I'll Give You the Sun

Wow. This book is beautiful. Absolutely loved it.

Full review:

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.

Would not have finished if it wasn't on the BOB list. The trying was so hard here: too precious, secondary characters were bad cliches, the main characters acted like assholes with no real redemption arc other than apologies years later, and the worst offender, “gay” is used as a personality trait. Have heard her first book is better, but I'm disinclined to try it after this.

I wanted to finish this book on September 17th and accomplished the feat with only 1 minute to spare. Given that, it is now past midnight and I am half asleep, so trying to collect all my thoughts about this book is near impossible.

I'll Give You The Sun was a beautiful, unique,, artistic story about two twins and what happened between them to tear their relationship apart, and it was probably one of the best contemporary books I have read this year (so far). However, I did have some problems with this book such as the length of the chapters between Jude & Noah's parts, making it difficult to remember what happened during the last episode of Jude ot Noah

I'm not exactly sure what I feel about this book. I liked the story and completed it almost in a single sitting. The characters were also done well and I could really empathize with their situations both at 13 and 16...
But I think I just didn't like the writing a lot. It is very metaphorical and it felt a bit disruptive and spoiled my complete enjoyment of the book.
Anyone who doesn't mind the writing style should definitely try out this one. It's an emotional tearjerker!!!

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

Wow, I wouldn't want to belong to this family. They're all incredibly messed up and in dire need of therapy. Both Noah and Jude were so horrible to each other that I found it very hard to empathize with them when they were hurting. All those secrets, all those lies and misunderstandings, I just don't see how one could do all that to someone they truly care about.

However, I did like Noah's POV much better that Jude's, probably due to Brian's appearance. Noah and Brian's relationship was the best part of the book. I couldn't possibly care less for Jude, especially Jude and Oscar.

The writing wasn't bad but there wasn't much of a plot, we're mostly dealing with bursts of emotion. The drama was incessant. And it felt forced. Basically most of the problems were caused by the severe lack of communication between the characters which doesn't work well simply because there wasn't a good reason for trying to hide so much from one another. This is a plot device I dislike profoundly.

I adored this book so much!!
everything about it from the blurb to the cover to the story and the way its written .
noah and oscar are definitely some of my favourites from ya contemporary
books :)
one of my new contemporary favs !!
the plot twists took me by surprise every time they came around and couldn't put it down once i picked it up !
it en-captured everything i love about books in less than 500 pages.

It took me a long time to read this book. I've had it in my shelf for years and could bring myself read it as I first bought it, so I had to force myself to do it now. I didn't like the first half of the book. I felt like there was nothing going on, the characters were flat and there was no emotion. However, this changed a little once I got to the middle of the book. I became slightly more interested in what was going on, but quickly figured out where it was leading (yes, I figured out the whole shenanigans early on) and still thought it was dull and lacked action/emotion. All in all, this book was a no for me. Even though I liked the metaphors and the plot had potential, it could have bee told in a much interesting way and less pages.

I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory  issues. Read them at your peril!

Story switches backwards and forwards in time over a period of about 3 years. Secrets and traumas are gradually revealed. The ending is happy all around, and feels rather artificial and forced after all the drama and suffering. 

Twin brother and sister sometimes close, sometimes jealous and estranged, both want to get into art school. Jude does, Noah doesn't .  Their parents, married from when their mother was very young separate. Their mother is having an affair with the sculptor that Jude will eventually unknowingly work with. Her mother is killed in a car accident.   

Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance Wow. Wow. Wow.

(That doesn't tell you much, does it? Let's see if I can tell you a little bit of what this story is about....)

Two twins, Jude and Noah, are alternately incredibly close and then completely estranged. They have difficult relationships with their parents and friends and relatives who have passed on.

(Okay, that isn't really helpful, is it? But it's the best I can do, I think.)

Brilliant writing and characters that are so mesmerizing you can't set the book down. That's at least part of the reason this book has won a page full of awards including School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year and Cybils Award finalist and TAYSHAS Reading List Top Ten of the Year.

I tell you what: In the vernacular of Jude and Noah, I'll give you the sun for this book. And the earth. And the moon. Yes, it's that good.