SUMMARY

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is a story about Lennie Walker whose older sister Bailey has passed away. Left with nothing but grief, she finds herself making reckless decisions and trying very hard to not fall in love.

It’s hard to explain as it doesn’t have a succinct story line as it is mainly the journey Lennie is on as she copes with her grief. It’s beautifully written and explores the feeling of grief quite masterfully. It is extremely heart-warming and beautifully presented, a must read!

IDEA

I have read Nelson’s other book, I’ll Give You The Sun and I can see a recurring theme of individuality (whoops, that was a bit of a paradox). The Sky Is Everywhere is such a unique book. The idea of it isn’t very different – there have been many books written about recovering from grief – but the way this book is written truly makes it stand out. But I will talk more about the writing in that section.

Another thing I really loved was the formatting. Lennie is shown to write little notes and poems in random places such as on trees, on the sole of her shoe, on takeaway cups and random scraps of paper which she then leaves in nature for a person to find. And we get to see the little notes and poems that she writes. The pages are quite authentic with her handwriting and the surface that it is written on visible.

I found that a really unique way of presenting the story and absolutely loved Nelson and the book for it.

WRITING

I had mentioned this above but the writing of this book is what really got to me. Nelson’s writing has always been fantastic, and I know this from reading I’ll Give You The Sun, but I felt the writing really made this book. It was vibrant and beautiful and alive, dancing off the pages.

The way the topic of grief was explored leaves me breathless. It was so vulnerable and relatable and piercing. It’s hard to find words to describe how well written the book was. I guess you’ll just have to read it for yourself.

PLOT

As I did mention before, the plot was not new and unheard of. However, the execution of the book made it stand out in my eyes. The book did have a plot but it was slow and focused on the finer details. There wasn’t much mystery or suspense but it was intriguing nonetheless.

One of the shortcomings of the book that I felt was apparent, not only in The Sky Is Everywhere but also in I’ll Give You The Sun is the easy way problems are solved. One minute she’s sobbing and falling apart and the next she has pieced herself back together. It seems too easy and lacks the description for the stages in between where she begins to recover. Things seem too sudden and while everyone may not agree with this, I feel this does make the ending a little too sudden.

CHARACTERS

I really liked the characters in the book. They were so quirky and lifelike.

Lennie was one of my favourite. I liked getting to see through her eyes, getting to know the thoughts in her head because I thought she had a very interesting take on things. I liked the way she viewed the world, her poetry that she scattered around and how simple she was. I feel the way she felt and reacted to grief to be very authentic.

Gram and Big were also lovable characters for their quirks. For Gram’s plants and roses and love of the colour green and Big’s bugs. They seemed so abnormal yet so homely at the same time.

Joe was a real larger than life character. I loved how cheerful and endlessly optimistic he was and how he adapted to odd situations very well. I also quite liked the exploration of the relationship between Lennie and Joe as it was well done and gradual. Also, the ‘bat, bat, bat’ really made me crack up (you’ll know when you read it).

FINALLY...

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is a beautifully told and wonderfully expressed story about love and loss and it is an absolute must read. It’s unique, heart-warming and an absolute masterpiece.