Book review - I'll Give You the Sun

Title: I'll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Genre: realistic fiction
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Rating:

Lovely and a little dizzying

Summary: Growing up, fraternal twins Jude and Noah were inseparable. They communicated without speaking, never played rock-paper-scissors since they always threw the same shape. Jude was the only one who understoond Noah's eccentricities. Now that the twins are teenagers, things have changed and they could not be more different. This book is told in two voices and time periods - Noah at age 13 (when they begin to change) and Jude at age 16 (when they hardly know each other any more).
My opinion: This book has been getting a lot of buzz and I can certainly see why. What a masterpiece. Nelson deftly manages two vastly different characters and two different points in their lives. Noah is very much an "other", so off from "normal" that anything is possible. Jude is incredibly damaged, broken by fears and secrets. And secrets play a huge role in the plot. We see these secrets and their effects slowly unfold, revealing how these previously close kids got to a point where they don't even talk. Beyond plot, this book is beauty and art. There is this great exploration of the artist's temperament and the process of creating. And absolutely wonderful phrasing. There's a beauty in the description of even little things. One of my personal favorite lines is "the strong smell of the ocean too, like he's carrying it on his back". That line just blows me away.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by Net Galley