and the family dwelled in the past. I really wanted to love this! Sorry!

I think my heart has exploded this evening. I can't even really articulate why I love this book so much, and for someone who is as verbose as I am, that's really saying something.

What can you say about a book that is just so perfect? I get that some people wouldn't really care for the writing style, the way especially that Noah talks. But he's an artist, and, I suspect, on the autistic spectrum, yet Nelson draws him so perfectly and beautifully and realistically and with so much dignity. She will mention some of his tics but never mock him for them. And oh, the love between him and Brian. It makes one's heart swell just thinking about it.

Jude is incredible. Initially I didn't really know her, or even really like her much. But that's what Nelson does in this book. She starts from Noah's side of things, when life looks so wonderful and almost perfect, then blows forward three years to when the family is shattered into a million pieces with very little chance of anyone becoming whole again. There's so much silence, so much anger, so much disappointment. Amazingly, Jude and Noah become so real, because they're so wonderfully presented, with flaws and perfections like any other normal person, that you almost expect Jude and her hair to bust through your front door. And you begin to see the world the way Noah does, in exploding colors and shapes and sounds.

I'm not even an art geek and I adored all the art references in this book. It was so very necessary to the plot, character development, resolution, everything. This would be an awesome book to hand a high school kid who's even moderately interested in art to see how it can be everything to a person.

I suppose I'm rambling now. This book was incredible. I have no other words for it. Just. Read. It. NOW.

What makes this story so animated is the characters, which seem so real to the readers dues to their relatability. I personally instantly related to Jude and Noah because they, like myself, are artists. One aspect of the twins’ relationship that everyone experiences at least once in their lives is change. Changing personalities, changing relationships, changing love. It’s a simple fact of life; as people grow older into puberty and then adulthood, they change. Time is the greatest tester of the relationships between friends, family, and loved ones. No matter how close Jude and Noah are, they cannot read each other’s minds, and always only get half of the story. Their personalities each take a complete 180 and once they reach the age of 16, the once-inseparable twins barely speak to each other. A combination of terrible secrets and the inevitable forces of time have weakened the bond that held these two together.
So naturally, as physicals things do, relationships decay over time. However, it is always possible to fix them, and make them stronger than before. The question we must ask ourselves is if it’s worth it to revive those old bonds. Some relationships are not meant to be, while others are vital to a happy life. And fixing those broken bonds requires effort on both parts. Jude and Noah do terrible things to each other, but in the end, both are willing to forgive their twin. Love does conquer all.

Sometimes you come across a book that is just special. That will make you feel all kinds of things that is just memorable. I’ll Give You the Sun is such a book and every buzz about this book is so true!

Most unique & brilliant way of storytelling!
Noah and Jude are Twins, that when they were kids were inseparable, close and so similar. But when teenage hormones hit, they start to change and grow slowly apart. Both are unique kids, both heavily artistic each in their own way and supported by a quirky just as artistic mother.

Then something happened when they were 14 that completely broke them apart, and I’ll Give You the Sun tells their story.

And Jandy Nelson decided to tell this story in such a unique and brilliant way! Noah tells the story leading up to what happened when he’s still 14 and Jude tells the story following the big outbreak when she’s 16. And it’s written so brilliantly, it feels like the timeline is moving on constantly even though more than 2 years are in between. I didn’t expect this to work so wonderful, but it did!

Such unique kids! So sensible, so full of quirks yet somehow so lost without each other!
I absolutely adore both Noah and Jude for both for their different reasons. It#s been amazing to get to know these two better. Yet, the kids at 14 are not same kids with 16 anymore, and it’s actually a little painful to see theta they have changed so much.

Noah with 14 is so closed up and so looked up in his world where he brings all his emotions into drawings and sketches. He has not many friends, he’s afraid to make friends and he’s just discovering something about himself that got him all confused. I guess it’s not much of a secret that Noah is gay, and just is discovering what this means for him. It makes it even worse that Jude completely develops into a different direction. Being all kinds of having out with the cool crowd.

So while Noah is closed off with 14, with 16 he’s what Jude is with 14 and vice verse. Yet, it feels so wrong that they both have changed – it’s quite heartbreaking to see!

Such beautiful, lyrical writing – picturing such a heartbreaking story!
The writing was so captivating and moving and I could never put this story down. There are so many feelings between these pages and the story is just amazingly touching! Jandy Nelson also bring the artistic talents of Jude and Noah onto the pages that everything just feels even more real!!

Noah and Jude share such an incredible bond that it made me tear up seeing them apart, and I was hoping so desperately that they grew back together!

.”. I threw my hands over Noah’s ears to protect him from what I was hearing. My first reaction. Not over my own ears but over Noah’s.”

“Our eyes meet and hold, and the whole world starts to fall away, time does, years rolling up like rugs until everything that happens unhappens,…”

Bottom Line
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson is a moving story about love, loss and an incredible moving bond between twins, that were once so close and now need to find their way to find the other half again. The writing is lyrical and beautiful and the way the story's been told so unique and brilliant. I’ll Give You the Sun is a must read this year!

Note: I received the book from the publisher for review.

This book was absolutely breathtaking. I was swept away by the imagery, storyline, and overall radiance of ​I'll Give You the Sun. Like the stroke of Noah's paintbrush on a canvas, this book was artfully planned and executed. I was amazed by Nelson's ability to capture the elements of family, love, and tragedy so beautifully. I’ll Give You the Sun made me feel so many emotions while giving me a new outlook on life. This was an amazing ​story.

One thing I particularly loved about this book was that it was told in the point of views of both Noah and Jude, and each sibling was given either the early years or later years of their life to tell. With these dual point of views, the reader was able to empathize with each twin, and experience identical events in the story through different perspectives. When reading this book, I had a hard time picking a side and choosing which twin deserved more sympathy because of the different outlooks Nelson provided on each of the twin's stories. Another thing that was great about having these two narrators was seeing how the two forgive and find their way back to one another. While I did feel frustrated with the characters at times, I was happy when Noah and Jude put aside their differences and once again became the infamous 'NoahandJude.' Nelson beautifully mended broken relationships and formulated new ones too, which really tugged at your heartstrings. I loved the happy ending of this novel and the overall message it presented-love and family will always find a way, even in the worst of times!

The storyline of I’ll Give You the Sun was also incredibly unique. I loved the character's stories, the flashbacks, the symbolism and importance of art. There was never a dull moment in this story and the plot never strayed. I really liked how Nelson made bits of the story a mystery so the reader could try to figure out what was going to happen next. As a reader, it was really interesting to see how the plot was going to play out and see how the twins would uncover secrets of their past and really put the pieces together. I found it very difficult to put this book down at times because I wanted to know how everything tied together and the role each memory and character played in the story. The plot of ​I'll Give You the Sun really put you into the lives of the characters which made it all the more intimate and intriguing. Every element in this story was gorgeously planned, making for a constant page turner and a captivating plot.

I happily award I'll Give You the Sun a 5/5 star review! Fans of Eleanor and Park and All the Bright Places​, this is definitely the book for you. I was so pleased with this story and would highly recommend it to fellow readers! Not only is I'll Give You the Sun​ a great summer read, but it is something spectacular overall. I am looking forward to Jandy Nelson's future works! Put this on your to be read list!

This is one of those books that can be purely a cover buy. I mean seriously how gorgeous is that cover?! *Nerd Alert* It has the best texture too. Last year when this book came out I was determined not to buy it solely for the cover (I do that enough already). Then I watched everyone rave about how amazing this book was. From what I could tell it was in the top 5 books of 2014 according to many #BookTubers. With so many people giving it rave reviews, and having a gorgeous cover I was sold. The hype was real!
The story is told from the duel perspectives of fraternal twins Jude and Noah. There’s been a horrible and tragic accident and this tells their story of things that happened leading up to the accident and after the accident. For the longest time Nelson leaves the readers in the dark — trying to piece together what happened, but it doesn’t take away from the beauty of the story, the writing, or the character development.
Characters-5 Setting-5 Plot-5 Conflict-5 Resolution-5
5 Stars

I can't believe I almost didn't read this book because of a negative review I saw on Goodreads.

Guys.

If you're not interested in a story that will rip your heart out, mold it into the most beautiful creation, and then replace it allowing feelings you've never felt before to rush throughout your soul... well I guess this isn't the novel for you.

JudeandNoah are twins who compete like normal siblings. They're artists, they're revolutionaries, they each want their parent's approval in different ways, they have their share (okay a lot) of misunderstandings, and ultimately they just want to believe that everything's going to be okay. They've each experienced loss - together and apart. They grow, reshape, and fly off the pages with their magical story.

With twists and turns I never saw coming, I'll Give You the Sun is captivating. It's a story of loss, love, heartache, growth, learning how to live, and forgiveness. Every character's story intertwines with the others. It's incredible.

So. Many. Feels.

