I picked up The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon, a few months ago because I kept seeing it everywhere—in friends’ tweets, on book store display shelves, and in the hands of someone in the coffee shop. The cover reminds me of when I used to play for hours with my Spirograph, and that nostalgia finally broke me.
And I’m glad it did.
The Sun is Also a Star, is a book about immigration, the choice to know someone different than yourself, and the power of love. It takes place in the life of two teenagers—Natalia and Daniel—over a span of one day. It follows them as they meet, get to know each other, and, of course, fall in love.
Here are three things I liked most about it:
- The personalities. I loved how different Daniel and Natasha were—they had completely different personalities, viewpoints, and ideas about love.
- The asides. I loved the short asides about what happened to other, minor characters. It was very entertaining to see the ripple effect of other people’s choices. Not only that, but some of the asides had information in them and contained titles like “Multiverses: a Quantum History,” “Love: A Chemical History,” and “Hair: A Korean American History.” They were entertaining and informative all at the same time, and I found it a very interesting organizing principle that drove the narrative.
- The occasional glimpses of the future. Every now and then Yoon gave her readers a glimpse of the future, like the following:
“Jeremy and Hannah’s children will grow up to love others in the simple and uncomplicated way of people who have always known where love comes from, and aren’t afraid of its loss.
“All of which isn’t to say that Jeremy Fitzgerald did the right thing or the wrong thing. It’s only to say this: love always changes everything.”
The Sun is Also a Star is, overall, a moving, lovely book that is worth putting on your reading list.
The book mentioned above has an affiliate link attached to it, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on it and purchase. But I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them. (But if you’re curious whether I’ve read something and what I thought about it, don’t hesitate to ask.)
