Rachel Rambles About The Sky is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
From Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transfer from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding. This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.


I LOVE THIS BOOK I LOVE THIS BOOK I LOVE THIS BOOK I LOVE THIS BOOK I LOVE THIS BOOK I LOVE THIS BOOK I LOVE THIS BOOK.

I am a huge fan of contemporary novels. They are my favorite to read and write (when I say "write" I obviously mean the collection of discarded drafts of half-finished or barely-started "novels" that I, at fifteen years old, enjoy writing so I can pretend that I am A Serious Author) and my favorite to think about and talk about and everything. This is not to say that I don't lovelovelove other genres, but there will always be a special place in my heart for contemporary. My favorite contemporary novels often feature "broken" characters or characters who are struggling with difficult things in their life or characters who are consumed by grief etc etc. These kinds of books usually make me cry, which usually means it's a good book.

So when I heard about this book, I was instantly intrigued. It sounded like My Kind of Book. I believe I fell in love with the story somewhere on the first page.

When the book begins, Lennie is still reeling from the death of her older sister Bailey. Lennie had always been the shy one, the quiet one, the bookworm, the band geek, when compared to her wild and confident and outgoing sister. With Bailey gone, Lennie is alone with just her Gran and her uncle, and all three of them are trying to recover from Bailey's sudden death.

This book is so much about Lennie's relationship with her family, particularly her grandmother, and the way they interact with each other now that a member of their family is gone. Everything is complicated and messed-up and it's absolutely heart-breaking to read about this family that is so broken and sad. The characters felt so real, like they were my family, and I maybe cried so much on every page all the time just a teeny little bit.

And then there are the boys. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend, the only person going through exactly what Lennie is going through. And Joe is the new boy in town, the always happy guy who never even met Bailey. Both guys are totally swoon-worthy and I have so many feeeelings about them and so does Lennie.

This book has grief and sadness and humor and happiness and romance and kissing and sexytimes and OH MY GOD MY EMOTIONS. Seriously. This book made me laugh and cry and I am so attached to all the characters and I feel like I know them so well and I didn't want the book to end and I want to hug this book and I am so emotionally invested in this book and I love it with all my heart.

The characters are amazing. The story is perfection. The writing style is GORGEOUS in the I-want-to-dog-ear-every-single-page-of-this-book kind of way. There are so many amazing quotes and sentences and paragraphs and poems and words that I just am so crazy in love with.

As soon as I finished reading this, I wanted to flip back to the first page and start all over again. (Which I could not do because it was the middle of the night and I have to do these things called sleeping and school. Ugh. How ridiculous.) It's that good.

I could go on and on and on about this book. I could write a freaking book about how much I love this book. But every second you spend reading this ramble is a second spent NOT READING THIS BOOK.

So I'll just shut up now. I know this ramble isn't well-written or anything, because for some reason I have a really hard time writing about books I love, but trust me when I tell you that The Sky is Everywhere is absolutely amazing. This is a story I've been thinking about pretty much non-stop ever since I read the last word, and it's a story I'll be revisiting many times in the future.

-Rachel