Every single person in this novel should go to therapy. Sooner rather than later.

I don’t get it. I honestly don’t get how so many people love this book. I’ve seen it everywhere, so when I got the opportunity to read an ARC, I grabbed it. I wanted to love it, I expected to love it. I very much didn’t.

The characters are interesting, in a way. Jude and Noah are twins and while they are two sides of the same coin, they are both very much individuals. Both of them struggle with the relationships to their parents and their own experiences of teenage sexuality. Both of them express themselves through art. But they are also very very different, and it didn’t feel like a copy and paste at all.
We get glimpses into other characters as well – a heartbroken sculptor, a closeted boy in love with space, a flirtatious photographer, and many others.

This book is about loss and love and life.
And it was very very flat.
All the characters were so very special. I do like it when characters have their own little quirks, but in this case, there wasn’t a single normal person in the whole book. Maybe the father who seemed to be made out as some kind of bad guy for a huge part of the book. All the others were at least slightly strange and that made it feel over the top and made me feel very disconnected. I couldn’t empathise with them at all.
All the characters also felt incredibly selfish. I don’t want to spoil anything, but damn! The things those kids do? That’s not normal anymore, that’s psychotic. I don’t care that they are children and children do stupid things. What they did was very much not okay. If my siblings did only half of what those two did to each other, I would definitely go no contact. The ending was kind of nice, but at the same time I hated it because I felt like all those terrible things weren’t talked about enough. And those characters really needed therapy sessions.
And it’s not just the kids. The parents for example don’t seem to care about their kids at all (which might explain why they are so messed up). And all the relationships in this book are just one huge mess. A mess so big that I felt like the resolution simply couldn't do it justice. There should’ve been at least another 50 pages, but I’m glad there weren’t as I couldn’t deal with this mess anymore.

Apart from very unlikeable characters, there was also barely any plot. Yes, it’s a coming of age story, I’m not expecting brilliance, but I honestly couldn’t describe the plot at all.
We get two different perspectives – Noah’s in the past, when he is 13/14 and Jude’s from the present when she is 16. At first, I enjoyed it, but especially the Jude scenes focused only on her and tbh, I didn’t care about her part of the story. She was way too dramatic and unrealistic. I would’ve loved to see what Noah was up to, but everything was about her, and he barely got mentioned. It almost seemed as if there were two entirely disconnected stories. Of course, everything comes together at the end, but I wanted to see more connections earlier on. And honestly, all the connections at the end were far-fetched.
The book was also too spiritual for me. I don’t mind a little bit of that, but this book was too much. There was a lot of talk about ghosts and the afterlife and good luck charms and for a book that’s not fantasy, it was too weird for me. It wasn’t simply religious people practicing, it honestly felt like a mental disorder. That in itself would be fine. It wasn’t entirely unrealistic. But if it was supposed to be one, it wasn’t discussed enough.
I believe that the whole book could’ve been saved if the characters had gone to therapy, but no.

Overall – I don’t get this book. I don’t understand what message it’s trying to send out. I didn’t really like the writing. Sorry.

Thank you, NetGalley and Walker Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit that at first I found this book very hard to read but the more I read it became more difficult to put down and the more I became engrossed and wanted to find out what happens.

The story is told from the alternating perspectives of both twins-Noah and Jude. It also flits through time and is told by the twins at different ages.

I sometimes found myself getting a bit lost in the story but it all comes together at the end where everything is explained and it all makes sense again!!!

Overall I did really enjoy it and was so glad that i persevered as i really loved the ending…

I received this book through Netgalley. Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this stunning novel.

This story is filled with loss, hope, love, and forgiveness. And I loved it.

The chapters are told from the points of view of the two main characters; twins Noah and Jude. The past belongs to Noah's perspective and the present to Jude.
Seeing the way these characters grew and changed throughout the book was incredible, and the way it all tied together at the end was wonderful.

What can I say about Guillermo and 'Oscore'? Fantastic!

An enjoyable read indeed.

The characters have an authentic and relatable voice. It feels very gritty, full of teenage angst. Younger readers will bond with the characters easily.

I love this book so much, it's really surprising that this was my first time rereading it. "I'll give you the sun" is a masterpiece that made me feel all the emotions I'm physically capable of, and returning to these characters was such a joy.
This book is wonderfully written and masterfully crafted. There is not a single page that doesn't enchant. Jandy Nelson knows how to Prose.
Its biggest strength though are the characters. They feel so real, so human, so wonderfully flawed. I laughed and cried and suffered and lived with them, even though they, at times, frustrated me. The relationships in this book, the portrayal of family is so nuanced and real, all of it followed me long after finishing the book. There's honestly not much else I can say about this because it would just be me gushing uncontrollably about how incredible this little work of fiction is.
If you haven't read it, do yourself a favour and put it on your tbr. Yes, even if you're not in the typical YA age range anymore (neither am I). It's a masterpiece, and I'm so happy that my reread proved it to me once again.