Mini {Audiobook} Review: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Title: I'll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Narrator: Julia Whelan, Jesse Bernstein
Series: n/a
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication Date: September 16, 2014
Source: Audio from Sync
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell.

Jude and her brother, Noah, are incredibly close twins. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude surfs and cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and divisive ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as an unpredictable new mentor. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant, fully alive, sometimes very funny novel from the critically acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

WHAT I LIKED:

- I liked everything. More than everything. From the first word to the last, I just absolutely adored this book. 

-The narrators were fabulous. Granted, I didn't like the voice Whelan did for grandma.. it reminded me too much The Sky is Everywhere. But at the same time, I don't think that narration would have been as good without grandmas annoying voice. If that makes sense? I really loved the narration for Noah. It was perfect. both of these narrators put so much into this story. especially at the emotional parts. And there are many. 

-The FEELINGS. OMG, the feelings. I literally finished this book hours ago, and I canceled the review I was going to post this Friday so I could blab my love for this one.  Like Noah and Jude's art, my love for this story bursting out of me. 

-The POV switches. I loved this because its not just a switch in points of view, Noah's parts take us back in time. Something devastating happens, and there is before and after. It's so nay things guys!!! And when it all comes together in the end.... I didn't know if I wanted to cry or cheer. 

-The characters. Every single one of them.. so unique and no where near perfect. And the relationships they have between each other. *sigh* I especially loved the connections Jude and Noah had. as well as the conflicts. Sibling rivalry is real.. and it's relevant here. 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: 

-There isn't anything I didn't like. I will admit, I picked this one up and then shelved it because I couldn't get into it at the time. I'm a mood reader. If I'm not in the mood for it, I won't enjoy it. Sometimes it's just better to come back to it. Especially with works from Authors like Nelson. I remembered how emotional The Sky is Everywhere was and when I realized I'll Give You the Sun was just as deep a read/listen, I decided to come back to it when I was ready. 

So glad I did, because I would not have appreciated it as much had I pushed myself through it back then. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

-I have so much love for this story. Jandy Nelson's two books have blown my mind. I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us in the future. 

About the author:

Jandy Nelson, like her characters in I'll Give You the Sun, comes from a superstitious lot. She was tutored from a young age in the art of the four-leaf clover hunt; she knocks on wood, throws salt, and carries charms in her pockets. Her debut novel, The Sky is Everywhere, was on multiple Best Books of the Year lists, was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, earned numerous starred reviews, and was named both a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and an Indie Next List Top Ten Pick. A former literary agent, she holds a BA from Cornell, an MFA in poetry from Brown, and another MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She now lives and writes in San Francisco, California—not far from the settings of her books.

Find Jandy:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

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Labels: all the feels, all-time favorites, Audiobook, i'll give you the sun, jandy nelson, reviews, the sky is everywhere

{Blog Tour} I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson: Interview & Giveaway

Jandy Nelson is the type of author who writes stories that evoke all of her readers' emotions. When I started reading I'll Give You the Sun, I knew I'd just discovered my new favorite contemporary novel...and the book elevated Jandy into favorite author status, as well. I'll Give You the Sun is honest and full of heart and a book that you just have to experience for yourself to fully understand it. You can read more of my thoughts on the novel here. Today, though, I have the utmost pleasure in interviewing the author, who has gracefully provided us with more insight into the characters in her new novel.

I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN

By Jandy Nelson

In stores now!!!

Order I'll Give You the Sun: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Apple | Kobo | Fishpond | The Book Depository
Here's the blurb:

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

I’ll Give You the Sun Blog Tour
A Q&A with Jandy Nelson

I'm curious as to how your writing process for this book went. Rather than using flashbacks, you've written a dual perspective, but one perspective is told from a character in the past and one is told from a different character in the present. What made you decide to write the story in this manner? Did you write one character's "chapters" and then the other's? Or did you write it as the reader reads it? Was there an outline you worked from...as in, did you know how each characters' arc would come to fruition as you wrote the book?

