The Sky Is Everywhere

This book is amazing. You read it you finish with about 400 or so pages, but when you finish, its only been a few days. This book is not a waste of time, as a girl looses her sister and gets lost in a journey of lust ,love and sorrow. She writes poems to express her feelings.
Great read..

PS. dear

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Chris, you are NOT gonna read my review

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This book is, quite simply, stunning. Magical, hilarious, heart breaking, passionate, real...seriously. It has captivated me and left me a slobbering, stuttering cheeseball in its wake.

I have so much I want to say about it, but at the same time I want to keep all my thoughts to myself and say only

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that this might be the best book I have ever read...or very high up the list anyway.

Within two pages, I had a huge grin on my face. Within ten pages I had probably laughed about seven times. Within twenty pages I already had a long list of quotes in my head I wanted to remember. By page fifty I had gone between laughing and crying so many times that my head was spinning.

I did not get up, look up or think about anything else for the three or so hours I spent reading this book. I felt these characters, they might as well be real people. Within a few pages I felt the absence of Bailey like I'd known her for years.

Seriously, get yourself to the bookstore. Don't walk, RUN. Buy this book and prepare to fawn at my feet for the rest of time for convincing you to do so. I don't know what to compare it to because its like taking one of the myriad of YA fantasy novels out there and saying it is "like Harry Potter" simply because its in the genre. If you're a fan of Sarah Dessen you'll love it. I've been trying to find something to tide me over until her next book is published. Now I'll be reading the Sarah Dessen books I haven't gotten to yet to tide myself over until Jandy Nelson writes something else.

Have I made my point? :)

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It feels like I’ve been going on a negative ranting spree attacking whatever book I can. I’m a picky read, I get that, but even I get a little weary of what I’m posting! Like dang, home girl needs to stop trippin’. (Okay please accept my sincerest apologies for that last sentence; I have no

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idea where that came from.) Rants are easier for me to write, positive reviews ehhh not so much, but I’m going to suck it up.

The Sky is Everywhere was the last book to have gotten five stars from me on GoodReads, which was back in December (yes that is 3 whole months back). Jandy Nelson enveloped me in warm fuzzy feelings, grief, and recognition. Her writing was stunning, her prose was moving, and her characterization on point. However I will admit not everyone agrees with me. Heaven forbid all teen readers are connected to one brain. Lauren (from Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf) for example could not get into the narration and while I do believe it can be a little strong at times, I still fell in love with this novel.

Firstly I wanted to cover the author’s use of poetry. I love it as much as Sonya Sones’s work and Lisa Schroder’s contemporary fictions. By the time I finished the novel my mind thought: “If Nelson were to write a prose novel I would definitely buy it”. She is concise when choosing her words wisely and making her point across yet is able to continue this heavy onslaught of grievance. She can write about the most meaningless thing but I will still love it, it seems.

Secondly I love Lennie and Joe. I love them separately, but I love them together. I don’t, however, love Lennie and Toby together. Lennie and Joe are harmonious and sensual creating a rainbow with every tint and value in between. Lennie and Toby gives off the color brown—dirty, muddled, and only one (if not two different tones) emotion. I had trouble understanding how grief turns into such a palpable, high-strong lust.

Okay Joe needs a paragraph on his own, that’s how much I loved him. He’s easygoing, he’s comfortable, he’s new yet he’s soft like a worn childhood blanket. You feel like cuddling with him. You’re more than tempted to drag him everyone and show off. Yet despite those years he’s still sturdy. Joe doesn’t let his feelings overpower his brain, which deserves a ‘thank goodness’ all on its own.

Overall: The Sky is Everywhere is an intensely rich novel that leaves this reader extremely pleased for this debut author!

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Death seems to pop up a lot in YA lit lately. In my experience those books are some of the best, because it seems that grief takes the reader to a whole new level of emotional connection. The Sky Is Everywhere is a perfect example. I'm an only child. I don't have a sister who's also a best friend.

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Yet throughout this book I could clearly feel and understand Lennie's grief, something that was very heartbreaking.

