Book Review: The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

 

I cannot emphasise how beautiful this book is. It is going straight onto my 'best books I've ever read' list. I hope you enjoy this review and have a read yourself.

It is about a 17 year old high school student Lennon Walker, nicknamed Lennie or Len, who's struggling through the loss of her sister Bailey who died by arrhythmia. Lennie, Gram and Uncle Big are taking it day by day in this deep depression and Lennie's comforts are nature and the band at school as well as leaving notes and poems throughout the town. Written down on these notes are conversations she once had with her sister and poems about her heartache. During all of this, she begins a secret relationship with Bailey's fiancé, Toby and they grieve and lament over the loved one they've lost. Not only that, a new boy appears in school called Joe Fontaine, a half French/musically talented/sweet boy who takes on Lennie's sorrow and helps her resulting in a relationship between the two of them at the same time as the relationship between Lennie and Toby.

The Sky is Everywhere is narrated by Lennie herself and this allows the reader to be taken on a journey that explores her grief and anguish at first hand. This does have its disadvantages because I found myself not liking Lennie at first just because of the silly mistakes and actions she does that left me frustrated and wanting to shake her. Although she is lost in grief, her actions can often be seen as selfish and she can lie pretty well which didn't make me trust her at all. Eventually however I found myself really feeling for her character and seeing that she is just confused, alone and heartbroken. Her notes and poems are on the beginning page of each chapter and they're really heart wrenching to read.

The other characters really play their parts well within this book. Gram, who is essentially a hippy, wafts around with her famous flowers and her paintings.. you find yourself really falling love with her and her weird antics. She really is vital person in Lennie's life and tries to help keep the every day routine going despite her internal suffering. Uncle Big, the five times married pothead is a rather funny and sometimes philosophical man, you just can't resist him. They helped make this book a magical, special one as it showed you how grief affects everyone in different ways and how they deal with it. It shows you and Lennie how not alone you really are when it comes to losing a loved one.

The controversial storyline of Lennie kissing Toby while also forming a relationship with Joe really bugged me at first. I don't know if that was Jandy's idea from the start but I really found myself disliking Lennie for allowing herself to try and elope with her dead sister's boyfriend. I mean, we've all grieved at some point in our  lives but we haven't found ourselves wanting to suddenly start making moves on your loved one's partner. But in a way, as you go further into the book, you find yourself understanding her confusion and desperation. For her, Joe takes her out of her sorrow and makes her forget just for a minute how unbearable life is without her sister while Toby comforts her in the moments when it all gets too much.

This book also really gets the tears going at some parts. Obviously when the inevitable happens when Joe sees Lennie kissing Toby, while she desperately tries to resolve things with him and decide what she really wants with Toby she sort of suffers a breakdown. The writing becomes so fast paced that you feel the speed of Lennie's thoughts and emotions as she breaks down. I certainly got teary eyed at that part, it really moved me.

The only criticisms I have of this book is the sophistication of the characters for their ages. I certainly didn't declare my undying love for anyone at the age of 17 like Lennie and Joe did! The romance did become a little too intense for my liking after Joe planned to "deflower" Lennie after like 3 days into the relationship. And at times, I didn't see how lust and grief could concide that extremely for Lennie to do the things she did.

Either way, this book is really beautiful and takes you back to the times you have grieved over someone. Lennie's moments of mourning alone in her room really hit home with you. Jandy Nelson's style of writing is great and I look forward to reading some more of her books in the future.

Have you read this? What did you think?
Please leave any of your thoughts in the comments below.

Thankyou for reading.
Laura.