The Sun Is Also a Star (Yoon, Nicola)

I have never felt as close to a writer or a fictional experience as I do to Nicola Yoon and The Sun Is Also a Star. It’s been said that having a wide variety of characters and cultures represented in literature is vital to our understanding of others and for others to understand us, and I’ve made that statement multiple times. What I never thought about before was how important it is to have a wide variety of characters and cultures represented in order to better understand ourselves. I understand myself and my family better because of The Sun is Also A Star. The Sun Is Also a Star is a brilliant representation of humanity, and the roles love, fate, chance, and purpose play in how our world unfolds around us. Sun follows Natasha and David, two teenagers who are at points in their lives when their decisions have more weight, their futures uncertain, and their destinies seemingly in everyone else’s hands but their own. The story takes place over the course of a day, on the busy streets of New York City, and uses a unique narrative consisting of multiple POVs. Nicola Yoon converges lives and shows that even within our own story, the rest of the world matters. Sun is about dreamers. It’s about the romantics and it’s about the realists. It’s about everyone who simply dreams of a life filled with happiness, passion, and love. It’s also about those who practically dream of security and freedom. Sun is about the immigrant story, one that’s more important than ever. Sun follows Daniel, a Korean American boy who doesn’t fit into his family, and doesn’t fit into his country. It’s about Natasha, an undocumented Jamaican immigrant, who would appear more “American” than most Americans, because she certainly doesn’t “act Jamaican” but she’s not and she’s about to be deported. Sun is about our parents, who grew up with dreams as well, and we may or may not have played a part in those dreams. Sun is about the strangers around us, whose decisions can have unforeseeable, and long-lasting effects on our lives. It’s also about the strangers who are also affected by the decisions we make. This is a story I think everyone should experience. It’s both global and intimate. It’s a love story, but also so much more. The characters in this book are layered and multifaceted. The story is thoughtful, profound, romantic, and hopeful. Yes, it’s a teenage love story—one that I fell hard and fast for—but it’s also about family and history. And of course, I was all in once I saw that it’s a reflection of my culture, and myself, and Nicola Yoon brightly showcases the beautiful complexity of my history, the complicated relationships intertwined, the dreams of my past and my future. If you’ve read Everything, Everything, then you’ll recognize the exceptional style of Nicola Yoon’s prose. It’s gorgeous really, and even more so because she has this way of including seemingly random gems and factoids, and making the dry seem poetic. It’s hard to understand unless you’ve read her (read her!), but like Natasha, Nicola is a scientist and a romantic, and when those two combine, magic happens. The Sun Is Also a Star is magic. It’s sweet, it’s meaningful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s buoyant, it sweeps you away, and yet keeps you grounded at the same time. This thought provoking love story is one I had a difficult time reviewing because I didn’t think I could truly convey what it meant to me. I reviewed it, but still haven’t expressed all I felt. I’ll just say that The Sun Is Also a Star shows how love provides hope and reason in a sometimes unfair and unreasonable world, and that message is everything to a romantic in a cynical world. I highly recommend.

This is one of the Best Books I've ever read! It is such a Beautiful, Real, Raw, but Kind, Thought Provoking Love Story! I absolutely Loved it! I was very lucky the universe put this book in my life. My 14 year old nephew was supposed to read this during the summer for his Freshman Honors English class and asked me to read it with him. Of course he didn't read it, but I am so glad he asked me to! I recommend everyone reads this! I can't wait to read Nicola's other books! Nicola has a true gift of story telling and truly understands People, Human Nature, and the Universe. Thank you Nicola, Keep Writing!!