I don't even know where to begin about the characters. They were all so unique and all of them had such personality. They just jumped off of the page. Being in Lennie's head wasn't always easy, but it wouldn't have been right any other way. Even though she made mistakes, I always rooted for her, and I always hoped that she would redeem herself.

The plot isn't something that jumps out at you, and it's not meant to be. It's the journey of a mourning girl who comes to accept what happened to her sister and also to discover who she is. The pacing is great, the breakthroughs come at the right times, and the heartbreak is so perfectly placed. Can you tell that I'm gushing yet?

The romance is so perfect. Lennie is torn between two guys. The one that she knows that she should stay away from but is drawn to, and the one who makes her smile again. She's drawn to her sister's boyfriend, who understands her grief, feels the same pain. But the other one makes her forget, helps her heal. Which to choose? You'll have to read to know how it all plays out.

I loved this book. It was so perfect that I can't think of one thing that I would change about it. Go read it!

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This book really hit home for me. I lost my older sister when I was about her age. Jandy Nelson really put her heart into this book. She made this tragic story into something more than heartache. As much as I know about loosing people and learning to deal with the grief. Lennie had her own sort of

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way of dealing with it. The plot was awesome. I may not have always cheered for Lennie in the book because I kept wanting to shake my head in shame as if her character took me over. Joe was a romantic whirlwind that changed Lennie's life forever. Not a single disappointing page in the entire book. I can not recommend this book enough to make me feel satisfied. So get out there and grab this one!

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I was looking forward to reading this book since I had heard so many great things about it. I was right to be excited! Lennon is a 17 year old who is mired in grief over the loss of her sister. She’s suddenly caught between her sister’s boyfriend and the new guy Joe Fontaine. Dealing with grief

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is hard anytime, but when you’re 17 it quel confusing. Will Lennie ever get it all figured out? Will she realize it’s okay to live without her sister? Will she come to grips with her mothers abandoning them 16 years before?

I want to say I love, love, LOVE this book. It made me laugh out loud, cry, and worry for Lennie. The characters are so vibrant they dance off the pages. Everything from Aunt Gooch (read it and tell me you didn't laugh out loud when you find out who that is) to the quirky little sayings and things they do. I fell in love with this book. Ms. Nelson is the type of writer I envy. Every word seems so well thought out, so necessary. Each scene a little jewel box that’s stuffed full of amazing things. If I could crawl into the pages and hang out with the characters, I wouldn’t hesitate.

This book makes me yearn to be a better writer. I can’t recommend it enough. My only word of caution is that there’s some talk of sex, not for tweens or young teens.

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This book...was simply beautiful. Full of emotion without feeling manipulative, lyrical and yet not a bit overwritten, and the kind of deep, natural humor that makes the sadness all the more powerful. All that and a beautiful love story!

17-year old Lennie Walker is devastated when her older sister Bailey suddenly dies. Bailey had practically been Lennie's life and she had been content in her sister's shadow. Now in addition to the overwhelming grief she feels, Lennie's life becomes more complicated. She must find out who she

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really is and what and WHO she really likes.

I LOVED this book. I have not liked a teen novel this much since Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl and Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why. Like them, this author gets the confusion around relationships and sex that many teens have trouble navigating. I highly recommend this book to older teens and adults.

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I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I had to laugh a little at the premise, Lennie Walker's older sister dies unexpectedly, and Lennie ... goes boy crazy? But it's all done pretty handily. Lennie is both trying to manage her grief, and figure out who she is now that she is no longer

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the little sister always in the background. Her attention is being taken up by two boys -- her dead sister's boyfriend, whom she feels connected to because they share a profound loss, and a new boy who has moved to town, whom she is just getting to know and who is in the unique position of never having known her sister so everything feels like a new, fresh start.

Part of what made it so sweet is that Lennie is a writer, and a romantic (she's read Wuthering Heights 23 times) and her earnestness is charming. It might be overreaching a little at times, and it's not the deepest book you'll ever read, but overall, I was rooting for her. I also got a kick out of the Northern California hippie-ville setting.

