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 sister Bailey. But when Bailey dies suddenly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, 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 transplant 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.
The Sky is Everywhere is one intense book! I was so caught up in what was happening to Lennie, our heroine, that I had to put the book down a few times and take a break. I was almost tempted to read the ending to put an end to all the suspense – and I never do that!
Our story opens up one month after the death of Bailey, Lennie’s older sister. She’s still reeling from Bailey’s sudden death and isolating herself from friends and family. Lennie is also trying to deal with the fact that ever since Bailey passed, she’s been one huge ball of raging hormones – noticing guys when they’ve never even been a blip on her radar before. One guy that totally rocks her world is Parisian transplant, Joe Fontaine, musician extraordinaire. The other guy, unfortunately, is Bailey’s boyfriend, Toby. Joe brightens up Lennie’s life but Toby keeps her memories of Bailey alive. He gets her in a way no one else does.
Lennie was such an amazing character for someone so young. What got me was her relationship with her sister. Imagine a race horse – there’s a companion pony leading that race horse to the starting gate. Lennie thinks of herself as that companion pony to the star. She’s trying to find her way without her sister to lead the way. Their relationship also had an effect on Lennie’s musical aspirations. Lennie gave up her dream of going to Juilliard because Bailey, an aspiring actress, didn’t get accepted to that prestigious school. As you can see, Bailey had a very important impact on Lennie’s life.
The secondary characters were interesting as well. There’s Lennie’s absent mother, she plays a big role in Lennie’s life even though she isn’t there. There’s Joe and Toby. Then there’s Gram and Uncle Big. Gram has a way with flowers and Big is the town Lothario. A richer cast of characters you won’t find in another young adult novel. I loved everyone.
Music also plays an important role in Lennie’s story. She plays the clarinet, she’s 2nd seat in band. She’s allowed a less talented girl to get first seat. And her connection with Joe is also through music.
Another thing I really loved was Lennie’s writing. She writes her thoughts and poems on little scraps of paper and leaves them around town, she doesn’t actually commit anything to a notebook. She lets her words loose into the world, and those words were powerful.
The Sky is Everywhere is an intense and enjoyable debut novel. I highly recommend it. A
I loved this book, it’s one of my favourite reads of 2010 for definite! All the characters were fab, the story was great, and I loved how unique the poems were throughout the novel!
I completely agree with your assessment. I loved this book SO much, and I felt like all the characters were my friends… they were all so amazing and well-rounded.
I loooooved this book. Best book I read so far this year, YA, adult, whatever. Love Jandy Nelson’s prose. Can’t wait for her next book!
Thanks for the review! I feel like I don’t hear as much buzz about this book as it deserves.
I’m planning on reading this soon (hopefully). I’ve got it save to my amazon shopping cart for my next purchase 🙂
Lucie-I loved the poems too! And the fact that they were shown on what they were written on. That was really good.
Ashley-Thanks! They were very well-rounded. Like we knew so much about them all, even the characters that weren’t there. I like how Gram had her letters too.
Erin-I can’t wait for her next book either. Is there any word on what she’s working on? And I only saw ONE post about this on all the blogs I haunt, so yeah, she needs more buzz! Or I need to lurk at more blogs. LOL
Dev-Do so! Don’t forget! LOL I got this from the library but now I need to get a copy for myself. It’s definitely a favorite from this year.
This is such a lovely book! I wish Joe of the incredible eyelashes is a real person. I really enjoyed reading this one, I liked how the secondary characters are so quirky.
I love how creative Lennie’s poems are. Have you seen the UK edition? It’s so pretty, it looks like a scrapbook because of the colored pages.
Chachic – I didn’t see the UK version, but I now I must! LOL I think I can order it from Book Depository. Thanks for the heads up!
I really want to read this one! I think they are publishing in Spanish already, so I might be able to get my paws on it, but I don’t usually like translations >.>
🙂
Great review!
Alex
I loved this one too! Looking forward to more from this author for sure!!!Great review Ames!
I’m reading this one right now! It’s wonderful! I hope to finish it tonight (maybe tomorrow – work gets in the way of my reading time)
Alex-Thanks! And I hope you enjoy it even though it is a translation. 😛
Mollie-I think your review is what made me want to read this. LOL
Dev-Woohoo! Did you love it?
I want to read this book but it’s not available as an e-book for the Kindle. Bummer.