Another fantastic, amazing, beautiful read from Jandy Nelson (have I mentioned how her book THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE is my favorite book ever?). Told from alternating point of views at two different period in their lives, this is twins Noah and Jude's story to tell. We start in Noah's POV (at age 13) and when we moved to Jude's (at age 16), I was like, "No. I want to stay with Noah!" But then when it was time to go back to Noah's part of the story, I was like, "No. I want to stay with Jude!" And the whole story was like that for me. Once again, Jandy Nelson has created gorgeously flawed characters in a heart-wrenching, life-affirming story accomplished with beautiful, lyrical writing.

I had really wanted to like this book, and did like certain aspects of it. But would I recommend it to the students at my high school? No, I wouldn't. I felt that the characters were not very likeable and the writing was incredibly over the top. No teenagers actually talk like this. When the flowery writing gets in the way, that's a problem for me. The huge number of coincidences and meetings made me feel that the town they live in must only have about 10 people in it. I honestly don't understand all the hype for this book - it sounds very much like an adult writing for other adults, and not for a YA audience. I will say though, that I slogged through it because I was curious to see how it would all work out, and the donut-eating scene was a laugh out loud moment. But overall, it was just too precious.

As I read I’ll Give you the Sun, I couldn’t connect the dots, tie the characters and plot together. I did complete the entire work and tried not to be inexorable, but I strained to keep open mind. Yet, I’m still lost. I know the author sprinkles superstition throughout the book, but I couldn’t understand how it related to the story. In addition, the book is about twins that grew up split apart and then were brought together. I think that may be my problem with book; it had two souls who were moving apart, along with my interest in the story.

Packaging: ★★★★★

This is for the HARDCOVER edition of this book. I loved the packaging of this book, and I’m so glad that I finally own a physical copy. The cover/sleeve art is beautiful, and the bare book is just as lovely, with a bright orange spine and indents on the cover that look like sun rays.

Writing Style: ★★★★☆

Jandy Nelson wrote I’ll Give You the Sun beautifully. Her dialogue, characterization, and the way she wrote and paced the sequence of events was wonderful. One of my only issues with her writing, and with this book in general, was that it could get a little too flowery for my taste – the writing was filled with metaphors that could get to be too much. Besides that, though, I loved the writing style of this book!

Characters: ★★★★½☆

I really loved the characters in this book – Jandy Nelson wrote them so beautifully and heartbreakingly. Seeing Noah and Jude from Noah’s perspective, when they were both 13, and then from Jude’s perspective, when they were 16, helped give me so much insight on their characters – it really saddened me to see what they once were and what they had become.

Noah and Jude Sweetwine are both extremely different and complex people, with their own idiosyncrasies and passions and secrets. I loved that it was emphasized that they both struggled with jealousy, because I feel as though that’s something that really exists in sibling dynamics but isn’t always written about – the jealousy that they both struggled with made them both do awful things. They were both really well developed throughout the course of this book, and I attribute a lot of that to the dual narratives. It was terrible to see both Noah and Jude, brimming with life and hope as 13-year-olds, having their lights dimmed as 16-year-olds.

The supporting characters in this book shone just as brightly as Noah and Jude – from their mom to their dad to Brian to Oscar to G., they were all so distinct in their characterization and so endearing. It’s been a while since I read a book with characters as vibrant as these, where I felt like they could just walk out of the pages and into the world any time they wanted.

Plot: ★★★★☆

One of my favorite things about this book is that its focal point is the Sweetwines, which is something that I feel is rarely seen in YA. Undeniably, the biggest focus of this book was the relationship between Jude and Noah, a pair of twins, along with their relationship(s) with their mother and father. The focus on family that is showcased in this book isn’t completely biological, either- G. and Oscar, and even G. and Jude, are just as much of family to each other as any biological family would be. Jandy Nelson literally says it herself, and I think that’s really important to convey.

While I didn’t cry at this book (I rarely cry whilst reading and in general), it genuinely touched me in so many different ways. The hurt that existed between Noah and Jude, but the obvious depth of the love they still had for each other, moved me and made me think of the near-indestructible love that siblings often have for each other. The different feelings of loss they both suffered with felt so raw and real, and I think their guilt was written and conveyed so wonderfully. She wrote Noah and Brian in a way that was so heartbreakingly pure and earnest that it ripped at my heartstrings rather than tugged (the only scene I teared up at in this book was the last scene with Brian and Noah).

The only issues I had with this book were really

1) The incredibly rushed ending. I felt like I received very little closure on Noah’s behalf, and I feel as if their family didn’t have time to reconnect and come together again after everything they went through. Literally, I think everything was resolved within 4-5 pages.

2) I felt that there was a little too much insta-love when it came to Jude and her love interest, but that may just be me being picky, since I’m not the hugest fan of romance.

Overall: ★★★★☆

Although I had a few issues with I’ll Give You the Sun, in the grand scheme of things, they didn’t get in the way of my giving it a 4/5 star rating. I’ll Give You the Sun was brimming with emotion and was both heartbreaking and healing – I really felt for these characters and for their pain, and the ways that they healed. I highly recommend this book to those who want their heart to be ripped to shreds and are torn between simultaneously crying and smiling like an idiot with joy.

I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN is a book I've been anticipating since I first read THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, Jandy Nelson's debut in 2009 or 2010. I was blown away by that book and anxious to read that. The wait between TSiE and this was 2-3 years and dude…IT WAS WORTH IT. WOWZA!!!! The novel is slow to start but PLEASE push forward. The two narratives are intertwined and the voices are so different, their stories so different, that you want to keep going and see how they connect. Jude is a little harder to connect with as a character but I really felt for Noah even by page 2. Both are artists and it's clear through Nelson's writing that she GETS being a sculptor and painter. Just, wow. I can't wait to reread and reread this book. Pick this up today.

Here is another example of me feeling like I read a different book than everyone else. I'll Give You the Sun has been incredibly hyped in the YA book community (and beyond) for several months. When I first read the synopsis last fall I decided it didn't particularly interest me. But the hype grew and grew and, even though I didn't feel excited about it, I decided to read it. So basically I caved to BRPP - book-related peer pressure. (Note to self: Let this be the last time. When I'm feeling ambivalent about a book and decide to read it anyway based on hype I am rarely blown away. I know what I like and don't like and if my initial feeling is 'this one isn't really for me' then it probably isn't.)

I enjoyed the alternating POV's between twins Noah and Jude, especially the alternating timeframes - Noah's chapters from when the twins were 13-14 and Jude's chapters at the age of 16. The chapters from Noah's POV focused on a time that was full of change for Noah, Jude and their family. Events that made a huge impact on their lives and who they would become. And, despite this, I often felt the narrative was slow-moving. I found myself thinking "will something please just happen already?"

Noah and Jude's relationship was a complex one - filled with competition, jealousy, guilt, sacrifice, connection and love. I did find that I preferred Noah's chapters/POV over Jude's. Somehow I found him more relatable and at times it was almost as if I were experiencing all his feelings of love, confusion, disappointment, euphoria. His exploration of a new relationship and all the intense feelings that go with that were portrayed so well.

Unfortunately much of the conflict with the novel was based on one of my biggest pet peeves in fiction: a severe lack of communication. I simply cannot stand it when major issues could be solved by a single conversation. All it would take would be a sharing of information and *poof* problem solved. So that definitely tainted my feelings for the story.

The writing style seems to be something that most reviewers gush over. For me, not so much. At times it worked and others times it didn't. A little goes a long way with purple prose and I found it to be overdone and at times distracting. So, the very thing that made others adore this book so much is one of the things that, for me, detracted from it. I did enjoy the various connections throughout the story and the feeling that so many events and relationships were meant to be.

In no way was I'll Give You the Sun a bad book. Nor did I dislike it. I simply did not get from it what so many others seemed to. And I do not feel passionately about it like so many do.

I loved The Sky is Everywhere, Jandy Nelson's debut novel, so I was excited to read this one. It didn't disappoint. The story is stunning. I adored the dual point of views from the varying time periods. I also liked the element of mystery to the novel and figuring out exactly what happened to Noah and Jude. But most of all, I loved the story of Noah and Jude. It was so good. I did feel a little bogged down with the long chapter lengths (especially since it's YA), and some of the quirky language. I also wonder if teens are truly the target audience of the book. It just didn't sit with me as a novel teens will flock to reading. Maybe too literary? Either way, I liked it. You probably will too.

Recently our bookclub chose to read two YA novels. Of the two, this one was the clear standout for me. It sits in that genre called crossover fiction. It relates as much to older teenagers as it does to their parents.

With some novels which switch the narrative between two characters, and two different time periods, you can lose the flow of the story. This novel is clever in the way that the two characters not only have completely different voices, but the very look and feel of the pages themselves are different. When we are with Noah, the writing is poetic and the pages follow in this artisitc vein, with painted swirls and patterns of black & gray around the border. When we are with his twin sister Jude the pages are plain and simple. That’s not to say her story is simplistic. Far from it. Both characters are complex and have their own internal battles going on. The two stories are woven cleverly together towards the climax.

