Jandy Nelson's debut novel, The Sky is Everywhere, is a book I read for a YA writing class. I don't think I would have heard about it otherwise so I'm grateful to the instructor for bringing it to my attention. It's billed to some extent as a YA romance in which the protagonist (Lennie) has to choose between a boy who helps her remember her sister and a boy who helps her forget, after her sister's tragic death. However, it's a lot more than that because it deals with the nature of loss - how an individual copes and how her family copes. The pain of losing someone close while struggling to be a regular teen - dealing with school, hobbies, and boys - is a topic worthy of explanation in YA literature, and Nelson does a masterful job with it. Her characters are well rounded and believable, and the settings and situations she paints for them are very touching.
Nelson employs the unusual recurring motif of a series of notes Lennie has written for her sister that she has scattered around the town. Some of them are found and some are not recovered. And they probably won't make sense to anyone who didn't know who wrote them. I had heard from someone who knew the author that she had initially thought of writing the whole book as a series of these notes/poems, but then decided to use them as a motif in a more traditional narrative. I thought this latter approach worked very well, although it would have been interesting to see how it would have worked out if the book comprised only the notes. It would have been more like a "book in poems".
The other motif that resonates through the book is the use of music to express what the characters are feeling, as several of the main characters are musicians. While this is a familiar motif, it is also used here to great effect. There's also a floral motif which is pretty cool as well. This is a very strong debut novel that will appeal to those who like teen romance as well as those who want something a little deeper. I'm interested to see what Nelson does next.
Nelson employs the unusual recurring motif of a series of notes Lennie has written for her sister that she has scattered around the town. Some of them are found and some are not recovered. And they probably won't make sense to anyone who didn't know who wrote them. I had heard from someone who knew the author that she had initially thought of writing the whole book as a series of these notes/poems, but then decided to use them as a motif in a more traditional narrative. I thought this latter approach worked very well, although it would have been interesting to see how it would have worked out if the book comprised only the notes. It would have been more like a "book in poems".
The other motif that resonates through the book is the use of music to express what the characters are feeling, as several of the main characters are musicians. While this is a familiar motif, it is also used here to great effect. There's also a floral motif which is pretty cool as well. This is a very strong debut novel that will appeal to those who like teen romance as well as those who want something a little deeper. I'm interested to see what Nelson does next.
RSS Feed