Justin's Reviews > The Sun Is Also a Star

Ahhhhh!!! Why, Nicola Yoon, why?! Why am I reading your books in he first place? Why am I looking past the ridiculously sappy teen romance that litters the pages of your books and feverishly turning the pages? Is it the insanely short chapters? The story? The different points of view? The random science lessons? Why?!

I was skeptical at first. The plot summary on the inside jacket of the book almost made me throw up, and I got really dizzy from all the eye rolling. This book also takes on a more serious tone from the beginning. Yeah, it's all fun and young adult as all get out just like her last book, but this tackles some pretty heavy themes much more directly. Immigration, race, family dynamics, etc. are all mixed in with a love story that questions fate and nihilism along the way.

You've got al your typical "the universe brought us together" stuff here, and it's overboard at times, but I think what I enjoyed most was the relationships of the minor characters and how they contributed to the overall story. Yoon would step aside and dedicate a page or two to a seemingly random person, providing a brief account of their past or thoughts before diving back into Natasha and Daniel. It all felt kind of nice as an interlude from time to time, but these things often came back up al the way to the end.

The end was my favorite part of the book. I was hovering around two or three stars, but the last third of the book was fantastic. It really does reach a climax of sorts with all kinds of crazy things happening. That's vague on purpose. I don't wanna ruin anything.

And so, once again, I've tried my best to not like a Nicola Yoon book. I'm now 0-2 in succeeding. It's not perfect, but it's a great YA book to fly through. It has a very 500 Days of Summer vibe to me with teenagers. I guess you can sit JGL in there and give him a ponytail and it would work out alright. Or don't.