Review: I’ll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

This is a YA contemporary about a pair of twins. We hear the story from both perspectives. Noah narrates when they are about 13/14 years old and Jude, the girl, narrates when they are about 16 years old. During the time in-between something has happened to make the two twins avoid each other. Slowly we figure it out as Noah tells the story leading up to the event, and Jude tells the story of the aftermath and looking back on the event. 

The chapters alternate viewpoints and while I thought this was basically a good idea, the individual chapters seemed way too long. Just as you were really getting into the story the viewpoint changed, and because not only the viewpoint changes but also the time, it’s like reading two different stories. I figured it was meant to create tension or mystery or whatever, but I just found it frustrating. Just as one person was figuring something out, it changed, and the plot was pretty much completely different. 

As for the characters I thought Noah and Jude were really interesting. They are quite emotional and when they are 13/14 years old, I thought they were quite immature. It’s been a while since I was 13 myself, so I can’t remember if I was the same or if these two are just more passionate than I was. And they are definitely passionate, to a degree that they will screw each other over to get what they want, whether that be a boy, the love and admiration of a parent or admission to a specific school. I thought the degree to which they backstabbed each other was quite shocking. They are twins, and we learn that they used to be super close, but now they have sort of drifted apart. Even so I thought it was pretty cold to do the things they did to each other. 

Trying to write this review I find that I have quite mixed feelings about this book. One the one hand I liked it. The basic plot was good, the characters were interesting and that narration kept me interested. At the same time I thought the changing of viewpoints could have been smoother, I couldn’t really understand how the twins could be so mean to each other and the ending came together a little too neatly I think. 

I gave this 3 stars out of 5 on Goodreads and I would recommend pretty much anyone to read it.