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The Sky is Everywhere is a bittersweet view of how love and loss come together to shape one girl’s life and how profoundly it affects the people around her.

Nelson’s prose is beyond outstanding, I truly struggle how best to describe it’s strength and beauty. Having rarely read a book so

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poetically written it was surprising to feel the emotion dripping off the page into my consciousness. I’m even more rarely moved by a book, I mean genuinely moved but The Sky is Everywhere touched me, it made me cry and gasp and thrum with anticipation. It was, in no small way a phenomenal read.

I could tell you all about this book — about the beautiful poems and anecdotes Lennie writes and leaves behind everywhere she goes. About how she wrapped herself up in the memory of her sister through the boy that loved her as much as Lennie did. About how she came alive again with Joe, her soulmate in the making, through their shared love of music. About how her family had dysfunction galore even before Bailey left them behind. But really, my explaining it all would not only not do the story justice but would take something away from your experiencing it; and let me tell you this book was an experience, one to be felt and endured. You feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows with Lennie as she journeys through one of the most difficult periods of her life.

To say I recommend this book would be an understatement. It is a book that everyone must read, lover of young adult literature or not. Everyone.

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Lennon's sister Baily died unexpectedly at age 19. Now Lennon, who lives with her mother and uncle is trying to understand how to live without her, writing poems and dialog with her sister on bits of paper and other places around town. Then she meets a boy, and tries to balance her own growing

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happiness with her sadness over her loss.

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The cover on this is textured, which I was surprised about, I don't know if the US one is the same, as this is the UK version. The book also has an elastic attachment which I found really useful as a bookmark ;) There are a couple of spoilers in this review, but it doesn't tell you the ending.

This

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story is about grief, and all the emotions and actions that could go with it. Lennie Walker's sister died suddenly,so Lennie and her grandmother and uncle are left to pick up the pieces and try to put their lives back together, as they are all understandably heartbroken. Lennie's mother walked out on them at a young age, so growing up with her grandmother, uncle and sister meant the world to her. Now with Bailey gone, Lennie falls apart in places, and also makes some really badly judged choices as she wallows in grief.

This book can be pretty hard hitting if you've recently been bereaved, as I have...but Lennie is so self centered in her grief from the outset that it jarred on me to be honest. I felt I wanted to shake her out of her misery in places. Things like wearing Bailey's clothes and phoning her sister's phone (and leaving messages!!) felt just too weird, wrong, and morbid. Despite those parts, I did have empathy for Lennie, and her character probably is very spot on to how someone her age might act, up to a point.

Joe, the out of town boy, is a really cute character, and I think he lifts the horrible shadow of grief from the whole family. He helps Lonnie to feel something besides utter sorrow, that is until she gets mixed up and hormones take over.

There's also some great note pages at regular intervals in the book which Lennie has made and left in places, as a reader, this becomes clearer at the end, and is really sweet. All in all, a good book. I felt the heavy shadow of grief trailed on just slightly too long for me. This is really well written though.

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Lennie’s life is shattered when her older sister Bailey dies suddenly. Now faced with the scary realization that she doesn’t know who she is without Bailey, Lennie also finds herself torn between two very different guys. Toby is Bailey’s boyfriend, with whom Lennie feels a powerful connection

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of sadness and loss. Joe is the new boy at school, a genius musician whose megawatt smile makes Lennie feel like she can be someone she never was. Can Lennie reconcile the past with the present, her sister with herself, the girl she was with the girl she can be?

To an extent, I can understand why THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE is one of the most highly praised books of 2010. The poetry and the way it makes the characters seem to ache with loveliness….It’s easy to be hypnotized by what the book presents. But I seem to be one of just a handful for whom this book did not work.

Good things first. Nelson’s writing really is a work of art. She effortlessly twists words, emotions, and descriptions that are so common in YA lit they’re practically cliché into ribbons of beauty that you just want to remember forever. After all, how many books about teenage girls grieving after a loved one’s death have been written in the past year alone? And then how many have been written by a poet?