This is the kind of book that would’ve been perfect except for one thing: I did not root for them to be together. Yes, they had chemistry but since it all happened in one day, I still feel that everything was a little bit rushed. Daniel said it well. “Our history is too compressed. We’re trying to fit a lifetime into a day.” And yes, I get the point that this was all supposed to happen in a day. But I’m not really a big fan of instalove so I didn’t like that part much. I also had a little problem with the ending. Everything was perfect and I was about to give this five stars since it kind of negated the instalove part. Aside from that everything was perfect. THE CHARACTERS Daniel. Surprisingly, I connected a lot more with Daniel than with Natasha. He is like the guy version of me. He writes poems, does things he’s supposed to, and a hopeless romantic. I think he is the most unique male lead among all the books I have ever read. His character was well developed and I really got to know him throughout the whole book. Most books will focus more on the female lead but this one had balance and I admire Nicola Yoon for that. Natasha. Honestly, I had a hard time picturing Natasha. After reading this book, I realized I have never really read books with black characters. And that’s one of the best things about this book. Natasha is not your typical female lead. I love how she and Daniel are complete opposites. She believes in science and he believes in destiny. Most of the time, it’s the other way around. The side characters. This is also one of the best parts of the book. Aside from the two main characters, we get snippets of other people’s stories. I love how everything was well connected. Life is indeed a chain reaction of events, seemingly unrelated, but when you look at it as a whole, it is actually connected to one another, no matter how small that connection might be. THE PLOT The plot is not very complicated but the way it was delivered was really great. I like to think of it as a river. Everything flowed smoothly, the transition was perfect and it was somewhat realistic, even if you don’t believe in destiny and all that stuff. THE WRITING Nicola Yoon writes beautifully. This book is probably my most highlighted book ever and I even wanted to highlight a whole chapter (it is Half-Life, in case you want to know). She is the kind of author that writes books that you want to devour and read every word. Not a single word is wasted on her. I just read the excerpt of Everything, Everything at the end of this book and I think I’m going to read that next. Overall, this book was great. It is better than some of the books I gave five stars to so I feel a little bad for giving this only four. But I rate books based on feeling and I let my emotions rule when I read. Sadly, this one lacked a little of that feeling that I always look for. This is a book that I would recommend to those who want books that make you think. While reading this, it made me contemplate about life, destiny, science, equality, and well, everything really.

What I Thought... • OMG! THIS BOOK! So many feels! • I'm honestly not even sure where to begin. I feel like this book turned my brain into complete mush and I am having a hard time having coherent thoughts. There is just so much to talk about and it's all amazing. • Natasha and Daniel were amazing. Natasha is an illegal Jamaican immigrant and while Daniel was born in America, his parents were not. They were modeled after the author's own relationship which is all kinds of awesome. I loved learning a little bits of information about the Jamaican and Korean cultures, and how they are the same/different here in America. Their families came here for different reasons in different manners and that really shaped the lives of their children. • At first I wasn't too sure about the style it was written in. Natasha and Daniel are the two main characters but throughout The Sun Is Also a Star there are other POV's and little tidbits of information relevant to the story woven through the story. These parts really came to grow on me, especially the informational ones. We learn about the theory behind eyes, and how it came to be that African-American hair care stores tended to be owned by Koreans. It was all so fascinating! • There is a lot of discussion in The Sun Is Also a Star over destiny/fate and science. I know that I fall somewhere in the middle of both and I loved that Natasha was full of the science of things and Daniel was full of "meant to be". It was a good mix and I enjoyed how they shifted a little bit in how they feel about things. • I think my favorite part of the story was how everything was woven in and you see how their chance meeting affected others lives and how those lives affected them. The intertwining was so smooth and really hits home how one small thing can make a difference in the life of someone else. • Both Natasha and Daniel have someone in their family who is less than awesome. For me, Daniel's brother was THE WORST. Ugh. • I also liked how Yoon gave us a little snippet of the futures of not just Natasha and Daniel but also some of the other lives in the story. I really liked the ending, even though I wanted to punch a certain person in the face for his actions because things could have turned out differently, but then again, I think that ending would have been too cheesy for me and this one was better. Overall if you haven't read The Sun Is Also a Star yet run to the bookstore pick it up and read it now. It was AMAZING!

