Thursday, January 20, 2011

Celebrating THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE

It's Thursday, and we know what that means, right? It's Bookanista day! For those of you not familiar with the Bookanistas, we're a group of writers celebrating books that are MADE OF AWESOME.

Awesome, I tell you.

So today, I'm celebrating a book that's so good that it KILLED ME. That's right, people. I am now DEAD. OoOoOoooOOOoh. (And doesn't this make you want to read it?) I picked up The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson on the strong recommendation of a couple of fabulous book bloggers. I will admit a few things. First, that I'd picked it up once before, looked at the cover, and kinda lost interest. Second, that I'm not usually a fan of death-in-the-family books, unless the dead person gets up and STARTS WRITING BOOK REVIEWS. But this book awed and thrilled me. It's SO FREAKING GOOD that I CAN'T STOP USING CAPITAL LETTERS.

Yeah, that good.

From the book jacket:Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.

So, without further ado, five things I loved about The Sky is Everywhere:
  1. I finally have something to say when people ask me why orange is my favorite color. I used to say, "Well, why not?" or something about Halloween. But now I can borrow a line from the book and say, "Orange is the color of extraordinary."
  2. At one point, the main character internally chants all these words for boner. It cracked me up, and it made me really want to hang out with her. I was totally a boner chant girl in high school.
  3. Frankly, there were very few characters that I WOULDN'T want to hang with. From Gran to Uncle Big to Lennie herself, they all felt so freaking real. And strange and funny and delightfully half-cracked.
  4. NO FLASHBACKS. That's one of the things that kills me about death-in-the-family books. All the flashbacks of times WHEN THINGS WERE PERFECT. And I can just imagine the sappy movie montage with the orchestra score, and it leaves me wishing that aliens would choose that moment to invade the planet and start randomly blasting things with lasers. It makes me feel manipulated, and I don't like that. And invariably, the dead person ends up all Mary Sueish and way up on a pedestal, which I don't like either. This book did none of those things. Bailey was dead and stayed that way.
  5. The writing was so good that it killed me. But then I got up and started working on the new book, and I'm inspired to do better. Even though I'm now undead. And chanting the word "boner" in my head.


So there you go! If you read it, let me know what you think. And if you're looking for a little more book-related awesome, check out these other Bookanista bloggers:

17 comments:

Christine Fonseca said...

I still haven't read this book...I know, I know...I really NEED to!

Katie Anderson said...

Totally my fave book of the year. And I loved your five things you loved about it. I can't say enough about this book. In fact, it is one of the reasons I turned down an offer in order to rewrite my own book. I read SKY and thought, "I can do better. I need to dig deeper."

Caroline Starr Rose said...

Still haven't read this. My library system doesn't have a copy. Can you imagine??

Claire Dawn said...

BONER!!!

I've given this book away on my blog. Twice. ANd I haven't read it yet.

Anonymous said...

yet again Another faboulus you have to read this book
review of a book I've heard over and over and over again that its great

*sigh* I guess there is no getting past it and I have to add this to my TBR pile later down the line when the pile has shoterned big time

Matthew MacNish said...

You write a hell of a review, for a freaking Zombie.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Oh man, I have GOT to read this book. I've heard a lot of buzz, things like "Best book EVER" and still I haven't gotten it. But no more. I'll pick it up today. Or order it from Amazon since we're having a snow storm.

Superb review.

Shannon Messenger said...

I am SO with you on this book. It's--dare I say it--amazeballs. Not a word I generally use, but it seemed appropriate given the liberal usage of "boner" in this review. :) And I couldn't agree more about flashbacks. SO glad they aren't in here.

Enjoy being undead!

Unknown said...

I love books that push me to be a better writer. Several people told me I have to read this book, so it's officially going on my TBR list. Thanks!

Elana Johnson said...

Fabulous review for a book I loved. I had to start it twice to really get into it, but once I did, it was great!

Casey McCormick said...

Probably my favorite book of 2010. It was AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING. Loved this review, Carrie!

Jen Hayley said...

I HAVE to get my hands on this book!

K. M. Walton said...

It was my favorite book of 2010. Just such a magnificent read. Jandy Nelson's writing is drool-worthy.

Nikki (Wicked Awesome Books) said...

This was my favorite book that I read in 2010. Words cannot describe how incredible it is, but you did a pretty good job of it Carrie!

Megan Miranda said...

I loooooved this book!
And now I want to read it again....

Jade said...

I just finished the other day and I agree whole-heartedly. It was WOW. Just wow.

It also made me feel like a total klutz, writing-wise. Le sigh.

Joanne R. Fritz said...

Carrie, you're a hoot!

Like you, I picked up the book once and thought about reading it, and said meh. I've even read other reviews of it and still managed to resist.

But now it's going on my TBR list immediately. Great review!