Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary
Goodreads Summary:
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.
**Spoiler Free Review**
There has been a lot of hype for this book on both Goodreads and Youtube, and now I know why! This is one of the most beautiful contemporary novels I've ever read. I love that although there is a love story in this, the focus still manages to remain on the complexities of grief and loss rather than becoming another novel that revolves around a love triangle. It is stunningly beautiful and so hard to express just how wonderfully written it is!
Jandy Nelson manages to effectively and realistically depict grief and all the forms it can take. I really felt the loss that Lennie is suffering from and, by the end, I really missed Bailey as well, even though we never meet her! I absolutely loved the character building in this book. Every character felt extremely three-dimensional and real. I loved the Gran and Big and their utter madness made the family seem so real and beautiful. Although I really disliked Toby and (partly) Lennie to begin with because of their actions, they grew on me, and even their actions felt believable and understandable to me by the end. Nelson manages to portray so well how grief can land you in situations you wouldn't expect to find yourself in and how to deal with them. Lennie was such a fantastic character to read from. A girl that felt perfectly ordinary albeit an awkward teenager, who finally grows into herself. It also becomes an amazing coming-of-age story whilst simultaneously dealing with so many other issues
This is one of the most beautifully, lyrically written books I've ever read. Jandy Nelson describes everything with a picturesque beauty that can so easily be imagined. I love the garden and the descriptions made it feel so unbelievably vivid and real.
Oh and the love story in this. was. fantastic. The book wasn't even really focused on it too much but it was so well written and believable and I love that! The poetry which was scattered throughout was fantastic and painted such an interesting picture of the past and present, and also the inner thoughts of Lennie. It worked so brilliantly throughout the book and really added such uniqueness to the story. The ending was so beautiful and perfect and I have absolutely fallen in love with these characters.
The realism merges with surrealism and a little bit of the fantastical to create one of the most beautifully written reads I've picked up in a long time.
I only have two very minor complaints about this book, and one of them is more of a warning to future readers. One is that I just wanted more, more stories about Lennie and her family, her past and her future. There were a couple of unanswered questions but I know they were left unanswered for a reason.
Secondly, I would not recommend the ebook version of this book. if you want to read it then get a physical copy from the library or bookshop. The ebook version was no good to read the poetry on at all. The poetry appears in small snippets between chapters on photographs of sweet wrappers and cups, and the handwriting was extremely small. I use a kobo to read and this meant constantly having to zoom in and out (which is a pain on the kobo!). Zooming in by 200% just to read the poem and then turning to page to find three giant words of the next chapter on my screen was a bit frustrating. This may be different on kindle but I just thought I'd warn fellow kobo readers! So yes, if you want to read this fantastic book (which I highly recommend you do, especially if you enjoy John Green and Rainbow Rowell's books) then I suggest picking up a copy as soon as you can, because it is one of the best books I've read this year by a mile!
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.
**Spoiler Free Review**
There has been a lot of hype for this book on both Goodreads and Youtube, and now I know why! This is one of the most beautiful contemporary novels I've ever read. I love that although there is a love story in this, the focus still manages to remain on the complexities of grief and loss rather than becoming another novel that revolves around a love triangle. It is stunningly beautiful and so hard to express just how wonderfully written it is!
Jandy Nelson manages to effectively and realistically depict grief and all the forms it can take. I really felt the loss that Lennie is suffering from and, by the end, I really missed Bailey as well, even though we never meet her! I absolutely loved the character building in this book. Every character felt extremely three-dimensional and real. I loved the Gran and Big and their utter madness made the family seem so real and beautiful. Although I really disliked Toby and (partly) Lennie to begin with because of their actions, they grew on me, and even their actions felt believable and understandable to me by the end. Nelson manages to portray so well how grief can land you in situations you wouldn't expect to find yourself in and how to deal with them. Lennie was such a fantastic character to read from. A girl that felt perfectly ordinary albeit an awkward teenager, who finally grows into herself. It also becomes an amazing coming-of-age story whilst simultaneously dealing with so many other issues
This is one of the most beautifully, lyrically written books I've ever read. Jandy Nelson describes everything with a picturesque beauty that can so easily be imagined. I love the garden and the descriptions made it feel so unbelievably vivid and real.
Oh and the love story in this. was. fantastic. The book wasn't even really focused on it too much but it was so well written and believable and I love that! The poetry which was scattered throughout was fantastic and painted such an interesting picture of the past and present, and also the inner thoughts of Lennie. It worked so brilliantly throughout the book and really added such uniqueness to the story. The ending was so beautiful and perfect and I have absolutely fallen in love with these characters.
The realism merges with surrealism and a little bit of the fantastical to create one of the most beautifully written reads I've picked up in a long time.
I only have two very minor complaints about this book, and one of them is more of a warning to future readers. One is that I just wanted more, more stories about Lennie and her family, her past and her future. There were a couple of unanswered questions but I know they were left unanswered for a reason.
Secondly, I would not recommend the ebook version of this book. if you want to read it then get a physical copy from the library or bookshop. The ebook version was no good to read the poetry on at all. The poetry appears in small snippets between chapters on photographs of sweet wrappers and cups, and the handwriting was extremely small. I use a kobo to read and this meant constantly having to zoom in and out (which is a pain on the kobo!). Zooming in by 200% just to read the poem and then turning to page to find three giant words of the next chapter on my screen was a bit frustrating. This may be different on kindle but I just thought I'd warn fellow kobo readers! So yes, if you want to read this fantastic book (which I highly recommend you do, especially if you enjoy John Green and Rainbow Rowell's books) then I suggest picking up a copy as soon as you can, because it is one of the best books I've read this year by a mile!
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