The Reading Of Books + Stealing From May

Okay, so I’ve decided that I read so much I should at least do something constructive with it i.e. book reviews. I’m also trying a couple of different blogging-type posts (such as book reviews, political rants, fluff, and writing) to try to figure out what I enjoy writing so that is why my next few posts are all going to be kind of odd/not fitting into a general theme?? So for this book, I think I already listed I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson on my favorites list but I just re-read it last night and I’m screaming??? My love for this book is just so great and I want to share it with all of you guys. Also like I’m trying to make my blog look more professional?? It’s a long journey but I’m trying *clenches fist* 

Image Credit: Goodreads 

A Note:

Okay so I have no idea what happened but somehow this post was deleted? I posted it a couple weeks ago and I think a few people read it and then it disappeared???? I don’t know what happened and then, I was sad because I had to re-write it and ugh. So I would like to clarify that even though I steal like everything from May because she’s the best, I didn’t post a book review just because she did, I had written it before her 🙂 SO I PROMISE I’M NOT STEALING (the book review idea at least) FROM HER. And an additional sorry to all of you guys who already read this 🙂

 

Here read this trashy post again.

 

The Summary:

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. 

The //Goodreads// and //Amazon// links.

My Summary:

Jude at 13, is a daredevil who kisses boys left and right and lives her life to the fullest.

Noah at 13, is a shy artist who’s world is rocked by his new neighbor and SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SORT OF SPOILER he’s bullied and it breaks my heart and 😥

Jude at 16, puts onions in her pockets for good luck, has a ban on boys and for some reason, the ghost of her mom won’t stop breaking her art.

Noah at 16, is clean cut with a shaven head and is on the cross country team and hasn’t drawn in 3 (ish) years.

Something happened that tore the two of them apart and somehow they have to put the pieces of their heart back together again in order to somehow, be okay. (Wow that was really dramatic and I’m sorry but I guess the prose is just drawn out of me whenever I think about this book…)

I’ll Give You the Sun is an experience.

Okay, so I know that some people don’t like purple prose/over-use of metaphors but I personally love love love these things in books. I enjoy them like some people enjoy the familiarness of that one sweatshirt they’ve had for years and every time they use it they’re reminded of home (did you see what I did there 😉 ) Self Portrait: Girl with metaphors spilling out of her mouth far faster than she can control.  Enough with the horrible puns (????? WHAT ARE THEY??? REFERENCES????? INSIDE JOKES???? I NEED TO KNOW) Anyways I loved this book. I can’t say it’s for everyone, though. I think it’s one of those hate it or love it book. I honestly don’t know how you could feel neutral about this book like ….. It’s just so… out there that I can’t imagine someone walking away from it and being like ‘okay that was a nice read, let me carry on with my life now.’ Like no??? How could you do that, especially with this book???

Here’s a more explicit breakdown of my thoughts:

t h e  s t y l e  

I loved loved loved loved loved loved the style okay? Like out of anyone’s style I wish I could write like Jandy Nelson. Her writing is just so beautiful and I’m crying. I loved the way it was split with Noah narrating the past and Jude narrating the present. For me, I enjoyed the fact that with Noah’s perspective you could see how each little action played out but also how people used to be??? And with Jude, I was constantly trying to figure out why this happened and how this came to be and agh I just love it so much!!! Okay and the prose I would die for. Personally, I enjoy prose because I feel like it allows me to get into the story/world more and for me, it wasn’t just the presence of prose but the way the author executed it. Do I know what the author means when she says people are covered in flame retardant? No. Do I love that phrase???? Yes, with every inch of my being. And don’t get me started on the ‘self-portrait’ things. They made me cry and love the book twenty million times more. Honestly, I think I wouldn’t love this book as much if it didn’t have the self-portrait things because they were just so descriptive and prose-y and AGH. Overall I would die for the style of this book and I’m not crying about writing style you are…..

t h e  p l o t

Now to the plot. Like that plot, dang. Wow. I feel like the plot was a little bit strange but also realistic? Like, I could never feel like it could happen to me but at the same time I was like “oh my god this is my life?” I mean admittedly not very much happened and a lot of the bigger reveals happened at the end but yay! I loved it! I feel like the book had enough to keep me engaged but not so much that I couldn’t keep track. I personally enjoyed more character driven novels which this definitely is. I really enjoyed the odd subplots, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER like Noah jumping off the cliff and Jude’s mother breaking her art. I know that these weren’t really subplots but they weren’t the main story and I enjoyed them, so now they are dubbed subplots. Overall the plot is quirky but great and I love it.

