Tuesday 10 February 2015

Book Review - The Sky is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere
Author: Jandy Nelson
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: February 5th 2015
Publishers: Walker Books
No. Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy - Walker Books
Rating:
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones
Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life - and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.

Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.

But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.

So I think it would be fair to say that I'm a little late to The Sky Is Everywhere party, right?. I'm not exactly sure why I have been put off reading it for so long, and why it took me until I'll Give You The Sun to remember just how much I wanted to read it . When it comes to the summary of The Sky Is Everywhere the first thing that grabs my attention and intrigues me is how little is given about about the story. You learn very little about Lennie and because of this it leaves you free to go into the story with a completely blank canvas and without an opinion. I've heard a lot about this book and I'm really thankful that my expectations weren't high or low, and were still blown away.

The other thing that grabbed my attention and something I loved about the book, would be it's little quirks. At the start of every chapter we are blessed with something Lennie has written to her dead sister, on anything she can find. Because of these little flash back shall we call them, we are able to get a picture of who Bailey was, it gives her a voice and it makes the whole thing feel so much more personal. I am a big big fan of quirks in a book, sometimes they can hold no purpose at all but thankfully they not only worked but also held such a bigger meaning than you would have guessed.

However I think the thing that I found to be my favourite about the story was that it wasn't your typical romance story. Though there was a lot of feelings from different people directed at Lennie it wasn't a story about a girl who fell in love. It was a story about grief, mistakes, friendship, family and acceptance. Lennie isn't sure how she is suppose to move past her sister dying, she's trying and sometimes it feel like she can't do anything right. On one hand he has Toby, her sisters boyfriend, who might be the only person who understands and brings out things in her she didn't think possible and then we have Joe, the new boy at school who doesn't seem to let Lennie make excuses, he doesn't beat around the bush with her and is blunt from the start refusing to pussy foot around her like others.

Overall I really did enjoy this book, the characters were well written, developed perfectly and beyond relatable, the romance wasn't in your face all the time but still swoon worthy and it was just all in all a lovely coming of age story. The transformation in Lennie from the start of the book to the end leaves her some what unrecognisable, but in a good way. This isn't a book about death like you might first think, it's about life and how it make take a while for people to realise it's ok for them to still be there when a love one goes. Brilliant first book for Jandy Nelson.

6 comments:

  1. I just read I'll Give You the Sun and ajfdklafsd I was SO SO IN LOVE WITH THAT BOOK. It was absolutely beautiful. I nearly ran to the library right away to borrow this one, buuut...my tbr is out of control so I resisted. It's definitely high on my to-read list though. xD I'm glad it's amazing!

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    1. LOL I have a review copy of I'll Give You the Sun coming in the next few weeks and im DYING to read it. You really should read The Sky Is Everywhere once you get a space in your TBR Cait, honestly it was so cute and...real, you know?. Haha me too, I've been wanting to read it for so long that I would have been pretty disappointed :P

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  2. You're not too late to the party because I still haven't read this! I've seen so many great things about it. I have a feeling it's a book filled with glorious feels and pain. Books dealing with grief always are.

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    1. We'll then you should Bec, it's a brilliant book and is of course filled with glorious feels and pain :)

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  3. I haven't heard of this one, but you already make it sound so good! :D I've been inching closer to contemporaries that talk about these very things so I'll prolly give it a try. Pluuus, there's the romance that isn't in-your-face. Most contemporaries I've read revolve around that so I'm definitely wanting to read the ones that aren't!

    Faye at The Social Potato

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  4. I was worried about the romance outshining Lennie dealing with her sister's death, I'm glad to hear that's definitely no the case. :) Like you, I'm late to the, The Sky Is Everywhere party, despite having it for months. I'm going to have to read this one soon. Maybe in a couple months when my TBR is a bit smaller. Sweet review.

    --Amber

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