I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

[Resurgam]

This is a "young adult" book by American author Jandy Nelson and it has received very good reviews here in the UK. Jandy was interviewed from San Francisco on BBC Radio 2 yesterday (Mon 13 April) by Drive Time DJ Simon Mayo who had selected "I'll Give You The Sun" as his latest Book Club choice - the 15 min interview begins just over an hour into the programme (at 01:06:00 on timeline) and you can also download the first chapter free from the BBC R2's Book Club page or The Guardian newspaper's teen book club.

About the Book (synopsis from BBC R2's Book Club)

This is a brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss and betrayal. Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realise is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

So five out of five positive reviews. In the last review read out Geraldine (age 14) at first worries the book is all about bullying but later decides the main theme of the book is really about struggles with homosexuality? Jandy responds saying that the theme is more accurately about people coming to terms with their sexual identity both homosexual and heterosexual.

The book's design and illustration by Sophie Heyward is highly praised too.

[colinian]

I bought this book last October after it was reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle. The last three sentences in the synopsis from the BBC R2's Book Club are spoilers. Too bad. It keeps the reader from the self-discovery of what's important to understanding Noah and Jude.

Colin

Who's just back for a day.