t h e  c h a r a c t e r s 

Finally the characters. Okay, so this is the part where I’m not 100% in love. I’m going to be pretty honest here;

 

//Jude//

 I love the idea of Jude but I strongly dislike her execution. Okay so a girl who explore slut-shaming, talks to her great-grandmother and is extremely superstitious. Doesn’t that sound great? It did to me. But for me, something in her character execution was off. I just struggling to get through her chapters and a lot of the things she did I was just kind of ‘?’ at. I just don’t know why I couldn’t get into her character, it had so many things I should’ve loved but to me, she was just ‘eh’.                                                                              

               

//Oscar//

Next the other character I didn’t like; Oscar. Where the heck did he come from? First of all, I know some very British people and I haven’t heard a single one of them speak like he did. For me, his speech mannerisms were just weird and very unnecessary. I enjoyed his parts with Noah. I was like ‘This random side character is great! I don’t want him to be a prominent part of the book but for now, he’s great!’ Then came Jude’s part?? What the heck Oscar??? His personality was just obnoxious and I literally couldn’t read his parts *shudders*. But other than those two I loved loved loved loved the characters!

//Noah//

 

I would literally die for Noah??? Like??? He was just amazing and I loved his narration and his character was so real to me? Like I felt parts of Noah in myself (when really I should’ve been relating to Jude…..) And sorry but I wish the book was all Noah. All of his actions seemed realistic to me. I understood why he did the things he did which is VERY important to me. My small artist child….

And then the plethora of side characters;

//Brian//

I love Brian, his little bag of rocks and ugh he was such a darling character and to be honest I understood his motivations more than I did Jude’s…. Like…..

//The Parents//

The parents???? Oh my god, I loved (one of) them. The dad (Benjamin Sweetwine)  was my favorite because he was just so… I don’t even know how to describe it. I enjoyed that we were able to see his personality and why he did the things he did and he wasn’t just some stereotypical mean dad??? Like I love him. The mom (Dianna Sweetwine) was kind of eh for me. Like for me she kind of felt like a plot device (which she was) and I didn’t agree with a lot of her decisions but she was still a fleshed out character and agh!!!!

//Heather//

Heather. Why didn’t she get more time??? Like she was such an aesthetically pleasing character and she made my heart happy. WHY DIDN’T SHE GET MORE TIME OKAY????? Like I would rather read about Heather, she was so interesting and I always think of her as a swan and just ughhhhhhh I love her. I would die for Heather honestly.

//Guillermo Garcia//

I love my angry painter dad? I felt like his character was so interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed the way his personality was slowly revealed layer by layer. I don’t agree with some of his choices but he was just such a nice guy??? Who had bad things happen to him??? Like I am willing to fight for him.

//Grandma Sweetwine//

I felt her character was very bland and personally I did not feel like she was important to the story – and thus I am not writing anything about her because I do not like her at all.

o v e r a l l 

Overall: I love this book!!!!! I would die for this book!!!! I want to see it grow up!!!! I want to protect it!!!!! For me, the plot and the style really stood out but I struggled a little bit with the characters.

Rating: 4/5

Thank you to the great Marie from Hurricane and Drizzle books who I’ve never talked to but was inspired by her droplet thing??? And thank you to the internet for this free pear clipart.

What I’m currently reading:

•  Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
•  The Martian by Andy Weir
• We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchison
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S King
• The Last Boy And Girl In The World by Siobhan Vivian
• Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Possibly for the second time (if May lets me…..) Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
• (I also read L.A Candy by Lauren Conrad because I was bored at a friend’s house – and let me tell you, it was certainly something…..)

What are you reading currently? Have you read I’ll Give You The Sun? (Or for that matter any of the books that I’m currently reading?) How was your day? What are some books you really enjoy?

Here’s a really bad goodbye graphic that I’m using because May is forcing me to post this and I have to leave so I’m posting this in a rush 😦