Who: Jandy NelsonWhat: The Sky is Everywhere
Where: Walker Books for Young Readers
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.
The Sky is Everywhere made me feel about 100 emotions at once, many of which consisted of me either yelling at Lennie or closing the book because I was close to tears.
The Sky is Everywhere tells the story of Lennie, a girl stricken by grief after her sister dies, and the consequences of Lennie's bad decisions to handle it. Jandy's writing was beautiful, lyrical, and just absolutely stunning. Definitely my favorite part of the book. Also, I looked the little scraps of paper that Lennie would leave with her thoughts and conversations all over the town and just forget about them. It really showed her frustration and how much she cared for Bailey.
Lennie made me want to hug her but also punch the living daylights out of her. I understand the grief, and how it comes you to crazy things to try to cope with it, which is why I was more sensitive to the situations she put herself in. But sometimes I just wanted to shake and yell "Get yourself together!" But of course, fictional characters don't ever listen to me. Watching Lennie uncover so many things about not only her sister, but herself, was an amazing experience for me to read.
I wanted to punch Toby in the face 98% of the time he was around. I wanted him to leave, to stop causing more problems than Lennie could handle, but without Toby, I don't think Lennie wouldn't have grown the way she does. Though what they did was horrible by any standard, it grew them as people and helped them deal with the at first overwhelming emotions she feels. JOE, on the other hand, I totally loved. He was polite, happy, and really cared about Lennie. I loved their relationship together and that's probably why Lennie made me want to pull my hair out when she'd hurt him. I like that he didn't just gave in automatically when she tried to fix things with him and made her work for it!
And because this quote is so meaningful and beautiful and gah:
The Sky is Everywhere tells the story of Lennie, a girl stricken by grief after her sister dies, and the consequences of Lennie's bad decisions to handle it. Jandy's writing was beautiful, lyrical, and just absolutely stunning. Definitely my favorite part of the book. Also, I looked the little scraps of paper that Lennie would leave with her thoughts and conversations all over the town and just forget about them. It really showed her frustration and how much she cared for Bailey.
Lennie made me want to hug her but also punch the living daylights out of her. I understand the grief, and how it comes you to crazy things to try to cope with it, which is why I was more sensitive to the situations she put herself in. But sometimes I just wanted to shake and yell "Get yourself together!" But of course, fictional characters don't ever listen to me. Watching Lennie uncover so many things about not only her sister, but herself, was an amazing experience for me to read.
I wanted to punch Toby in the face 98% of the time he was around. I wanted him to leave, to stop causing more problems than Lennie could handle, but without Toby, I don't think Lennie wouldn't have grown the way she does. Though what they did was horrible by any standard, it grew them as people and helped them deal with the at first overwhelming emotions she feels. JOE, on the other hand, I totally loved. He was polite, happy, and really cared about Lennie. I loved their relationship together and that's probably why Lennie made me want to pull my hair out when she'd hurt him. I like that he didn't just gave in automatically when she tried to fix things with him and made her work for it!
And because this quote is so meaningful and beautiful and gah:
Sometimes you must lose everything to find yourself.
My rating? AMAZINGNESS
Happy Reading!
-Harmony
-Harmony
