I'll Give You The Sun - Jandy Nelson

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

Cover

Some may say that this cover is too plain and not special, but I really loved this cover! It matched my feelings about the book and even though there are just stripes, artists like Noah and Jude would perceive them differently.

Noah

Yessss, I loved and adored him. His way of speech was really interesting and to be able to see into this beautiful artist's thoughts felt like an intrusion to me? His thoughts and the way he formulates them are just beautiful. This shy, reserved boy came out of his shell with the help of his sister and his boyfriend but then he got back into the closet to make his father proud after some tragic events. He doesn't know that the only way he can be himself again is after he lets his twin sister back into his life. I just thought that everything about his story was lovely. 

Jude

I grew to love Jude. At first, I was hesitant with her, because she didn't really feel like a very nice person to me. That was before I started reading the parts from her perspective. 16-year-old Jude was really bubbly and weird, but I actually liked that about her. Yes, maybe the whole ghost-thing was a bit too much for me, but if that's the way she handles the 'tragic event' then I completely understand that. 13-year-old Jude was wayyy different from 16-year-old Jude. She turned into a completely different person, but her being distant from her brother was a good thing. She got to find herself, and so did Noah. I truly believe that distance only brought them stronger together.

Oscar and Brian

I have mixed feelings about Oscar. On one side, Jude had a boys-boycott and was sure that she didn't need a guy to make her feel happy, but then he still seduced her in a way and there were times that he laughed at her. Not cool. On the other side, I do feel like they belong together. given the fact that Jude had felt like she'd seen him before (all the people who've read this book will understand what I mean).'

Brian was lovely and understandable. I can't say that I loved the things he did to Noah, but I can understand it. He's a sports player, and being gay and a sports player is not easy, but he did it. I think that's really important. 

This book is beautiful. I just loved everything about it, but especially the way in which the two stories and two perspectives intertwined (them as 13-year-olds and as 16-year-olds). The ending was honestly not that spectacular and different, and there was not really a climax, but there were some very shocking moments that made me stand there with an open mouth. This book is so powerful and precious, 5/5 stars.

Dominique