I knew from the beginning that I wanted the novel to be told in alternating point of views and also from different timeframes because I really wanted the reader’s perspective on events to shift with the shifting narrators. Also, because there’s a mystery element to the story, I hoped this structure would add tension and propulsion. And, I hoped the reader would get immersed in both twins’ worlds equally and so their allegiances might change in different parts of the story. In terms of the process, I realized pretty early on the best way to write the novel would be to first write Noah’s story start to finish. Then Jude’s start to finish. It was kind of crazy—I’d lock one twin’s file when I was working on the other’s so I wouldn’t cheat because I really wanted each of their voices/their worlds to be distinct from the other’s. Then, after I had drafts of both stories—this was about 2 1⁄2 years into the process—I began braiding the narratives together (which was like writing a whole new novel—I think I cut 50K words) and praying a ton that it would work. And no, I didn’t work from an outline but always kept the trajectory of one twin in mind when writing the other’s—so yes, I had an idea of each of their trajectories from the beginning. Phew! That was a mouthful!

Oh, wow, that's pretty intense...though, knowing myself, I'd likely have to lock the files, too. I loved how you intertwined the twins' stories, and knowing the process makes me love it that much more.

Jude considers herself quite the Bible thumper, but not in the way you'd imagine. Where did you get the idea for Grandma Sweetwine's "Bible" and the passages within?

I grew up in a superstitious family where there were lots of nutty beliefs bandied about regularly. So, when making Grandma Sweetwine’s “bible,” I absolutely drew from my own family lore. I also did a lot of research—such fun research—on superstitions around the globe. There’s one two-volume book that was terrific called Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World edited by Cora Linn Daniels and C.M. Stevens. So occasionally I mixed and matched entries from that book. But mostly I made up the “bible entries” which was a lot of fun. On an emotional level, I felt like “the bible” was kind of a life-line for Jude, that she’d draw on it, both as a way to connect to her dead grandmother whom she loved dearly but also as a way to feel more in control (however illogical) of her life and less afraid in the world.

I definitely go that impression of Jude with her "bible"...that it was the one thing in her life that she could control, so she clung to it for that reason.

If you were to draw a self-portrait in the vein of those that Noah imagines for himself, what would yours be titled and what would it depict?

Great question. Well considering it took so many years to write this novel, I think it would be something like: (Portrait: Author and Her Characters Jump off Cliff). It would be of me holding hands with Noah and Jude and all of us jumping together off a cliff over the ocean on a really sunny day, and stopping mid-air, mid-fall, so we’re suspended in the blue sky.

That is perfect! I can really envision that after reading the book.

At one point, Jude and Noah are discussing how much their roles have changed over the last few years. Jude even says, "So can you believe how weird I've gotten and how normal you've gotten?" Did you plan this role reversal? Which perspective was harder to write, Noah's or Jude's? And which was your favorite to write?

I did have an idea that there would be a role reversal because of how each twin would respond to certain events. Also, there’s lots of mirroring going on in the book in general. No one will probably notice this but there are key scenes in each of the twin’s story that mirror each other. I really loved this mirroring idea when I was writing, both thematically and structurally, because the identities of the twins are so very much wrapped up in each other. Jude’s perspective was perhaps a little harder to write but not because of who she was, more because she’s carrying the weight of the three years between the stories on her shoulders. And I can’t pick a favorite! That’d be like asking a mother which child she likes more! But in all honesty, I loved spending time with both twins equally. They’re so different that it was really wonderful getting to go back and forth.

Okay, okay...that makes sense...Noah and Jude kind of are like your children in the way that you cultivated them into the individuals they are in the story. Forget I asked. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Jandy!

About the author:

Jandy Nelson, like her characters in I’ll Give You the Sun, comes from a superstitious lot. She was tutored from a young age in the art of the four-leaf clover hunt; she knocks wood, throws salt, and carries charms in her pockets. Her debut novel, The Sky Is Everywhere, was on multiple Best Books of the Year lists, was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, earned numerous starred reviews, has been translated widely, and continues to enjoy great international success. Currently a full-time writer, Jandy lives and writes in San Francisco, California—not far from the settings of The Sky Is Everywhere and I’ll Give You the Sun.

Find Jandy:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

Prizing & samples courtesy of Penguin Books USA.

Rules:

• This giveaway is US only. The publisher will be providing the prize for this giveaway.
• One entry per household. 
• Entries will be verified. Any entry found to be falsified will result in disqualification of all entries for that participant. 
• Winner will be notified via email. Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected. Please check your SPAM folder!!! 
• We are not responsible for lost packages. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ll Give You the Sun is on shelves now! Signed/personalized copies are available from Books Inc.