The story deals with themes which would challenge younger readers, such as sex without consent, death of a parent, parental infidelety, sexuality and addictions. As an ex teen librarian, I would recommend older teens and their parents read this book together, or that English teachers assign it as class reading. I am confident that in either a home or school setting it would spark some thought-provoking conversations. It’s a book with many layers, but ultimately it’s about the complexity of the human heart and the consequences of choices.

I apologise in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes. I'm typing on a Kindle which I am not really used to and it's a bit slow on the uptake.

So, I got this book on a whim from my school library, when I didn't really have anything else to read. I just grabbed it because it was a book the library had just gotten and I liked the description inside the cover. I never expected that it would be as mazing as it was.

I loved Noah. He was just so easy to relate to for me, the
feeling of never quite understanding other people, thinking more in pictures than words, and not being that pefectly normal straight kid, but being to afriad to come out; his life felt so similar to mine. I loved reading his parts, they felt like so personal to me. The way his character was described without having to explicitly state who he was to the reader ws beautiful; how it described what the world looked like to him, what was actually going on, and how he was always creating paintings in his mind, these were such amazing ways of building a character.

Of course, Jude was wonderful as well. The way that she tried to cling onto her loved ones by creating ghosts and relying on superstitions created such an original character, and reading her chapters gave a lot of insight to how her family changed after those awful events. I loved reading about how she brought them back to who they really were, and how she stopped hiding and became her real self.

I really loved how the story was told, as well. Going from Noah to Jude; past to future, was a clever way to tell the story and show how much these characters changed. It's funny; I'm not really sure why, but I actually enjoyed that I didn't entirely like a few of the characters at different points during the book. It just seemed natural that they would go to different personlities, and that, like anybody else, there would be some which weren't all that geat, or even a vaguely likeable.

This was such a purely beautiful book, full of quote-worthy passages. I'm really glad I read it.

I fell in love with this book before I even finished it. Honestly, no other book can compare. And it's not just a book, it's a flipping work of art. Jandy is SUCH a supremely spectacular writer. I cannot recommend it enough, it's an HONOUR to have it on my bookshelf. Harry Potter used to be my favourite book (books) but not any more! Ugh, I just love this book so much, I have nothing bad to say about it.

I have so many words to describe this book. Vivid. Emotional. Poetic. Honest. I can’t honestly say anything bad about this book because I loved it so much. Jandy Nelson’s writing is so absolutely beautiful. Between Noah’s mind painting and Jude’s Sweetwine bible snippets, the reader can’t help but see through the eyes of the narrators. Every time Noah magically paints and describes the world around him, I could feel my heart pounding quicker because I could see the world the way he did. There was something so innocent, hopeful, beautiful, about Noah’s perspective that I suddenly remembered what it felt like to be thirteen. The world was suddenly full of vivid colors, even while Noah’s heart was breaking.

Jude’s point of view didn’t lack any of this magical beauty. Jude carries the darker part of the story for most of the novel, and her point of view juxtaposed Noah’s so perfectly. When he was up, she was down and vice versa. Jude was so relatable, at least for anyone who’s ever went through trauma or even someone who is a little quirky. She’s eccentric, a hypochondriac, and the very quintessential tortured sculptor. And yet, I found something of myself in her, as I suspect a lot of readers do.

Because this book had me smiling on one page and then chewing my lips the next, I give I’ll Give You the Sun a well-deserved 5 stars.

Fantastic job, Jandy Nelson, you’ve written my new favorite book.

Wow. I had no idea what I was getting into when I opened the covers of this book. A friend I trust recommended... but she never said anything more than I might like it.

This book is an experience; a feast of words and feelings. It is pure poetry and image and emotion all shared through the most original characters I have read in a long time: Noah and Jude, teenage fraternal twins. I'm a grandmother, writer and teacher and yet this YA novel moved me to want to read it again - which I will. Noah and Jude will make you laugh out loud, hold your breath and break your heart. Jandy Nelson is an unparalleled talent. She learned a lot as a literary agent and her advanced degree in poetry is put to great use.

Sorry, I've been gone for a while. I was reading Bell Jar which is an adult novel and this blog is mostly for Young Adult so I don't feel right posting a review for it. But if you guys, want one, comment below if you do. So let's get crackin' on this novel. I've been eyeing this novel for a while because its recommended to John Green and Rainbow Rowell fans and I am definitely fans of both.

Wow, just look at the cover, its's stunning. I love it, honestly. It's vibrant and colorful, it is very eye-catching. I like the cover because I feel like it fits perfectly with the novel. It follows the theme and yeah, it is beautiful.

So onto the actual book, this was a really good book and I am quite pleased with it. It was interesting to read an alternative point of view and both point of views take place in a different setting. Jude's point of view takes place in the present while Noah's point of view occurs in the past. I think that formatting of point of view made this book more interesting and intriguing. It also allows an aura of mysterious because the reader is constantly kept in the dark, but I feel like it is easy to connect the dots as you read. So there's a big twist and I don't know if the author wanted it to be hard to know or was building up to it, she was probably building up to it, but it quite easy to predict and I figured it out. And this is me we're talking about, the girl who has a horrible time predicting or foreseeing what could possibly occur.

Character analysis time! So what did I think of the main characters? I liked both of them, they both had their flaws, mistakes and downfalls. I liked Jude a little better because she was a bit of the 'underdog' because her brother, Noah was supposed to be the artist one, but Jude turns out to have it in her as well. I like Noah as well and it is quite easy to sympathize with him as well. But some of the mean things to Jude, makes me deduct points from him. Although, I'm not saying Jude was a saint. But both of them are easily likable. Also, there's another major character, Oscar who's British and has that bad-boy-esque aura surrounding him. Oscar adds a sense of humor into the novel. Another reason, I like Jude is that I really enjoy her point of view because she's very superstitious and quirky, it is quite cute and humorous. I really liked the trio of Oscar, Jude and the artist, And a major plus, there are a bunch of swoon-worthy quotes in this novel.

I recommend this to anyone who's a big fan of contemporary and want something different from other YA novels because this book is quite different, straying from the cliches. I really enjoyed it and I feel like many other will too. It seems a general crowd pleaser.

I will forever give this book 5 stars. If I could, give it infinity stars. Heres why:
-The way the author gets you into Noah's artistic mind is absolutely incredible. It made me appreciate color, which is a weird thing to get someone to learn. If you are an artist, this book will activate parts of your creative minds that you have never used before.
- how the characters are all intertwined is again, incredible. Beautiful also. There is so much love and heartache in this book. It actually messes you up in an amazing way.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read this and disregard the butt-hurt critics saying it is not healthy for teens to read, because of the heartache. Life is full of heartache, and its a breath of fresh air for this book to end happily. (MIND YOU I WAS 15 WHEN I READ THIS AND IT CHANGED ME, DIDN'T HURT ME)

I wanted to give this book five stars just because of the wonderfulness that was Noah (and Jude was an epic character as well). However, I just have a hard time with Nelson's writing style, the same thing happened with The Sky is Everywhere. I just have a hard time following the plot because their are way too many metaphors, I had the same problem with the Shatter Me series.

But besides the writing style giving me a headache I loved the plot and the characters, mainly Noah, and the way she tells the story from two points in time.

I recommend checking this out if you like heavy metaphor writing style, but if not just read for Noah, he is awesome.

I’ll Give You The Sun, Is told in the altering perspectives of twins Jude and Noah who live in a small coastal town called Lost Cove in northern California. Noah and Jude are basically inseparable until the summer before there eighth grade year. They are both 13 and there differences are really starting to come out. Jude jumps off cliffs wears red lipstick and fights everything there mother says. Noah is quite, constantly sketching, and other kids his age think he is weird. Noah's story takes place when they are 13 and Jude's takes place when they are 16. In the three years separating the stories, a number of circumstances have driven them apart. and they have gone from being incredibly close to barely speaking.

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson is possibly one of the greatest contemporary novels written for mature young adults.This novel asks the reader to consider that no matter how difficult the coming of age process can be in the end it will make you a better, stronger person. This story takes place over a three year time span, from the age of thirteen to sixteen for Jude and Noah and leaves out none of the gruelling struggles of growing up and trying to find out who you are. This whole story is a great example of how we all change and contradict ourselves as we grow up. At the very beginning of the book Noah is speaking about how he imagines the souls of everybody in his family. “Mom has a massive sunflower for a soul so big there’s hardly any room in her for organs. Jude and me have one soul between us that we share: a tree with its leaves on fire. And Dad has a plate of maggots for his.” (11) His mother has a wonderful soul and a big heart, because of there closeness Noah shares a soul with Jude, and that his father who is traditional and rational has a disgusting soul. This is not only an unjust and unfair description of his father, but as Noah will later find out all of them. Another example in the book of how the process of growing up makes you better was at the end when Jude describes Noah’ spray paint mural. “Fifteen minutes later, we’re on an abandoned construction site looking at a crumbling cement wall. On it, in a range of color, is… everything.” (352) It is a great example of how Noah took his past experiences, and mistakes and used them to his advantage to make what jude says is his best artwork he has ever done. While reading this novel we see two completely different sides of Jude.. In the beginning she is a daredevil, she pushes boundaries, and she fits in with the cool crowd. Then after her mother dies she does a total one eighty, she is afraid of everything, she sees danger where there is none, and starts wearing her “invisibility cloak”. Eventually we do get a glimpse of the real Jude. “Maybe Mom was wrong about that girl after all. Because that girl spits on guys who treat her badly. Maybe its that girl that who’s been missing. Maybe It's that girl breaking her way out of the rock rock at Guillermo’s. Maybe its that girl who can see it’s not my fault that a car with my mother in it lost control no matter what I did beforehand. I didn’t bring the bad luck to us, no matter how much it felt that way. it brought itself. It brings itself. And maybe it’s that girl who’s brave enough to admit to noah what I did.” (316). Here we finally for the first time getting to see the real jude from jude's perspective and it really helps in rapping up the ending to this book. The only ending that could have been more perfect for this book would be if it just never ended and I got to live in Lost Cove California with Jude and Noah forever.

