I'll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): 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.
This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

MY OPINION: *****

Wow.

It took me a while to come up with a rating for this book. At first, in the beginning, it was a five stars. Then as I read more it lowered to a four stars and at one point a three stars. Then at the end, it bumped back up easily to a five stars.

This book was recommended to me by about three or four people and I finally decided to read it because it was just sitting there unread at my library.

I loved this book! It was definitely confusing at first and it didn't make sense to me until the last 50 pages or so. I was so stupid. I was reading this at the same time as The Infernal Devices and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, and you know those books wrap you up in a long story of over 1000s of pages. So I wasn't concentrating on this book as much. That may be why I missed so many of the obvious clues that led up to the final climax and ending of this story.

Character write-ups first...

Noah. I start with Noah because he may have been the character that most people could relate to. He started out as a thirteen-year-old kid who knew that he was different, being gay, and scared to show it. He was a very talented artist and his mom obviously favored him over her other daughter, Noah's twin. Noah really needed that mom's love because his dad never appreciated him and treated him as more of a wimpy sissy if that can be said. Noah was definitely my favorite character. He was awesome, going through so many hard parts of life such as depression, suicidal thoughts, being gay and therefore seeming different to others, bullied, suffering unrequited love. I feel as if Noah was definitely brave, even as a thirteen-year-old to fourteen-year-old boy. He had courage, until he lost it.

Jude. Jude wasn't my favorite. She seemed a little "psycho" to me. She was constantly talking about the ghosts of her mom and grandma talking to her in her head and finding out the grossest and scariest diseases that she could find and playing games like "How Would You Rather Die". She seemed morbid and not someone that most people could relate to. At first, when Noah described her in his thirteen-year-old eyes, she seemed like a normal teenage girl just trying to grow up and be loved. She always was under pressure and she knew that she wasn't as loved by her mom as Noah was. But when you see Jude in her sixteen-year-old self, you see how different it really was.

Oscar/Oscore. He was funny and he was definitely the "light" guy of the book, always being sarcastic and humorous. Most of the time. Jude fell hard for him, and I find it annoying that she didn't recognize him from before when Noah drew him. Oscar was hard to understand and was a complicated character. I feel as if the guys who have an easy outside appearance always have the most complicated characters.

Guillermo. OMG. I can't even talk about this since it's a spoiler, but how?? The ending made me feel bad for me but also hate him at the same time. Well, I didn't hate him, I just hated how his character influenced how everything ended up. I liked Guillermo's eye for talent and his obvious admiration of the arts, though sometimes his frustration overpowered him and caused him to destroy his art and creations.

Brian. I don't know what to think of him. At first, he seemed nerdy and weird, like everyone would think nothing of him. Then Courtney, the popular girl, likes him. Noah also likes him, and wishes that Brian would like him back and be like this gay couple that Noah saw. But Brian doesn't seem to like him until... he comes back and admits he's gay. But then he goes back on his word, dates girls, and hides his difference. Apparently, Brian's a star athlete up at high school and college, and being gay will cause him to be kicked off the team. This book is an example of how unfair this world really is.

Ok, that's enough characters. Let's just talk about certain parts of the book now..

SPOILERS

How can Jude not send in Noah's application? Why? WHY? Noah could have had it all! Jude didn't realize how much Noah wanted it until the end, when it is almost too late. Noah only wanted to know that he was good at what he did, and Jude almost threw that all away.

OMG. The MOM! Loved Guillermo! She's DEAREST! But she couldn't tell anyone because SHE DIED BEFORE SHE COULD. ONLY NOAH KNEW, and he lied! He couldn't bear to tell his dad or his sister! 

This family is MESSED UP. Guillermo and Dianna were so perfect together. This book seemed like a lie at the end. Noah even had his readers believing that his mom was going to go tell the dad she wanted to be a family again before she died, but she wasn't. NOPE. She was going to tell the dad she wanted a DIVORCE.

I just can't believe this book!

I'm not going to count this as a spoiler because it is described fairly early in the book. I think.

Zephyr. I'm confused! Technically, I don't think she ever gave her consent, but she "liked" him. She didn't say no either, so... Was what he did harassment/rape? Or not? Because after that she regretted it and she got angry at him and went on a BOYCOTT on BOYS. Jude was so young too! What was this? I'm pretty sure that was illegal. I think I get it now. Like I said, I wasn't concentrating too much on this book, so you know... I may have missed something!

The parrot always asking "Where the hell is Ralph" was so FUNNY! Was I the only one humored by that? Oscar Ralph... I think it was coincidence, but Jude can believe in whatever she wants to believe..

I like how this book was all one big tangle of characters who are ultimately going to meet everyone at the same at one point... mostly.

Dad - kids and wife, never met Guillermo until Noah told him about it
Mom - kids and wife, died before anything could happen...
Noah - met Oscar three years ago
Jude - met Oscar three years later and he seems "familiar"
Guillermo - met mom and later on the kids
Oscar - met Noah three years ago, then meets Jude three years later

EVERYTHING IS ALL MIXED UP! WHAT IS THIS?

I wasn't that interested in reading The Sky is Everywhere, Jandy Nelson's debut, but I think I will after finishing this..

Let me just say this: this book deals with suicide, depression, "rape" or "harassment", violence, UNREQUITED LOVE, death, etc

I would recommend this book to more mature and serious readers and not someone who is looking for a light read...

Main Character(s): JUDE AND NOAH
Sidekick(s): Oscar, Brian, Guillermo, Mom, Dad, etc
Villain(s): Death, lying, misunderstanding, suicide, depression, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: Mostly all of this could happen in real life...