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog tour, featuring guest posts, interviews, giveaways, and more!

Sept. 1 – Cuddlebuggery
Sept. 2 – Novel Sounds
Sept. 3 – Perpetual Page Turner
Sept. 4 – Forever Young Adult
Sept. 8 – The Young Folks
Sept. 9 – The Book Hookup
Sept. 10 – Grown Up Fangirl
Sept. 11 – Bewitched Bookworms
Sept. 15 – Candace’s Book Blog
Sept. 16 – Novel Novice
Sept. 17 – Alice Marvels
Sept. 18 – Icey Books
Sept. 22 – The Midnight Garden
Sept. 23 – The Starry-Eyed Revue
Sept. 24 – Tales of a Ravenous Reader
Sept. 25 – Katie’s Book Blog
Sept. 29 – GReads!
Sept. 30 – Anna Reads

Thanks for checking out this Q&A with author Jandy Nelson! I hope your interest in I'll Give You the Sun has been piqued and that you give both her novels a try!

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Labels: all the feels, all the swoons, beautiful covers, blog tours, contemporary, favorites, giveaways, i'll give you the sun, jandy nelson, lgbt, must-read, penguin, the sky is everywhere

{Audiobook} Review : The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Title: The Sky is Everywhere
Author: Jandy Nelson
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Series: n/a
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication Date: March 9, 2010
Source: purchased audio
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie's struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.

Last month I was supposed to do some traveling for work. I thought, what better time to once again give audio books a try. I went into this thinking, no way, I will hate it just like the last time. To up my chances of success, I enlisted my lovely co blogger to give me a list of books she loved in audio. The Sky Is Everywhere was one of her suggestions and I’ve been wanted to pick it up for a while now. So I signed up for a trial audible account, and picked this one for my free credit.

I’m not going to lie, at first it was a little weird. I started it one day on my way to work, and I didn’t really know what I thought of it by the time I got there. I did know one thing, I wanted to listen to more on my way home. And that's how it starts my friends… the audio book addiction. I’m not going to go into detail about how the narrator was, because it’s truly the first full audio book I’ve ever sat through. I enjoyed her, gram’s voice was a little annoying, but other than that, she really fit how I think Lennie would have sounded like. So to me, the narrator was great.

This book… sigh. I need to get myself a physical or kindle version just so I can go through and highlight the shit out of it. That is my only audio book complaint, I can't really highlight my favorite parts. And the words, oh all the beautiful words and passages.. I’m so in love with this story.

Lennie has lost her big sister, and I cannot even pretend to know how that would feel because I don’t have a sister. I’ve experienced grief though, so I understood her. She’s not herself, she doesn’t know who she is anymore. She’s always been Bailey’s little sister. She makes mistakes, oh my gosh does she make mistakes. But aside from that, she falls in love, and she feels guilty for feeling these happy things while her sister Bailey is in the ground. It’s heart wrenching and breathtaking all at the same time.

There is so much depth in The Sky Is Everywhere. There really isn’t anything I can say that can do this book justice. Jandy Nelson took a horrible tragedy, a grief stricken family going through hell, and put it all to words in the most beautiful way. It was gorgeous. I’m not the same person after reading this.

About the author:

Jandy Nelson received a BA from Cornell, an MFA from Brown in poetry, and another MFA from Vermont College in writing for children and young adults. A literary agent for many years, she is also a published poet. The Sky Is Everywhere is her first novel. Jandy lives in San Francisco.



Find Jandy:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

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Labels: audiobooks, contemporary, favorites, jandy nelson, reviews, the sky is everywhere

{Audiobook} Review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Title:  The Sky is Everywhere
Author:  Jandy Nelson
Narrator:  Julia Whelan
Series:  n/a
Length:  7 hrs 14 mins
Publisher:  Brilliance Audio
Publication Date:  March 9, 2010
Source:  purchased audio
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie's struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.

“That's a misconception, Lennie. The sky is everywhere, it begins at your feet.”

