I'll Give You the Sun in Amazon Editors' YA Book Club

Mar 31, 2015 Jackie rated it it was amazing

Though I wasn't sure when I started it (thought it was just another book about accepting your sexuality), I loved this book and became very invested in the characters.

The book is told from two perspectives: Noah at age 14 (from the past leading up to 'it') and Jude at age 16 (after 'it' has happened). They are twins, and for a long time, you are not sure what 'it' is---and it wasn't predictable until near the end...and then I *had* to know how it would turn out.

Noah is an artist; he sketches and Though I wasn't sure when I started it (thought it was just another book about accepting your sexuality), I loved this book and became very invested in the characters.

The book is told from two perspectives: Noah at age 14 (from the past leading up to 'it') and Jude at age 16 (after 'it' has happened). They are twins, and for a long time, you are not sure what 'it' is---and it wasn't predictable until near the end...and then I *had* to know how it would turn out.

Noah is an artist; he sketches and paints and sees the world in vivid colors and in abstract ways. The way he explains how he's capturing what he sees is unique, and he often offers a title for a portrait of the situation going on around him. He relates most to his mother who seems to encourage his talents. His twin sister used to be his metaphorical other half, until 'it' happens. Noah is gay, and he just doesn't fit in the world that Jude lives in. He thinks he's finally found a friend and maybe boyfriend in Brian, the boy across the street. Jude is trying her hardest to fit in, be popular, and feels like her mom doesn't know she's alive. She, too, has artistic talent, but she hides her sand sculptures. Jude has a strange tendency to consult her dead grandmother's 'Bible' of holistic remedies and cures, which becomes interesting and endearing.

Somehow, in Jude's narratives, their mother has died, and Jude--not Noah--has been accepted to the art college. Jude and Noah don't talk anymore. Noah has developed a relationship with their father, though they weren't close before, and he's trying to convince the world he's normal, straight, and a jock--no longer an artist. Jude is trying desperately to create the piece of art that she needs to in order to mend the relationship with her dead mother (who she is convinced is breaking all of her sculptures). She is apprenticed to a famous artist named Guillermo Garcia and his foster son Oscar.

The way the details of this book all come together is like a well-crafted puzzle. I thought for a while I was going to hate what came of these siblings and their parents, but in the end I didn't have to throw the book across the room. The writing is beautiful, vibrant, and honest. The book is not meant for middle schoolers at all. One of the best I've read in a while! ...more

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May 14, 2015 Amber Strawn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, amazon-book-club

It took me awhile to really get into I'll Give You the Sun. Once I was about halfway through the book, the story seemed to draw me in. I flew through the second half, and I was pleased with the ending. Nelson has an incredibly creative mind and style of writing. It was unique and at times hard to follow, but I enjoyed it.

Favorite quotes:
I didn't know you could get buried in your own silence.

She gives off light. I give off dark.

What if he realizes I'm me?

I lie down on my back, stretch out my arms ...more

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