I was ready to give this book six out of five stars and declare it the first real classic young adult novel of our time. In fact, I wanted to shout "Move over, Holden Caulfield," and hand the title of most confused and realistic adolescents of the twenty first century to Jude and Noah. I love the characters, the story, the descriptions, the true emotion that permeates this book from each fantastically written page to the next, until the ending. Ugh!!! What was the point of all that angst if the ending got lost somewhere between fantasy land and Disney World? Truly worth the read as this is a gifted writer. But if you are an aficionada of realistic literature, be prepared to be disappointed with the last fifty pages.

As an adult this is one of the better young adult novels I've read. It reminded me of being younger and feeling invincible even when everything didn't go right. This book is told from the viewpoints of Noah and his twin sister Jude starting when they are 13 years old. Both of them are artists and their mother Diana wants both of them to be accepted into the California School of Arts. It's a story of the power of love. When I read it I wished I could have seen all the artwork done by Noah and Jude and everyone else, maybe someday they'll publish a fully illustrated copy. Borrowed from the library.

This book is amazing. You need to pick up this book and read it now. The interconnectedness is amazing. This is one of the best books I have read all year. It is about twins. It tells the story from Noah's prospective when they are 13-14. It is from the girl twin, Jude's perspective when they are 16. It flips back and forth between the two. I don't want to say much more for spoiler reasons. I went into the book just knowing it was about twins and I think that is the best way to go into it. Again this book is amazing.

Book #41 Read in 2015
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (YA)

Noah and Jude are twins who are extremely close...at least until they turn 13. Jude begins to battle with her mother over fashion and makeup. Noah realizes that he is falling for Brian. A tragedy strikes their family and secrets keep the twins from being there as each other's support through this trying time. Noah narrates their 13th year; Jude their 16th year. What a difference three years can make. This book was a good read. Noah and Jude were complex and interesting characters. This book had good writing with elements of romance, humor and good plot twists in it.

I’ll Give You the Sun is different than any other book I’ve read. The writing style (it was lyrical to me), the story line, that themes, the characters, they were all excellent. There were a few things that I didn’t love, but overall it was a memorable and brilliant story that deserves 5 stars. Also, I listened to the audio version of this one and the narration was fantastic.

Twins Jude and Noah are both artists. So is their mother. This story is written in dual POV, from past to present. We get the perspective of 13 year old Noah in the past, and 16 year old Jude in the present. Noah and Jude are so different. Noah draws, he sees things in techni-color and paints in his head. Noah is by far my favorite character in this story. His past chapters were the best. His relationship with Brian, it was the best part of this book. Something between Noah and Jude broke around the 14 year mark. And we are left with 16 year old Jude who is nothing like her 13 year old self (and this is a good thing- 13 year old Jude annoyed me)

When we first get to the present chapters, I’m so curious as to what happened with Noah and Jude. Why is Noah different? Why has Jude completely changed? Little by little things start to come together and we see what happened and what made these two change.

After finishing this one, my first thought was- I really need to start reading more YA books. When you read so much of the same genre (for me, it’s romance) sometimes you need something different. I’ve picked up a lot more YA this year and I’ve loved a majority of the ones I’ve read. I didn’t love every single thing about this book, but it was so well written, so powerful and so stunning that there was no way I could give it less than 5 stars. Nelson is an author I will for sure be reading more from! If you’re looking for a powerful and whimsical YA book, pick this one up!

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked up I’ll Give You the Sun. It came to me highly recommended from a friend and I had only barely seen it around. I never thought the words could be as beautiful as the cover, but I was wrong. Nelson’s words painted a picture so well, so complete, and so beautifully - I never wanted to put this book down. Bonus for artsy characters! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for Nelson’s other book.

I'll Give You the Sun is a contemporary novel that is extremely well written with many different characters that I came to love. With a compelling plot, it immediately drew me in and I felt like I couldn’t put the book down.

I’ll Give You the Sun is a story about twins who are incredibly close until a catastrophic event that caused them to grow apart. The story is in both Jude and Noah’s point of views; however, Jude’s is told in the present when they are 16 and Noah’s is told in the past when they are 13. When I was reading the beginning, I was worried that I would get tired of hearing one viewpoint, but I was pleasantly surprised when I actually loved the way both Noah and Jude spoke. What I also loved about the book was the way Noah and Jude’s stories intertwined and learning how both connected, which makes the story more exciting to me.

The most interesting thing about this book was the way it was written. Nelson wrote with magical imagery, which did not overpower the plot of the story. While reading, you come to find out that Noah and Jude are both highly involved in art and superstitions, and both speak like they are about to paint a painting. She writes with many metaphors in the writing, which brings this book to life and makes you see what these two people are really feeling and what it is like to be in an artist’s mind.

If I had to criticize one thing about the book, it would be that I didn’t always agree with how Noah and Jude decided to deal with their problems. They both seemed to act irrationally at times, which might make sense with their drastic situations, but it would have been a lot less dramatic if they took different routes.

While this may sound like a terrible thing, don’t let that hinder you on buying this book. The writing is spectacular and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a funny and heart-warming contemporary novel.

This book took me a while to get into. It sat in my pile of library books for weeks, when I did start I found I couldn't quite get into it, after a week or so of leaving it in various vehicles and only reading it while i was really bored I picked it up to really crack down. I'd heard so many great things! I have to admit the beginning was somewhat choppy yet I did like it after 50 pages or so. The middle was a bit frustrating because of how much was going on and how nothing had come together yet. The end though. The end was good.
Overall I wish I could have liked it better in the beginning. It was worth the time ready through Bec for me the ending really was worth it.

This book was a wild ride from start to finish.

I will admit that when I first started reading Noah's portion of the story in the beginning, I felt like it was dragging. I think once I got past his and then finished Jude's and then went back to his is when I felt the magic from this book fully come alive.

Jandy Nelson perfectly captured my attention when it came to this. I would read this book on my way to work, only yearning for my shift to be over just so I can go back into this story. Towards the end of it, I found tears in my eyes that somehow just ended up being there! The details that she put into this and how each detailed was oriented to each character's personality (colors for Noah and the ocean for Jude) was simply breathtaking.

The message toward the end of the book of how there's always time for second or more chances and that you can remake your world resonated with me so hard. I just graduated from college and I've been trying to enter the workforce professionally. Doing so has caused me to lose a sense of who I was before all of this as an actor, musician, artist, adventurer, etc. This book reminded me that the worst thing to do is to live a lie. It reminded that there's always a chance to start over and that you just have to face destiny and be brave enough to do it. Thank you, Jandy Nelson, for rejuvenating me through your book.

For anyone who has been feeling lost or if they're a creative individual or if you're someone who has been having some real identity issues, please pick this book up immediately. You won't regret.

I wanted to like this book. However, I found it disjointed and pretentious. Ms. Nelson did a great job marketing herself. I wish that it had lived up to the hype.
I loved Noah. I found Jude amusing. Dual pov was not the problem. Time changes, giving titles to each event as though it's an art work, Grandma's "bible," in short, everything everyone praises...left me feeling cheated. Changing pov and time changes have been accomplished with much more grace by other writers. I think that people bowed to the hype (the author excels at marketing), and are afraid to NOT like this book.
This also lost two stars because of her cavalier treatment of young teens using a Ouija Board. That is simply irresponsible.

I think the thing I liked most about this book is the "twists." Unlike mystery/thrillers, this book doesn't hint at any sort of mystery or unknown element until quite a way into the story.Then, the mystery is revealed and another one pops up. It's an interesting way to tell a story and I really enjoyed it.

It took me so long to read this book because I got TOO emotionally invested... and my boyfriend became worried for my sanity. So, I had to put the book down for several weeks to distance myself in order to pick it up again without hysterically crying and screaming at the characters at 2am on a week night.

Excuses aside, I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. It’s probably my top 3, easily. I’d give it 7 stars if I could. Wow. Will definitely be reading her again! Maybe I’ll wait until my heart has recovered from this one first though.

There are certain things in life that are indescribable. You’ll try and try and try, and no matter what you do, you can’t find a word to describe it. Because that thing is so perfect, you feel ashamed to attribute one word to it.

Such is the case with I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN.