I loved this book SO much but I find it hard to write a long review for books that I love for some reason so I’m simply going to share my feels through lists. What I liked: The Characters: Yoon really has a talent of making her characters so vibrant and fleshed out that they practically jump off the pages. It’s such a diverse cast of characters that it just wasn’t your plain Jane- cyst gendered white individuals. The writing: To my surprise- I really enjoyed Nicola’s writing style. It flowed so well and even if it technically a “slow” part of the story, I still had to force myself to stop reading because I didn’t want the experience to stop. The format: This novel was told in alternating pov’s between Daniel and Natasha which switched every other chapter. Occasionally, there was a extra little chapter written in a pov from someone that you wouldn’t even expect to be important to the story. For example, one of the chapters was in the point of view of a security guard that Natasha comes in contact with for just a mere two pages. You wouldn’t think that the stranger’s point of view had any way of propelling the story forward, but chapters like those were probably my favorite of the book and it just made it so much more unique than it already was before this format was introduced. The story: A huge theme of this book is Immigration. Natasha was born in Jamaica but is at risk, along with her family of getting deported back after her father’s DUI. Yoon does an amazing job at really humanizing immigration so you can actually understand what they are going through, which I think is really important. The romance: Daniel and Natasha fall in love in under 24 hours. While this is technically insta-love, it doesn’t exactly feel like it. They get so much accomplished in terms of getting to know each other in that short of a time that it feels like they have known each other for a span of years. Nicola has also made the characters so opposite from each other but so much alike at the same time so that they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. This was such an incredible story that I won’t be forgetting for a very long time.

My initial reaction: Eh. It's okay. Just not for me. I had a similar reaction to this book as I did to the one I read before it, My Favorite Half Night Stand. In a way, I can see how someone could fall in love with these characters, their stories, their struggles, and the romance of the whole novel. However, I was not one of those people. I am not one for romances or any love stories. I read this, per a friend's request. It was not originally my intention to pick this novel up, and after reading it, it confirmed my thoughts that this book would be a good read for its audience but not for me. For me, the struggles that I cared about (the struggles within the families) got glossed over. There were some really good moments of tension that gave me the understanding that there were issues within both characters' lives; however, I would have loved more of it. The main struggles that guided the characters throughout the novel kind of took over the story for me, and I times I felt the need to know more about both Natasha and Daniel to really understand them and empathize with them. Again, their families, their backgrounds, and their current struggles were mentioned, but I don't know why they weren't enough for me. I had conflicting emotions about how to feel toward both characters. Another aspect of the novel that did not work for me was the structure. The way the chapters were set up made sense so the reader knows the point of view of the narrator, but for me, the setup annoyed me more than other multiple narration novels. After a while, the "Observable Fact," that kept popping up in the novel just got on my nerves. If it would have persisted throughout the entire novel, I would have just put it down and gave up, because it did get to the point that it just completely annoyed me. However it did stop after a while, which I was grateful for. Also, the small chapter interjections of other characters that the main narrators (Natasha and Daniel) run into simply confused me. I didn't know if I was supposed to care about those characters, if their parts were supposed to be important later on in the story, or if it was added simply to give a summary of those characters. I do believe that, for the appropriate audience, the novel hit the mark. The novel was a very quick read for me, and I was able to get through it without much difficulty (reading-wise). I do think that for someone like me who is not accustomed to reading this genre, the book may go as far as seeming bland or lacking action or other elements. I am accustomed to reading books full of action and tension scenes. I got the tension from this novel but not enough action. I got one of the elements I enjoy when reading and therefore was able to get through it; however, I also see how someone reading outside their genre may not enjoy this book.

First off, the diversity of characters and perspectives in this book are a large part of the reason why I give this book a 5++ rating of stars. I love the sidesteps that Nicola Yoon takes to give us insight into the primary characters' background as well as the insights into the supplementary characters that Natasha and Daniel meet along the way -- because we are all connected, after all (much like the fabulous criss-crossing string art that makes this beautiful book cover). While I thoroughly enjoyed Everything, Everything, I found this book to have so much more depth in terms of story/plot and style. I actually found myself writing in this book (something I rarely do) because I needed whoever read my copy after me to appreciate those lines, too. For instance, "Maybe part of falling in love someone else is also falling in love with yourself." To me, this was just part of the golden nuggets that Yoon sprinkled throughout. Then, of course, there are the culture and immigrant issues that Yoon touches upon -- so, so very relevant right now. As an individual of mixed race background, I found myself relating to Daniel -- where do I fit? Then Natasha wisely tells him that "It's not up to you to help other people fit you into a box." Again, there was a line that resonated with me to my very core; an adolescent me would have benefited from that advice very much. *Small spoiler* While I think many individuals are noting that this appears to have the predictable ending, I would argue that it does NOT -- this was just pointed out to me by one of my sharp-eyed students (I'm a high school English teacher and I always pass my books along). A careful reader might note the subtitles below each chapter title -- and therefore, the Epilogue - and perhaps even the last chapter prior to that - should not be considered a part of the novel's primary plot. The last true chapter reflects an individual favoring Natasha's initial perspective, somewhat cynical and very factual based while the Epilogue *<insert other character's name to avoid any spoiler> an Alternate History favors a reader with a more romantic perspective, like Daniel's primary worldview. However, the fact that the Epilogue is subtitled an Alternate History kind of implies that it didn't actually happen. In which case, my heart broke for other reasons not related to Natasha or Daniel. Overall, I just thoroughly enjoyed this book as it definitely strays from the YA predictable norm, in my humble opinion.

