The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

-
Lenny Walker has lost the very person that meant the world to her - her older sister Bailey. Now she must battle with the grief and sorrow that comes with a great loss. She must find herself, but in the midst of all this, she falls in love with the new boy, Joe Fontaine. At the same time, she finds that only Bailey's boyfriend, Toby, understands what she is going through and they start to develop a strange relationship. Lenny is lost, confused and frustrated. This is a story about a girl who must learn to stand on her own for the first time in her life. To truly show who she is without her sister and to show that she can actually live on without her.

This is my second time reading The Sky is Everywhere. The first time I read it was back in 2012 when I was 14 years old. I still remember how much I loved the novel. Reading it again, I have come to appreciate Lenny's poems and the amazing and poetic way this novel is written. To this day, The Sky is Everywhere is still one of my favorite books. Perhaps because I can relate to Lenny as I myself have an older sister, and I know that it would break me - like it did Lenny - if my sister passed away. For Lenny, it was extremely tragic because they shared such a speciel bond. They never knew their fathers and their mother had left them with their grandmother when they were too young to remember her. This being the reason, a special bond was created between the sisters. They did everything together. Bailey truly shined bright when she was alive, whereas Lenny admired her sister, but never really had the courage to step out from under her shadow. It's difficult when you've never had a reason to. Then Bailey dies and Lenny is left to herself. She must discover herself and understand that she is special too. 

This novel really touched me. The relationship between Lenny and Bailey is so special - like any bond between siblings is. I love the admiration Lenny has for her sister. I love the conversations between them and how much love they have for each other. They shared a room and still got along just fine. It is just so beautiful and that is why Bailey's death was so heartbreaking! Then there's the relationship between Lenny and Joe Fontaine. Oh how I admire their love-story! It's so troubled, but most importantly it's filled with passion and true love. It is described how they belong together and it's just so beautiful. It's romantic and in a way old-fashioned - at least that's what Lenny thinks. However, it is evident that the love between Lenny and Joe is true and so pure. I'm pretty sure that any girl would want the same kind of love and admiration Joe has for Lenny. 

One of the main focuses of this novel is Lenny's battle with grief and becoming independent. I truly feel like Jandy Nelson managed to portray this in a very realistic way as we see how Lenny grows far apart from the people who used to be close to her and how she starts to disappoint the same people. She changes a lot, but we also see how she grows to understand herself more and how she develops into a beautiful and strong young woman. Among other things, the novel also focuses on music and family. It's an amazing book - as I've mentioned before. Everyone takes something different from the novel and that's another thing that's so great. 

Jandy Nelson, 288 pages, 2010

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SOLGT

-
Image
Nadia og hendes datter Tina (til venstre) Zana (til højre) En sand historie fortalt af Zana Muhsen: Zana og Nadia Muhsen er 2 piger på 15 og 14 år. Deres mor er briter, og deres far er araber. Som de voksede op, var deres frihed meget begrænset. Deres far var meget streng og vogtede konstant over dem. En dag fortæller deres far dem, at de skal til Yemen på en drømmeferie i 2 uger. De siger ja med det samme, da de aldrig har været ude at rejse før, og fordi det lyder meget spændende. Zana rejser nogle dage før Nadia, med hendes fars ven Abdul Khada og hans søn Mohammed. Da Zana ankommer til Yemen, er det overhovedet ikke som forventet. Der er utroligt varmt, og landskabet skifter meget fra landsby til landsby. Zana går anderledes klædt i forhold til andre kvinder, som er fuldt tildækket med lange bukser og tørklæder. Zana er meget uvidende og venter på, at hendes ferie skal begynde. Hun tror jo, at hun skal på en drømmeferie, men i virkeligheden har hendes far solgt h...
Read more

Forfatningen af Gemma Malley

-
Image
Anna er et Overskud. Hun lever i året 2140, hvor man har evigt liv, fordi man kan tage nogle stoffer, der hedder LangtLiv. Det har gjort, at verden er blevet overbefolket. Derfor står der i Forfatningen, at det er forbudt at få børn. Nogle børn, der bliver født ulovligt, bliver dræbt, andre bliver sat på et Overskudshjem som Anna. Hun bor på Grange Hall. Hun hader sine forældre. Det var en synd, at de fik hende, og nu betaler hun prisen for det. På Grange Hall bliver børnene oplært i forskellige ting som usynlighed. De får hele tiden at vide, at de ikke burde være der. - hvert minut er stjålendt. De må ikke stille spørgsmål, de bliver tæsket, hvis de gør noget forkert, de bliver isoleret, de har ingen ejendele, og de skal hele tiden kigge ned. Anna er Præfækt, og hendes mål er at være Værdsat. På Grange Hall er lederen en sur og meget skrap dame, Mrs Pincent. Der er ikke noget kærligt eller menneskeligt i hende. Hun bestemmer, hvad overskuddenes straf er, og hun viser ingen barmhj...
Read more

"It Ends With Us" by Colleen Hoover

-
Image
Lily Bloom grew up in a house with an abusive father and a mother who couldn't say no. As Lily grew up she came to hate her father for his actions and swore that she'd never be with a guy who abused her. Lily is 23 years old and has moved away from her hometown. She now lives in Boston. One special night she meets the handsome and successful neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid. They immediately connect and have a rare, but honest conversation about the naked truths of their lives. They think they'll never meet again, but that's the funny thing about the universe. We never know what's going to happen to us.  I was very excited to read this novel as I had heard great things about it. I even saw that it won a Goodreads-award. That's why I thought it would be absolutely amazing. It's not that I was disappointed when I finished the novel. I am just being honest as I write that the issue with this novel is that it in some ways fails to be authentic.  To be fair, the...
Read more