It was my first foray into the world of Jandy Nelson, and I will honestly (as if my reviews are anything but) say I was skeptical. I read contemporary very rarely, and the synopsis of I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN seems a little… boring.

But it was beautiful. And that is what I’m ashamed to call it. Beautiful is such a little word. Beautiful cannot even begin to describe I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN.

I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN gave me the sun, the moon, the trees. And it kept the flowers (you’ll see what I mean). It changed my views on so many things. It showed me two very different artists’ passions and gave it to me. Made me feel the passion an artist feels. It shoved it into my heart and made me feel, understand, love. It was painful. So painful and wonderful and I cannot understand how a book can be this amazing.

How it can make me feel so much. I’ve felt emotion, but not this. This is something else.

This is a story that can come true. It’s not fantasy. Not sci-fi. This is about a girl and boy, twins who were once inseparable, and the rift that drifted them apart. About a family of four who became two teams and then became three lone souls. This is about love and acceptance, about finding ourselves by finding each other.

Noah and Jude. NoahandJude were amazing. Inseparable twins torn apart by tragedy, grief, and more than anything, secrets. They begin their lives as two halves in a close circle, and as they get older, the circle grew larger, until they were two small slivers in a sea, floundering without one another. They need each other, and the helplessness they feel can be solved by simply talking to one another. As an older sister to three, this hit home pretty hard. I could relate on so many levels, I’m tearing up just by writing this.

Whether you read contemporary or not, read this book. Whether you’ve read a Jandy Nelson book or not, pick this book up. You will not regret it.

I despise Goodreads and the store at the moment for only allowing me 5 stars, when this novel deserves all the stars inside my soul. And the sun.

I won't bother to share all my opinions of this novel, as I feel they are quite worthless outside of my own brain. All I will say is I hope you will pick this book up and let it paint its story beneath your skin, both the ugliness and the blinding gorgeousness, so that a small part of it might stay with you forever, as it will with me.

I'm sure Jandy Nelson is sick of people comparing her two YA novels, both somewhat similar yet markedly different, but I'll do it anyway. I was a fan of The Sky Is Everywhere, particularly when I read it on paper rather than listening on audio, but for me, I'll Give You The Sun blew it out of the water. Jandy Nelson's talent with words was already good, but by this, her second novel, it's become amazing. Noah and Jude's quirky interjections - for Noah, the artsy titles of his mental drawings, and for Jude, passages from her grandma's bible of wisdom - worked better for me than the scraps of paper Lenny left around town, which were a little melodramatic for my taste. (Granted, Lenny had every right to be melodramatic. Maybe it's just my own allergy, as a teenage girl, to teenage girls writing poetry.) I appreciated that Noah and Jude's Grandma Sweetwine wasn't an exact copy of Lenny's Gran, although both had similar charm.

Nelson's previous novels aside, I loved almost everything about I'll Give You the Sun. Noah and Jude have very different but equally interesting voices. The magical realism element is well done. The ghosts of Dianna and Grandma Sweetwine don't seem to be figments of Jude's imagination, but Nelson doesn't get bogged down explaining the logistics of their presence: she just lets them be there and (especially in Grandma's case) be funny. As far as the twins' romances, I was more interested in the Brian/Noah storyline than the Jude/Oscar one. The stakes felt higher with Brian and Noah: I knew from the beginning that Jude and Oscar would get together, but the outcome with Brian and Noah was really up in the air. And of course, Brian and Noah have the societal stakes against them.

Great, great book overall. I tore through it in a day.

4.25 stars

When I first picked up I’ll Give You the Sun and started reading my brain was confused. This was a book I was excited to read and wanted to love, I really enjoyed The Sky is Everywhere and was so happy that Jandy Nelson finally had another book out. And then I met Noah. Noah who’s 13-years-old and, no offense, but, really flipping weird. Noah is an artist, a kid who has few friends and is consistently targeted by bullies, and someone who’s very much trying to figure out who he is as a person and what role he plays in this family. He’s a very imaginative person and his narrative really reflects that. His descriptions of people/places/things that happen are beautiful and intense, but they’re also not always rooted in reality. Noah would say something like “and then bats swooped down and attacked his, sucking all the blood out of his body,” but then in the next sentence say what really happened. Going in I knew the story would eventually switch over to Jude, Noah’s twin sister, several years later and I found myself bidding my time hoping that switch would come sooner rather than later.

Then the story switched over to Jude, sooner than I expected (it actually switches back and forth between the siblings maybe three or four times) and things were not better. Jude, who’s described by Noah as being the fun, “normal,” social twin has, no offense, but, turned into a bit of a freak. After a terrible tragedy, I won’t spoil it even though it happens fairly early on, Jude has retreated inside herself and wears baggy, unflattering clothes, has sworn off boys, and has zero friends. Jude also puts a lot of stock in a book her deceased grandmother left her that she calls “the bible” which is full of old wives tales and superstitions. Oh, plus she routinely sees/hears/feels the presence of the ghosts of a couple dead family members.

Basically things were weird. Really weird. Imaginative descriptions, very unique personalities, and ghosts aren’t really my thing. In the first 100-150 pages of the book I probably considered putting it down 100-150 times. But I kept going because of Jandy Nelson and because there were moments I loved the story, the characters, and I dying to keep turning the pages and find out how Noah and Jude rebuilt their relationship.

As I read more and more I became really invested in Noah and Jude’s story and I really couldn’t put it down. Part of that was helped by the way the story moved back and forth between Noah and Jude. Both of their stories, the before and the after, were so interesting and compelling and the fact that each of them only had half of the story helped to make me just as interested in one part as I was in the other. It was also just insane to see Noah and Jude at the beginning of Noah’s story and then, in Jude’s part of the story, see how terrible their relationship had become. It wasn’t unbelievable in the bad sense of the word, but it was just heartbreaking and terrible.

The way that Jandy Nelson constructed the story was just so remarkable. Not only the way Noah had the story of the past and Jude has the story of the present and neither of them knew what had happened/was happening with each other, but the way that each of their individual parts of the story unfolded was so smart and well done. There were some moments with some convenient coincidences that in another book might be a little unbelievable, but Jandy Nelson is just so smart and her writing is so strong and since she already was using such imaginative story telling and descriptions and ghosts and magic it all just worked together.

Bottom Line: I’m not going to lie, this is a weird story and as a fan of realistic contemporary fiction the oddness of the story threw me at first and it took me a while to settle in, but it was so worth it. I’ll Give You the Sun is smart, unique, interesting, heartbreaking, and by the end I came to completely love and admire it. I’m not going to tell you it isn’t a weird story, but I will say it’s worth it in the end.

This book is… Crazy. Wild. Beautiful. Magnificent. Bizarre. Weird… In the best possible way.
I read ferociously, diving right in and only surfacing when it was done. Eccentric, unconventional characters which I adored and who fed my soul. One bite at a time. A well deserved 5-star award.
@crushingcinders

This book was very cleverly written I will give it that. The writing style however does take some getting use to and I times I found it distracting. I also found it to be a bit predictable. I can see why this book has so many great reviews but I personally don't think it's all that.

This has a great story line, but the thing I loved more is how the author communicates so much emotion and personality with clever turns of phrase. It’s like a poetry story. (Me - not so good with the words. :)). The way she wrote made the characters so real and unique.

This book was a fantastic read. I literally laughed and cried, but it was so wonderful. I fell in love with all of the characters. I loved how it was told in different perspectives in different time frames. It was like we were getting the entire story little by little. And you can guess what will happen, but you can't know for sure. But little by little you get the entire story and when it does... I guess you will have to read to find out.

Jude and Noah are twins- inextricably linked forever by a shared womb. They share narration duty in this book, but what makes it interesting is that they are narrating two different periods of time- Noah narrates their lives at 13-14, Jude narrates their lives at age 16. While normally this sort of back and forth play with timelines makes me nutty, it really works in this book as the events that unfold in the past, have repercussions that the twins have to deal with at age 16. I generally enjoyed Noah's chapters more, but in the end, I came to appreciate Jude's point of view as well.

The writing in this book was hilariously flowery at times. I understood what Jandy Nelson was trying to do- to show us how artistic, creative and observant the characters were but at some point, she crossed a "too-many-metaphors" line with me and I began to roll my eyes at some of the characters' descriptions of their world.

An interesting story over all though, and good use of different narrators really emphasize the love, jealousy and connection between Noah and Jude. I waffle between 3- 3 1/2 stars but I'm going to stick with 3 here.

This book has just now become my favorite book ever. Of. All. Time. The writing is absolutely perfect for this book. Its got so many feels going on. There was happiness, sadness, funniness, and seriousness. Its got so much going on but not in a bad way that has you confused but in a good way that makes you want to go on the roller coaster ride that is this book over and over again. I love the way this book handled the many sensitive topics it covered so well. The characters in the book are developed quite nicely. I love how the POV goes from one sibling to the other and at different points in their lives. The way EVERYONES live is so intertwined in this book is amazing to me. The way she wrote just makes you not want to stop reading because you want to see what going to happen. I literally found nothing wrong with this book.