While noticeably clichéd, the execution and messages from The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon is praiseworthy. The Sun is Also a Star’s arching themes are no doubt important, with conversation with character’s leading to biracial couples and the social implication in our modern society, internal thoughts and implied importance to empathy for other humans and the immigration system, as well as the ambiguity of fate and true love that will keep young adults and children on their toes. However, the book suffers from some predictability that will leave eagle eyed readers unsatisfied. Now, cliché’s are not always a bad thing. I believe most of the readers will begin more like Natasha, ranging from skeptical to cynical that fate exists, or how love works (like, truly how it works), or that you can fall in love with someone within the day. I believe that one of Nicole Yoon’s purposes was to make a the reader believe that you can, and believing that message at the end (or that you want to believe) carries onto if this book is for you. Nicola Yoon’s own experience being married to a Korean American man definitely influenced the decision of a biracial romance, and therefore the reader should expect a level of authenticity. The commentary about the flaws of “cultural preservation” to marry within ones race, especially pressured by one’s own family, feel’s very genuine. Some moments will test the reader’s suspension of disbelief, how far they’ll go to think, “Wow, do you think they could actually fall in love within a day?”. Of course, that’s the hook of the book, children looking for this kind of novel of a bittersweet romance will find it, but while they flip to the last page, they’ll be left with many more answers to theme’s then they would imagine. Immigration and the concept of deportation is very prominent and important to discuss within our current political climate. We do not get to see the human side of immigration very often, to the families separated and hardship to survive, and the concept of human empathy for immigrant’s or total stranger’s is what I believe this book does best. You realize that you never know what someone is dealing with, what struggles they are hiding. A security guard you wouldn’t think twice about gets her own character arch as well as other minor characters. The pacing of the book thrives on this type of storytelling, making each chapter interesting, as it constantly not only shifts between Natasha and Daniel, but other people they meet along their adventure, keeping the pages turning as well. This all ties into the theme of empathy for others, which only emphasizes the humanization of immigrants through Natasha’s experience. My experience towards the end of this book left me bittersweet. While I still have gripes for some story beats, I don’t feel sour for the execution. Of course, there are some aspects of the book I feel could be improved. Daniel’s brother felt underdeveloped, coincidental incidents were obvious to the theme of fate but sometimes felt artificial, the ending felt a little rushed, but the overarching themes felt worth the experience.

A whole page was missing

It was a great book. The adventure gave me the chills. The added character and their stories was interesting. The romance between Natasha and Daniel is adorable, Overall amazing book. I totally recommend reading it!

Um livro sensível e tudo é muito intenso, porque, na verdade, os protagonista não tem tempo a perder e todas as emoções estão sendo construídas, confesso, de forma corrida. Mas isso não faz com que esses sentimentos sejam artificiais. Consegui sentir as angústias e os pesares de cada um deles, justamente pois parecem pessoas reais. É por livros assim que eu gosto de jovem adulto. Encontrar seu caminho no mundo não é algo fácil e, na adolescência, quando o peso do mundo começa a parecer maior, junto com as responsabilidades e expectativas, é quando precisamos de amigos pra dizer que está tudo bem não saber agora. E essa conexão entre as pessoas é muito importante. O livro não tem pontas soltas, tudo tem um significado para estar ali, desde a construção dos personagens, até a capa e a ordem dos capítulos. Super recomendo!

デビュー作のeverything everythingが良かったので、ついでにという気持ちでこちらも購入しました。個人的にはeverything everythingよりこちらの作品の方が好きです！メインキャラクター2人以外の細かい登場人物の事情や心理描写が細かく書かれていて、面白かったです。英語があまり得意でない方でも読みやすい作品だと思います。前作同様映像化もされるようなので楽しみにしています。

a must-read. the story takes place in a day, but each minute was worth it. you'll love it.