I'll Give You the Sun in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 26, 2015 alana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, art-school, making-things, young-adult, teachers-and-pupils, addicted-to-ya-2015

I’ll Give You the Sun is a well-crafted young adult novel in which twin protagonists tell differing perspectives of their early to mid-teens during which time they suffered personal tragedies and painful sexual awakenings. The storytelling trick is that Noah’s story takes place “before” everything while Jude’s narration begins a couple years “after” the big events. The book progresses toward an inevitable intertwining of the two when all is revealed and made whole. The flip-flopping is a fun nar I’ll Give You the Sun is a well-crafted young adult novel in which twin protagonists tell differing perspectives of their early to mid-teens during which time they suffered personal tragedies and painful sexual awakenings. The storytelling trick is that Noah’s story takes place “before” everything while Jude’s narration begins a couple years “after” the big events. The book progresses toward an inevitable intertwining of the two when all is revealed and made whole. The flip-flopping is a fun narrative tool, though the missing gaps are very intuitive to fill in before it’s all spelled out for the reader (and the twins, for that matter).

I genuinely loved Noah’s story. His experiences were so believable, and his reactions seemed so real. Listening to this as an audiobook, I got so excited when the male narrator returned to pick up where we’d last left our boy. Jude’s tale made me much more frustrated. (view spoiler)

Another thing I loved about the book is the realistic and emotional portrayal of creating art both as a teenager and an adult. I’ve never really read a young adult novel that did this in such an easy-to-identify-with way (Though shout out to A. G. Howard’s Splintered series for some recent use of art-making in YA fiction). Although looking back, all the artists are fairly emotionally unstable, I didn’t actually find that manipulative or stereotypical…just believable. Maybe I don’t read enough realistic fiction! Well, the neat and tidy ending is more than a bit lending toward fantasy. (view spoiler) Finally, I would totally read a book from Heather’s perspective. Oh, and this was an Addicted to YA BOTM for January 2015.
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Jan 29, 2022 Annie rated it it was amazing

This book splintered my heart into a thousand pieces.

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Nov 11, 2014 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reading-challenge-2014

Wow! This was an amazing book, I can't wait to read more by the author, I was moved to tears, to laughter and made me think. I thought about art, creativity and am itching to create something new myself.

As so many Young Adult books are, this phenomenal read is just as meaningful for adults. I found it to be especially meaningful to me as the parent of two young adults.

Please read this book, just do! ...more

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Nov 07, 2015 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, audio, lgbt

3.5 stars, and you should probably just read Karen's review because it's perfect. ...more

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Jul 04, 2016 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, romance, lgbt, dysfunctional-family, america, art, borrowed, contemporary

3,5 stars for me because I have mixed feelings about this book. I totally love the chapters and parts about Noah and Brian, their developing relationships and struggles to find their identities. But I am not interested in Jude's parts, especially the ones where she describes her crush and love for Oscar. It's too typical and quite disappointing for this book, that in my opinion can do more than that. Too bad. ...more

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