Review Detail

What I loved:

I loved how it wasn’t necessarily a love story — though, there is the cutest romance between Noah and the boy next door that I wanted so much more from — but a story about second chances and the relationship between siblings. I also loved the scene between Noah and Brian where they are in Noah’s room together… figuring things out… and wow. I did not see it going there and was rather pleased Jandy didn’t shy away from such a powerful moment for those boys.

What Left Me Wanting More:

The Writing style is very "purple" and confusing.

Some of it was really nice, like so:
“This is what I want: I want to grab my brother’s hand and run back through time, losing years like coats falling from our shoulders.”

Other times I felt like I was stuck in paintball war of words:
“My heart leaves, hitchhikes right out of my body, heads north, catches a ferry across the Bering Sea and plants itself in Siberia with the polar bears and ibex and long-horned goats until it turns into a teeny-tiny glacier.

Because I imagined it.”

Then some of the time, it made me laugh:
“For the record, I’m in the midst of a penis panic attack.”

Only to feel like I was drowning in a rainbow ocean:
“He floated into the air high above the sleeping forest, his green hat spinning a few feet above his head. In his hand was the open suitcase and out of it spilled a whole sky of stars.”

WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? I think I’m way too much of a cynic to jive with this kind of writing. It was like Shatter Me went on an acid trip and threw up all over my pages.

Still, I’m impressed with Jandy because both Noah and Jude’s chapters were VERY different from each other, containing two different narration styles. Honestly, she pulled it off well. I never had trouble figuring out whose chapter I was reading: Noah liked to abuse metaphors and Jude talked in fragments to her dead grandmother. How Jandy managed to do this so flawlessly is beyond me, but clearly it’s the mark of a very talented writer.

Overall: Your love for I’ll Give You the Sun will depend entirely on how you feel about the writing style. It’s can be VERY jarring in the beginning, but the story itself is pretty good.