This was actually a tough book for me to rate because I went back and forth in my mind while reading it wondering if it would be a 3.5 but the ending saved this book for me. I enjoyed the book coming together. What killed my love for this book while reading it was the inner dialogue, way to much, not a fan. Jude and her twin brother Noah live within their own minds 80% of this book. They say things in their heads without stating out loud and it just got to be too much in the storyline because they hurt themselves and others by withholding the truth.

This is hands down my favorite book. My sister also read it, and didn't enjoy the narrative as much as I did. It's a very artsy book, especially in the way Noah speaks, and as an 'artist' (I throw paint around a lot) I totally understood where Noah was coming from.
The book had some major twists which I didn't see coming, which you don't always get in books. Overall, it was a super awesome book, with relatable characters (in Noah anyway). Definitely give it a try if your looking for a book with a gay character, that DOESN'T end up in the kill-your-gays trope.

An amazing novel that takes words and transforms them into a visual experience of art. All the struggles of growing up and finding yourself mixed with the complex emotions of forgiveness. The prose is enough to keep you up at night thinking and the twists will keep you from putting the book/kindle/phone/etc. down. The bond between twins Jude and Noah are so powerful and their shared outlook on life is so unique. Although I was skeptical about reading about kids at such young ages (13 and 16 interchangeably), the lessons were relatable and noteworthy. Pleasantly surprised but it is now one of my favorite books.

I adored Ms. Nelson's debut THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, and am happy to report the same response to I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN. In gorgeous language, this novel navigates the story of teen twins Jude and Noah, alternating between their POVs to tell their story of loss, betrayal, art and love. The structure is compelling, the writing breathtaking, and the characterizations deep and engaging--easily one of the most satisfying books I've read in the last few years!

I read this book for a multicultural literature college course for studying teachers. This is such an amazing, and heartwarming story for adults and young adults alike. All young adults, no matter their background or life experiences, could greatly benefit from reading this story and analyzing its various themes. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is after the feeling of experiencing a “window” book (looking out into a life different from your own) or a “mirror” book (seeing yourself in the story), as my professor says. Such an entertaining read.

Wow! Jandy Nelson rocked my world with her most recent release, I’ll Give You the Sun. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a young adult book as much, either audio or hardcopy. Her complicated plot twists and turns in ways I never saw coming, but her young protagonists are the true stars of this show.

Noah and Jude. Twins. Brother and sister. A boy struggling with his sexual identity and a girl who has sworn off boys forever. During a time frame that spans several years, in long chapters, Noah tells the first part of their story and Jude fills in the rest. The tone of this novel is charged with the siblings’ emotional turmoil. I laughed. I cried. And at times I wanted to chisel Jude’s rock sculpture into a million pieces. When their family suffers tragedy, the twins grow apart. Driven by jealousy, Noah and Jude inflict great pain on one another. The betrayal of these horrific acts will leave you breathless. The guilt and honesty will break your heart.

This is not a spoiler alert but a warning to my more sensitive readers. Some might find the scenes between the adolescent male lovers offensive. Though graphic, I didn’t find them vulgar. I consider myself fairly conservative. In my mind, this author does an admirable job of portraying their feelings for one another. Nelson reminds us of the joy of first love and gives us pause to consider how confusing that love can be if you’re struggling with your sexuality identity.

For more of my reviews, visit my website at www.chroniclesofavidreader.com

The first thought I had after finishing this book, was “awwww”. This is a tremendously beautiful story with prose and characters that will capture your heart and tear your soul into a million tiny pieces before gluing it all back together again to leave a smile on your face with its imperfectly perfect ending. I can’t wait to read more of Ms Nelson’s books!

That. Was freaking great. The descriptions of emotional pain were so visceral at times I was afraid to pick it back up, because I wasn't sure my heart could handle it. But the descriptions of pleasure are too, and of art, and of love, and of loss, and God, this was just beautiful. For me, the ending was unquestionably too neat, but I'm not gonna lie - I was secretly grateful for it. Definitely one of my favorites of the year.

I've been trying to find a novel that I love so much I can't wait to get home from work and return to it each night. After way too long searching, I finally found it in "I'll Give You the Sun." Jandy Nelson's voice is so unlike others--she grabs you from the collar on practically every page. The lead characters were richly drawn and I loved the way she weaved visual art in with the narrative. The book is also full of suspense; I kept visualizing how the movie would play out (though the ghost scenes might be a challenge). Loved, loved this book and now can't wait to read "The Sky is Everywhere."

This book is now my favorite book of 2016. Absolutely stunning writing. This book made me see the world in a new way. This author dug deep and poured herself into this book. I will place this book on my favorites shelf to treasure forever. Anything else I say will just diminish the power of this book. Bravo, Jandy Nelson!

I want to give this book the sun. I mean it--it's an emotional roller coaster, and the audio version only adds to the depth of it. Beautiful, evocative writing, getting to the heart at what makes us broken, and what we need to be whole. How sometimes the worst possible event in your life can actually free you to be who you need to be. A must read/listen to fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell.

I'll Give You the Sun is a young adult contemporary told in a dual perspective format. Twins Noah and Jude were once close, but the older they get the more they drift apart. They each take turns telling the story, Noah at age 13 and Jude at age 16. This difference in perspective and time period is extremely interesting. It allows the reader to put together the pieces of the story and discover the intricately woven masterpiece that Nelson created.

I don't want to tell you much about the plot, as I think I'll Give You the Sun is best read with an open mind. This book is about family, love, self-discovery, and so much more. It is truly heartbreaking, but also very lovely. The writing is quite unique, and often written in a dreamlike style. It took a few chapters for me to really get into the rhythm of Nelson's writing, but I learned to love it very quickly.

My favorite aspect of I'll Give You the Sun is the character development. Both Noah and Jude have different narrative styles, and Nelson does an amazing job at creating specific personality traits for both of them. For instance, Noah is an artist and often thinks in terms of the paintings he creates in his mind. On the other hand, Jude believes in the bible her grandma left for her, and often recites its passages for the reader while adding her own flair to them. I loved being in the heads of these two characters, and by the end of the book I felt as if I really knew them.

I'll Give You the Sun is a wonderful book, and I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I did think the ending was a little rushed, and I would have liked the story to continue for at least another chapter. I also found a few grammatical mistakes, and as you know I always deduct for those in my star ratings. Otherwise, I think Nelson's story is extremely captivating. I highly recommend this contemporary, and plan on picking up Nelson's other book The Sky is Everywhere at some point in the future.

What a joy to read this book! It brings me to the height of pleasure, to the lowest of despair for the MCs. It made cry and smile and fall in love. I recommend it for anyone who wants to get high on reading an addictive romance & slice of life mystery!

My heart was broken into a million pieces by this book in ninety different ways then sewn back together again. I cannot express how much I love this book. It's heart-wrenching and relatable and, honestly, it's magical. Every other book I've read pales in comparison to this one.
Please read this book.
It'll change your life.

I am 17 so let’s just start with that. My taste is books ranges from Gatsby to Twilight and I can say that this book has definitely changed my opinion on all other books. Jandy Nelson opened me into a whole new world of writing and story lines.
She is one of the few authors that I have read that can actually write different povs while making them actually sound different.
She made the characters so vivid and real and I feel like I know them in real life. Over all she opened up a whole new world of story telling and I am excited to read more.

I bought this for my teenager who doesn't like to read, but this book got to her. She said that it had really good characters and a good storyline but best of all, it was interesting enough to get her to keep reading!

The characters and works of art are still bouncing around in my head. I can't quit thinking about this book! It's like a patchwork quilt made from the most colorful languages that you just want to snuggle in forever. Love this so much! I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

I can't say enough about Jandy Nelson but I figured a small customer review could do for now. I'll Give You the Sun was phenomenal. The relationship between brother and sister reminded me of my relationship with my brother. I couldn't put the book down.

If you want to read a book about growing up, finding your true self, romantic love, family love, platonic love, read this book right now.

P.S. Jandy, I would give you the mountains and the trees for you to write another book!

I seriously love this book so much. The writing is beautiful and its a refreshing read from all the dystopian style books that are popular nowadays. I love the format of this book and how it switches perspectives and I also love how it's not afraid to talk about controversial topics. The love the character development and the constant feeling of what is going to happen next. This book kept me on my toes until the very end and I didn't set it down until I finished. It's completely captivating and an absolute incredible read. I recommend to anyone and everyone.

I am absolutely in love with this book. I had the pleasure of meeting Jandy at the end of May, and actually didn't read the book until I got home after her author talk (which is where we met.) I could not put it down. I laughed and cried and lied in bed upon finishing it unsure of what to do with myself. I wish I could do a mind wipe so I could have the thrill of reading it for the first time all over again. I haven't been this excited over a book since Harry Potter. This book is so visually and verbally stunning, and it makes my heart swell just to think of how beautifully Jandy writes. I am honestly thankful to have had the chance to have met her, and read this book, because it changed my life as a writer, and how I see the world around me.
No regrets whatsoever for how fangirlish that review sounds. I loved this book.

