Book Club Review: I'll Give You the Sun
Jandy Nelson's award winning novel I'll Give You the Sun details the unique relationship between twin siblings Noah and Jude and their journey to self discovery.
The novel switches between Noah and Jude's perspectives, Noah's half of it from when they are thirteen and Jude's half from when they are sixteen. As the story progresses, Nelson slowly unmasks the events that happen in the time between, and that account for the shifts in the twin's personalities and the dynamic of their relationship.
The book club gave the book 3.5 stars. We were unanimous in our preference of Noah's story line, and Noah's character, over Jude's. Though without the Jude's perspective the story would have been lacking, we all found ourselves looking forward to Noah's sections of the novel, while Jude's sections seemed to lag.
Additionally, the plot of the book is nothing state-of-the-art: teenagers navigating romance, school, family, their difficulty fitting in. It's familiarity makes it hard to get invested; at times it seems as though there is very little setting the book apart from every other coming-of-age novel. However, under the surface, the book delves deep into the ideas of religion, miracles, identity, imagination, and fate. Somehow, Nelson uses the simplest story to pose the most complicated questions.
“Because who knows? Who knows anything? Who knows who’s pulling the strings? Or what is? Or how? Who knows if destiny is just how you tell yourself the story of you life?”