However, there was just something about Lennie that had me not connecting with her. I really had to wonder, most of the time that I was reading this, what about her was attractive to not just one, but two guys. Toby and Joe are reasonably well-rounded characters: Joe is a genuinely swoon-worthy musician character, while Toby’s angstiness is slightly harder to swallow. But either the love triangle aspect of this book felt contrived to make Lennie more desirable, or else Bailey’s death feels like a merely convenient premise to work Lennie’s romantic troubles.

For me, THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE is yet another victim of the assumption that a sympathy-inducing issue can turn a book into a five-star classic. The writing is beautiful, and even the examination of the characters’ different ways of dealing with grief was good. I just didn’t feel a connection to Lennie, and thus, to the rest of the book.

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I absolutely loved this book. It showed the main character, Lennie's, feelings in a different perspective. It is so deeply filled with emotions. The conflicts she is facing are tragic, yet extremely alive and full of passion. The problems she faces throughout the novel are inescapable, so the only

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way out is through. That made it so incredibly interesting and kept me wanting more. This novel is extremely descriptive, so you feel you are her in that moment. This book is amazing.
5Q, 5P; Cover Art: Okay.
This book is best suited for highschoolers and adults.
Grade (of reviewer): 9th
(JL-AHS-NC)

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In The Sky Is Everywhere we meet Lennie, a band geek who has just lost her sister Bailey. Lennie is a very gifted clarinet player but has always been over shadowed by her older sister. This book deals with grief and love, and how Bailey's death effects Lennie, Toby (the boyfriend she left behind),

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and her family. Lennie and Toby bond over their grief, around the same time that she meets a new gifted musician in town Joe. I liked Lennie, and her emotions and grieving felt honest. I felt for her and enjoyed watching her healing journey and seeing her confidence grow. This is a sweet, touching debut novel with quirky side characters that will make you laugh and cry.

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I would convince my friend to read this, because it was a very inspiring book. This book was giving life lessons throughout it, and it was just beautifully written. I really enjoyed the idea of her poems throughtout the book, an I think others would too.
4Q, 4P; Cover Art: Awesome!
This book is best

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suited for middle and highschoolers.
It was selected due to reviews from friends, and an interesting cover art and topic.
Grade (of reviewer): 9th
(RV-AHS-NC)

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I have never read such beautiful words in my life. It's not about the plot with this story, it's how it's told. The words practically jump off the page and into your soul. You feel each characters emotions - their love, their loss, their unspeakable pain, their confusion - all of it. I've never

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"felt" a book as deeply as I felt this one. This is a story you will read over and over, picking up new pieces each time.

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Lennie, 17, is absolutely devasted after her older sister's death. She withdraws from her grandmother and uncle, who raised her and her sister after their mother left, and begins writing poetry on scraps of paper that she leaves around town. But soon new boy Joe catches her attention, yet she's

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also drawn to her sister's ex-boyfriend, the only person she thinks truly understands how she feels. Caught in a love triangle, she slowly figures out what she wants and how to deal with Bailey's death.

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Favorite Quote:

I know the expression love bloomed is metaphorical, but in my heart in this moment, there is one badass flower, captured in time-lapse photography, going from bud to wild radiant blossom in ten seconds flat.

My thoughts:

When I think of The Sky Is Everywhere the first word that pops

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into my mind is beautiful. Absolutely, beautiful! This is the kind of book that makes you want to get out a highlighter, and deface the pages by marking all the quotes you want to enjoy again and again.

A story of loss, grief, love, betrayal, and growing up. It will make you cry during one paragraph and laugh the next. Lennie and Bailey seemed to be about as close as sisters can be. When Bailey dies suddenly Lennie is lost. It has always been her and her big sister. She is left feeling like no one can possibly understand. She closes off. Rejects her family and friends attempts at consolation. Even when she begins to fall for Joe she can’t help but to fixate on how things would be if Bailey were still alive. She starts to feel like Toby is the only one who can possibly relate to her grief. Things between the two get out of hand, and the guilt flows. Even with Joe’s affections known she can’t stay away from Toby. A bad idea, Lennie. A very bad idea. Her only constant seems to be the poems she scrawls on any usable writing space. Paper, books, benches, walls are all a canvas for Lennie’s feelings. This may be more therapeutic than Lennie even realizes.