Twins Noah and Jude tell two sides of a story involving a tortured artist, a charming Brit, a puckish boy-next-door, a ghost (or two), and one twin’s acceptance into a prestigious art school. Secrets and regrets unravel as the characters plunge toward the redemptive finale. I’ll Give You the Sun pulls the reader under like a riptide, reminding one what it feels like to truly surrender to a book. -Lelia Nebeker, Bloggers Recommend

This book was so visual- I could see every scene. I think it would make a fantastic movie. Someone make that happen. Some parts were a little cheesy and it was pretty predictable- I saw the ending coming from the third chapter.... But I just really loved this story and these characters and this writing.

I'm so glad I spotted this book on EW's The Must List. It's the story of fraternal twins Jude and Noah, who once were inseparable but are torn apart by jealousy, misunderstanding, and guilt. The story is fast paced and the novel's time shifting structure kept me guessing. Jandy Nelson did a great job creating Jude and Noah. They are both vividly alive on the page. Best of all...Spoiler maybe...the book has the type of ending I'm a sucker for.

5 Stars is not really enough. Beautiful!!!
Most definitely for the older YA or adult audience. Sexual content. Specific, though not graphic. Homophobes should not read this. Lovers of art, and light, and joy, and LOVE and stellar outstanding writing should get a copy immediately.
I will be getting a copy of Jandy's first book right away.

I'll Give You the Sun is an elaborate puzzle of confusion and heart wrenching loss, but when all the pieces come together there is healing and rebirth. The characters are like long- lost friends with secrets you have yet to discover. This is the kind of book you want to keep close and marvel at its wonder.

This is one of the most brilliant books I've read in years. It is a total work of art from plot to characters to the writing to - gah - I could go on and on. I am in love with this book. I shed tears many times while reading. I can't wait to give this one another read. Jandy Nelson is an incredibly skilled writer.

this book was AMAZING!
i always liked reading, but this book was the first book that i wanted to just sit down and read for hours on end.
i loved noah and brian and everyone else
you should definitely get it and give jandy and her book the love they deserve

Amazingly well written, tangled knot of a story. Dealing with a little bit of everything in being a teenager. Love, loss, fear, acceptance, secrets, perceptions and pain. I will read this multiple times just for the craft of writing used in this heart-rending and uplifting book.

The book started off somewhat slow. The POV jumps between twin siblings and at first it is hard to focus on. About 100 pages into the book, I was completely hooked. I felt every emotion while reading this and when it was over I just felt giddy and overwhelmed. This book is amazing!!

This is an unusual story about teenagers in love. A set of twins
decide to apply to a local art school. When their parents decide to separate, the twins try to win the hearts of their parents. They become jealous of each other and hurt each other over and over.
Love overcomes all and eventually life begins again.

An interesting, haunting book, that I liked - until I didn't. The author is talented and there is much to admire about the writing. An intriguing premise, and likeable characters...up to a point. Something about the relationship between the girl and the sculptor was very weird, and the big twist was telegraphed far too soon. Otherwise, an interesting exploration of human weaknesses, as the characters hurt each other on purpose and try to make amends. The relationship between the young boys was actually very sweet, believable, and sympathetic. The female character got a little wearing though, and the male adults ruined the book for me, the strange sculptor particularly. I found his actions not believable, the coincidences just too contrived. The writing is excellent, though, so three instead of two stars.

This book does no good for LGBT youth. While it brings up huge emotional issues many LGBT youth experience it does not deal with them, let alone in healthy ways. There are not repercussions of these issues. The emotional gauntlet of one partner being out and the other still in the closet, solved off page, literally in one walk through the woods. The coming out process? Glossed over, no one cares. Suicidal actions made repeatedly by LGBT character. No biggie, he just needed to be yelled at. This type of narrative renders REAL LGBT problems to be inconsequential at best and attention seeking at worst.

There are no healthy, emotionally supportive relationships in this book. None. Several also border on abusive in DANGEROUS ways. Don't give this book to teens.

The prose is extravagant and it would be easy for many to focus on that fantastical lens these actions are seen through. But sexual contact of dubious consent involving a 13 year old, suicidal actions, PTSD, and emotionally manipulative parents should not be glossed over by fluffy prose.

I had the immense pleasure of reading an ARC of this book from the ALA conference this year. It was a true work of literary art. Breathtakingly beautiful and poignant, despite the young age of the characters in the story. For me, it never lagged and I was fully immersed in the back-and-forth point-of-views from the very first page. Artfully woven, I cherished every last page of this amazing book. Not just for teens, this is worth reading at any age.

This is one of the few books that I have read that I have recommended to all of my friends. The story was considerably fresher than other YA books, and everything was very dynamic. I felt that the only downside was that Jude's arc was a little predictable and that I was just enduring it in order to get back to Noah. Nevertheless, this is a spectacular book and worth the read!

My second Jandy Nelson book. EXCELLENT. I officially love this author.

This book is stuffed full of excellent lines, believable situations with larger than life characters. Loved the diversity. I'd read a cereal box Jandy Nelson wrote copy for....

A book I want my teens to read - and my friends.

Seriously - another book that should be a movie. It'd make a million.

There are not adequate words for this book. I read a lot. I mean A LOT. And this book will forever go down as my favorite. Ive never experienced anything like it. Its was beautiful and perfect and literally breathtaking. Its a treasure. Ill read it over and over, which I dont do. I finished it a month ago and still think about it. To think that I might have looked over it or not read it. I feel like its a priceless treasure that others need to experience. Seriously, read it!!

This book is so beautifully written I can't stop reading and rereading. It gives me emotions I didn't think I could feel and this warmth inside my chest the whole time. I first read this book and I was sad when Jude's part came because I loved Noah with all my heart but rereading it, I started feel that way with Jude and her chapters. There would be moments where I realize that each of their own POVs are so beautiful on their own that together, they make something extraordinary. I would happily recommend this to anyone. Definitely my favorite book.

I was so impressed with how Nelson wrote Noah. The way he saw things as art all the time was such a unique perspective for a character and it was such a intimate look into his life, his feelings,unlike I've ever seen an author describe a character before. There are enough twists throughout the story to keep you guessing and wanting more, and the themes of love, family and destiny were strongly written. I highly recommend!

Whether you are an adolescent or an adult, male or female, Jandy Nelson's novel is not to be missed. She has created two compelling characters-- twins Jude and Noah-- who have a powerful and unique relationship. Everyone will find bits of themselves reflected in these two complex people. Through some normal, and not so normal, challenges of growing up, they learn more about themselves and each other. The language in the novel is the most poetic prose I have ever read, and the novel is a work of art.

From the character building to the artistic plotline the author does a great job. However, it is the incredible writing what stands out the most. Jandy Nelson is known for her heart-warming characters and writing style, but as this book explores artistic topics she managed to showed it off more.

THIS WAS THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. Nelson uses her wonderful gift of writing to write a creative, funny, beautiful, thought provoking tale that is sure to make you laugh, cry, and fall in love. I could not put this book down, and have recommended it to so many people. The character development is beautiful, the characters are able to pull you into the story. The story line is very creative. I have read so many books, but have never read a book as well written as this one.

An amazing book by Jandy Nelson! The first time I finished reading this book, it became one of my favorites. The narrative is emotional, intimate, and imaginative, and the character development is outstanding. Give it a read, it won't disappoint!

Fantastic book that deftly mixes a classic coming of age story with the life-long journey of discovering who we really are. The characters are so engrossing, that it feels sad to read the last page and leave the world that Jandy Nelson so capably and lovingly created.

Everyone seems to love this book. I was hoping that I would fall in love with it like everyone else did. Unfortunately, this book didn't really hook me in until I was almost 3/4ths done with the story, which in my opinion is a little too late to try and capture my attention. I seemed to like one twin's story over the other, and it comes down to the simple fact that Noah's story was congested with metaphors. I like metaphors, but I thought they were used way too much. This story is great because it features a young boy going through puberty trying to figure out his feelings and his sexuality. We need more diverse books like this and this was a great addition.

full review on: https://shesreading.wordpress.com
It actually took me two tries to read this.
The first time, a couple months ago, I only made it about 1/4 of the way through, and I just couldn’t get into the story. But I am so happy I decided to give it another try because I FELL IN LOVE. Can you marry a book? I want to marry this book.
I highly recommend this. You will cry, you will laugh, you will throw the book in anger. It’s wonderful. Perfect.

Read this book. It is listed as a young adult novel but as a senior citizen I could not put it down and have recommended it to everyone. I don't want to spoil the plot, just start reading and let it take you into this special world.

The beautiful follow of words in this book is amazing. The author paints the world around us i a way I've never experienced. I was hooked. I wanted to reach the end and follow the destination.
This. Ok has changed the way I see beauty in the world

As a 15 year old female I found this book outstanding. Most definitely the best book I've ever read. "I'll Give You the Sun" kept me reading until the very last page and I still wanted more. There is so much sadness, mystery, and creativity in this book. Not only is the writing good but the storyline is incredible as well. After finishing this book I told everyone I knew about it and that provoked very interesting conversations that went deeper than your typical teen novel love stories. Overall incredible book, an absolute must read.