I know, I'm late to the party.  I kind of remember everyone making a big deal out of this book, but it sounded kind of tragic and not really my thing.  (If you'll remember, I haven't always been the biggest fan of contemporary novels.)  But my interest was renewed in this title when I saw several posts about a read along circulating the interwebz recently.  Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the energy to devote to a read along these days, but I still wanted to read this book...and soon after reading that synopsis again.  So, I did what I normally do in this case, and I located the audiobook on Audible.  (That addiction is costing me some serious bank...I really need to go to the next town over and get set up on their system for borrowing audio, but every time I've tried, they've been closed. Grrr.)

I have loved every audiobook I've listened to that Julia Whelan has narrated.  A couple of them have even included a little spoken French, which she speaks with ease and eloquence.  Add to this the fact that the love interest grew up in France and speaks French fluently, and this audiobook becomes très magnifique.  Julia Whelan is such an expressive narrator, and she sounds the part in every title I've listened to, which makes it easy to see why she keeps cropping up on YA/NA titles.  With some narrators, it's hard not to hear them as the character they performed in a previous work, but with Whelan, I'm immediately transported into this new piece of fiction, and I don't remember that she has ever portrayed another character until the story is over. She is truly a superb narrator, and if you haven't experienced an audiobook performed by her before, I definitely recommend it.

The story presented in The Sky is Everywhere is just as poignant as the audiobook's presentation of it.  It's beautiful and sad and full of raw emotion.  BUT, it's also funny and sweet and terribly romantic.  In other words, you will run the full gamut of emotions with this novel, and at the end, you're going to feel like you've been running the whole time.  This is one of those books where halfway through, I was banging my head against the wall, wondering why I'd waited so long to pick it up.  It's so unbelievably good and real and just what I was in the mood for.

I thought this was going to be a grief book initially, based on that summary, full of sadness and coping and surviving.  But this is so not that book.  It's about a sister's grief, yes, but it's funny and poetic and clever and just so REAL.  There are moments of pure heartfelt sadness, when Lennie is trying to come to terms with her sister's absence.  And there is coping, sometimes in very unproductive ways.  Let's just say that the summary's allusion to a love triangle rings false, though the kissing of more than one boy is involved in the grief process.

“All her knowledge is gone now. Everything she ever learned, or heard, or saw. Her particular way of looking at Hamlet or daisies or thinking about love, all her private intricate thoughts, her inconsequential secret musings – they’re gone too. I heard this expression once: Each time someone dies, a library burns. I’m watching it burn right to the ground.”

But Lennie does other things that help her overcome the loss of her sister:  she writes poetry on scraps of paper and leaves it for others to find (this actually ends up being her saving grace), she plays the clarinet and decides to pursue her dreams of attending Julliard, and she falls in love for the first time.  So, you see, this book is not entirely about grief, but rather how you handle it and how you handle the guilt that comes from moving on with your life after such a tragic loss.  It's about not letting that loss -- and the resulting grief -- define you.

Basically, I loved every facet of this novel.  The main characters were so genuine: in their grief, in their love, and in their actions. The secondary cast of characters was just as phenomenal.  The writing was gorgeous and heartrending, infused with those snippets of poetry and conversations on scraps of receipts and candy wrappers. And the narration was perfection.  This novel is definitely going on my favorites shelf, and you can rest assured that I'll be picking up a hard copy for my shelf so that I can highlight and flag all of my favorite passages (read: all of them) and read them over and over again.

“Life's a freaking mess. In fact, I'm going to tell Sarah we need to start a new philosophical movement: messessentialism instead of existentialism: For those who revel in the essential mess that is life. Because Gram's right, there's not one truth ever, just a bunch of stories, all going on at once, in our heads, in our hearts, all getting in the way of each other. It's all a beautiful calamitous mess. It's like the day Mr. James took us into the woods and cried triumphantly, "That's it! That's it!" to the dizzying cacophony of soloing instruments trying to make music together. That is it.”

Rating:  

This is the UK trailer, but I liked it better.  =)

About the author:

Jandy Nelson received a BA from Cornell, an MFA from Brown in poetry, and another MFA from Vermont College in writing for children and young adults. A literary agent for many years, she is also a published poet. The Sky Is Everywhere is her first novel. Jandy lives in San Francisco.

Find Jandy:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

Read More

Labels: all the feels, all the swoons, audiobooks, contemporary, favorites, jandy nelson, must-read, reviews, the sky is everywhere