The characters were extraordinarily unique. Lennie, Uncle Big, and Gram made me long to be part of the eccentric Walker family. I want Sarah to be my BFF, while beautiful Joe Fontaine speaks french and bats his length defying lashes at me.This is the kind of novel you need to savor. Relish in each word like it’s the last you’ll ever read. A stunning debut. I’m eagerly anticipating what Ms. Nelson will bring us next.

While I absolutely adored The Sky is Everywhere, please keep in mind it does contain language and situations that might be a little heavy for the younger teen crowd.

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an absolutely moving and beautifully sad (no, really) novel about love and loss. I know, that's totally cliche, but it's also the truth. My best friend recommended this to me (without having read it) and holy crap. It was so completely amazing. A warning, it is very sad and I did spend a lot of

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time tearing up/crying, but it was also worth it. Highly, highly recommended (to adults and teens).

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A moving tale about a girl who has recently lost her sister and her struggle to come to terms with it.

Although I liked this book overall, I occasionally felt that the dialogue attributed to the teenagers was much more likely to be spoken by 30 year olds. I felt that many of the teens had a

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sophistication that doesn't come naturally to most. I also thought that the author tried too hard to make each character "quirky" and unique.

However, the emotional wallop that the main character goes through after her sister's passing is right on target. Emotional confusion can do a lot to a person after a tragedy and the author's portrayal of it is excellent.

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WOW! Opening this book is like opening a music box. A magical music box, filled with an opera’s worth of charming melodies. The mood of the book overwhelmed me from the first page to the last.
The voice in which this is written made it so easy for me to relate to Lennie. Although she is

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shell-shocked following the sudden death of her sister, her internal dialogue allowed me to really get a sense of who she is. And she’s pretty amusing, especially as she navigates the world of love and lust. “Let me just unsubscribe to my own mind already, because I don’t get any of it,” she reflects when confused about her interactions with Toby. And after a powerful, yet non-kissing, moment with Joe, she’s again thrown for a loop. “Whoa – well, that was either the dorkiest or sexiest moment of my life, and I’m voting for sexy on account of my standing here dumbstruck and giddy, wondering if he did kiss me after all.” The entire book is filled with moments like this. This is one of the few times I’ve read a book that I felt I knew the character well enough to feel like I was reading a story as told by a friend.
Scattered throughout the book are thoughts and poems that Lennie writes in various spots in town. Some are written on any nearby paper product (a to-go cup, a French exam), others on benches or trees. These are beautiful glimpses into her pain and confusion and healing, and as I read I couldn’t wait to get to the next snippet she left floating around in the world. Within these poetic interludes and the story’s prose lurks some of the most evocative imagery I’ve seen in YA lit.
I was a little leery about the love triangle coming into the book, afraid that the relationship between Lennie and Toby would be a too-obvious situation to use as a means to create tension. While it does create tension, it plays out as believable for the story and the characters involved. Love’s power to mourn and heal and reach out and forgive, sometimes simultaneously, is the core of this story, and this story is out of this world.

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Lennie's older sister Bailey died suddenly, leaving Lennie, her gram and uncle Big reeling with the loss. A month later, she returns to school a different person, lost in sadness and loneliness. She doesn't know how to live without her sister right beside her. Lennie finds Toby, Bailey's boyfriend,

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just as broken as she is and they become close. About the same time a new boy in school, Joe, is showing Lennie some attention.

Great characters. Lennie's voice is humorous, real, heart-touching. Her poems are beautiful and add so much to the story. It's a well-written masterpiece.

there is a lot of making out. a lot of talk of sex. drinking. smoking.

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Lady Wombat says:

The best YA I've read in many, many years...
Messessentialism: "revel in the essential mess that is life" (245).