Review: "The Sky is Everywhere" by Jandy Nelson
I'm not a fan of love stories, so, at first, I have been a little reluctant to start reading it. I've won it and it has been lying on my bookshelf for a couple of months, so because of that and because the title was intriguing I decided to give it a try. I can say that I didn't regret my decision because it was an enjoyable read, after all. The Sky is Everywhere is not just a story about love or romance but a story about grieving and about the pain of losing someone dear.
What I enjoyed the most about this novel was Jandy Nelson’s writing style which is special; the book is a real page turner and you can’t get bored while reading it because the pace is perfect, neither to fast but nor too slow, with a lot of useless details. I loved Lennie's poetry inserted at random points in the book.
Plot: The plot was rather predictable so don’t expect any plot twist from this one.
Love triangle? Yes, there is a love triangle but I didn’t mind it even though it was a little weird because one of the boys (Toby) was Lennie’s death sister’s boyfriend.
The only thing I was disappointed of was the fact that I didn’t cry (ok, I know it sounds weird but everyone was saying how this book wrecked them so I was expecting it to be sad, I was expecting something like "The Fault in Our Stars"), but I had dry eyes throughout it all. I have waited until the last page for the moment when something that can make me cry will happen, but that moment didn’t come… nope, not a single tear was shed that day. Maybe this novel is more heartbreaking for someone who knows the pain of losing a sister or a dear relative and can sympathize with Lennie, the protagonist.
Characters:
I saw that many readers do not like Lennie, but for me she is a pretty good protagonist. Ok, she is making a lot of stupid mistakes throughout the book but it is something normal for someone who lost her sister, the pain was clouding her judgment. The only thing I did not like about her was the fact that she was living in Bailey’s shadow and she was too hard on herself.
Toby, Lennie’s death sister’s boyfriend, is the character that I liked the least.
On the other side, I really liked Joe Fontaine, Lennie’s boyfriend, even though he is cliché, but he's really sweet and full of positive vibes.
As for the other characters, Grams and Big were an interesting duo, Sarah, Lennie’s best friend was the kind of friend I would like to have and Rachel, well, she’s another cliché character, the usual popular girl who tries to steal the protagonist’s boyfriend. I would have liked to find out more about Bailey and about Lennie’s mother (I’m curious to know if Lennie will ever find and meet her).
As for the ending, I was pleased with it.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a light read or you want to take a break from all that supernatural/dystopian reads than The Sky is Everywhere is a great choice.
PS: Now, I really want to try “I’ll give you the sun”.
