Author: Jandy Nelson
Year Published: 2014
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 371
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location (my 2014 Google Reading map): USA (CA)
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my school library
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Judy cliff-dives and wears red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, at sixteen, Judy and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways...until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else--an even more unpredictable new force in her life.
The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to each other, they'd have a chance to remake their world.
FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my school library
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Judy cliff-dives and wears red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, at sixteen, Judy and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways...until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else--an even more unpredictable new force in her life.
The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to each other, they'd have a chance to remake their world.
Review: My librarian friend Shannon recommended this book to me and another librarian friend, Sherri, did as well so I brought it home over the Winter Break. Good choice, ladies! Sherri did admit that in the middle she started to question it, but kept going and was glad she did. That little bit of information kept me going as well at about the mid-point. It isn't that I didn't like the book all the way through, but I felt it got bogged down in detail about half way though. But, that detail mattered and in the end, I really liked this book!
I like books that have alternate chapters told by different characters; getting the events from two or more perspectives really fills out the story for me. So, having Noah tell the early events (ages 13 to 14) of the twins and then Jude tell the other end (age 16), worked well. There is so much that goes on in the early teen years of these twins: sexual awakening; a tragedy; twin-tension and misunderstandings; blossoming friendships; and art. There is always art.
I very much enjoyed Jandy Nelson's first novel, The Sky is Everywhere and she has done another excellent job with this novel.
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