This book is sososoSO wonderful. YA literature is not normally my thing, but something drew me to this book and I am so glad it did. I will highly recommend this book to anyone, teens and adults alike.

This book was a heartwarming tale for me. I was always skeptical about the hardships we face growing up. I had a rough time with siblings and I connected so well with the lack of communication that severed them. This book showed me that you can get past all that and work things out. I'd recommend this book to anyone ever. Especially those who struggle with family ties

This story is full of symbols, magic, heartache and romance. I loved the characters and the HE. There were a few parts that I breezed over and others that I read twice. I guess I liked the romance parts best.

Really enjoyed this book! Not my usual read but I accidentally stole it from my mom's eLibrary account and then felt I had to read it! So well written, her writing style is a little chaotic and takes some time to get used to but I loved her writing style by the end. So much pain but also so much happiness. Some of it was predictable but she kept some wonderful secrets back so I still felt like I was being hit by revelations. Almost made me want to have twins...almost.

Parents be careful. Much of the "depth of passion" lauded by reviewers happens to 7th/8th graders (along with underage nude modeling at a high school). The portrayal of sexuality (which PERMEATES this book) would be easier to believe if it happened to older characters. Save this for late teen readers, not 13 year olds. The homosexual relationship was well done. The writing imagery was outstanding.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson was an AMAZING book everyone should read! The way the author switches between Noah and Jude's perspective is so interesting and leaves you wanting to read more. The way it is written is so beautifully different from so many other things i have read. The ending of the book is filled with so much emotion!

I absolutely loved this book. As someone who reads a lot of YA, this book was probably the best YA novel I've ever read. Beautifully written, the story unfolds in a captivating way by jumping through time and points of view. The influence of art, along with family and love made me never want to put this book down.

I absolutely loved this book, with its endearing characters and unique language. When I was finished, I wanted to flip it back to the beginning and start all over again. One of my favorite books of the year so far!

This is an absolute pleasure of a book to read. You will fall in love with the characters. The way Nelson describes everything from her characters point of view is beautiful and unique. She weaves an amazing story with endearing and rich characters. I couldn't put it down and was so sad to finish.

I'm not usually a huge fan of books that go back and forth between different characters but this book was different. Every detail was written so well and this book made you hit every single emotion. I laughed, I cried, I cringed... I wish I could read it for the first time again!

This was honestly one of the best reads I had all year. And it actually took me out of my reading slump that I had for so long. I would recommend this book to everyone but especially to the my artist friends or anyone who needs a good book for the holidays

The most electrifying, raw, honest, emotional, sensory overloaded story I've read in ages. Absolutely loved loved loved Jandy Nelson's original, exquisite characters and writing and can't wait to read her other book!

There is only to say: this book and its sensational broken and flawlessly flawed character's will truly remake your world. Magnificent and proud it stands a masterpiece of pure lovely literature. I think Noah Sweetwine just became my new favorite character.
Just buy the book. No way anything i say can put a candle to Jandy Nelson's groundbreaking novel.

Beautiful story about love, family, and the value of honesty. I highly recommend this book. Even though it only spans three years, I felt I got to see Jude and Noah grow up together. Great storytelling.

I know what you're thinking: "This is another one of those over-hyped YA novels that will end up underwhelming me." It isn't! It won't! Jandy's the real deal. Language, voice, structure, plot. This book has it all. Read it!

I can't stop thinking about this book. Gorgeous writing. Beautiful, vivid, well-developed characters that I would want to know in real life. Did not want the story to end but it did perfectly and dramatically. I could see these characters in my head as I was reading. Checked it out from the library but I've already re-read it twice so will be buying a copy soon.

Fantastic! I'm way out of the 'target market' for this, but the story and writing are so compelling that it easily transcends age, gender and genre. It's like YA meets adult magical realism. If you like John Green you'll also love this. Must read.

(I listened to this on Audible)

The writing is spectacular. The detail within each sentence, words used in ways I haven't seen them used before, descriptions that shake your world by how resounding they are. I love this book wholeheartedly. The storyline is incredible and complex, and Noah and Jude are such beautiful characters. I love everything about this book! Definitely one of my favorites.

It's so rare that a book so honest and beautifully written comes along. This is the story of twins who trade the world like playing cards and who see life as potential paintings.
The emotions portrayed in this book are so raw and honest that the characters not only feel real, but like you know them yourself.
The story is to amazing to pass up. Please, just read it

I've never written a book review before, and I've read countless books. I had to review this book because it was a stunning read. I don't think I will be able to get this book out of my head for quite some time. I HIGHLY recommend it.

This book is one of the most beautiful literary pieces I've ever experienced. It is exactly what I wanted it to be, and I could hardly put it down. It's descriptions of love, art, loss, hate, and reconciliation made me feel a way that no book has ever made me feel.

I didn't think I could possibly like this more than THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE (Nelson's debut and one of my favorite teen reads of all time), but it blew all my expectations away. This is beautiful and heartbreaking and you must, must read it.

What a wonderful, heartbreaking, heart-restoring, amazing novel. Just read it and savor it; you will be glad you did. Checked it out from the local eLibrary and it is going on my books-to-buy list post-haste.

Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun is painful, heart-exploding, and life-ruining in all the right ways. It will inspire you, hurt you, and, in the end, leave you with the feeling that you just have to experience it all again.

This author blew me away; her ability to write convincingly in more than one voice was incredible. The characters felt real and well-defined and her language is so descriptive that I actually felt like was in Lost Cove. Brava!

I have never read anything like this.

Jandy Nelson manages to captivate the reader in ways no other author ever has. The story is so relatable, but at the same time it is not. It is so different, so perfect. I cannot find the words to describe this. It is simply the best story I have ever read.

This book is so beautfiul. It makes me want to cry just thinking about how wonderful it is. The descritption and the way we can read the characters' thoughts with such vivid imagery is mind blowing. My mind is numb each time I read it and I cannot express my love enough.

This is my all time favorite book. The characters are so well written and seeing them grow up and develop is bittersweet. I stayed up all night to finish this the first time and I have read it countless times since. READ THIS BOOK!

This book was heartbreakingly great. At first, I wasn't sure about it due to the characters and the issues it presents, but WOW. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW, I fell in love with the beautiful writing and storyline. Everything connects at the end to create a phenomenal book with an outstanding message of tolerance and love.

I chose to read this book after reading all the great reviews it had been receiving. I have to say that all the positive reviews were absolutely correct. This was an amazing story! It formed great bonds between the reader and the characters and I was sad to see it come to an end. I would recommend this book to anyone who asks!

I love this book with all my heart and I can't help myself but read pages over and over again. Definitely my favorite book! It made me tear up at bits, and had romance which was sweet I just can't express anymore how much I love this book!

i first saw this book on buzzfeed and i am so excited to finally read it. this is an amazing book. yeah it is a little weird at some parts but in the long run it is beautiful. her writing style is gorgeous. this book is. i dont know i loved it so much i cant even fathom any words to describe it

I read regularly - mostly YA fiction, but a variety of things. I haven't adored a book like I do this one in a long, long time. This book absolutely captivated me. I was glued to it and really felt what the characters were feeling. And the writing is brilliant, I've never seen anything like it. Must read!!

I wrote this whole long review and it crashed on me but the moral of my review was oh my gosh, this book is amazing everyone should read it it changed everything. There are really hardly any words to describe it.

DNF

Guess I'm the odd one out again.

So I brought this at Target because I thought the new paperback was beautiful. Plus, I saw a few reviews giving such praise, I was like, "Ooh. Gimme!"

Okay. Overstatement. Given most things, it started off normal. Noah and Jude are twins. Noah is mostly friendless and clings to his sister, Jude, because she's a beaming social butterfly, who prefers to not have her antisocial brother dogging after her like a toddler.

In retrospect, that's a fantastic storyline. The writing style, though, bothered me. No, I mean, really bothered me.

Whenever someone would say something, "I barfed bright blue/green/magenta barf" was used. It took me, like, an hour to realize this was supposed to be metaphorically.

Also: the intolerable subject changing. The family would be trying to raise Grandma's spirit from the dead to the dinner table one second, then Noah's father would be yelling at the neighbor's batshit parrot, THEN, their parents' would begin arguing for no reason whatsoever. And when we reached Jude's POV, she admits to "hearing" Grandma Sweetwine's voice and listening to her rants about pickles.

Yeah. Not kidding.

("Me too - kosher dills, big fat juicy ones. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm," whispers Grandma Sweetwine in my head.)

This book was random and messy. The metaphors were irritable. If it solely concentrated on the storyline I expected, I would've probably been able to finish it. Jude and Noah both have excellent potential. Maybe I'll return to finish it someday. For now, not a recommend.

Fast and fun read. Voices of the two lead characters are strong and move the story along at a brisk pace. The author deals with regret, grief, forgiveness, and love in a very beautiful way. I would gladly read a sequel to this book as I found myself caring about all the characters.