The Sky Is Everywhere

Jandy Nelson (author)

Walker Books, UK: 2010; 360pp

ISBN: 9781406326307 15+

Genre: realistic fiction

Issues: family, friendship, grief, identity, loss, relationships

Lennie Walker: poet, clarinetist, quiet child of an eccentric family, is unquestioning of her life. Then her beloved sister dies suddenly during a rehearsal. She was nineteen. How can Lennie come to terms with her new reality? Her mother abandoned the girls to their grandmother's care when they were very young and now Lennie feels she's been abandoned again.

She was always the plain one, the ordinary one, the follower. How can she cope with life's journey without her sister's buoyant, confident nature to drag her along? And why, when she is overwhelmed with grief, does she find herself attracted to two boys at once - and one of them her dead sister's boyfriend? During the painful months after Bailey's death, as her sister's secrets are revealed, Lennie begins to wonder if she really knew her sister at all. And if Bailey, who was the rock that grounded her life, isn't who she thought - then who is? Maybe Lennie herself isn't the person she thinks she is.

Lyrical writing interspersed with Lennie's poems, which she writes on any available surface and leaves scattered around town, makes this a stunning debut novel from Jandy Nelson. The Sky is Everywhere explores the complex nature of grief and how it affects our development, suggesting that loss can lead to growth and change, even when that loss is unbearable. Too often we define ourselves by our relationships with those we love, or by who we think we are in comparison to them. Nelson challenges the reader to question those assumptions, as Lennie is forced to. Above all this is a book about the many colours and varieties of love - romance, friendship, family, for music, nature, language. Love and loss are universal elements of the human experience even if those experiences are incredibly varied. This is very much a book about the intense reactions of a gifted teenager to the loss of her sister. Some readers may find the complexity and maturity of Lennie's emotions unlikely for a teenager but those who understand gifted individuals (especially music and language) will accept the depth of her reactions. This is a book to be inhaled, rather than read. Be warned - you won't want to put it down. Buy two copies - one to keep, one to lend. (You may not get it back!)

Similar feel to: Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli)

Readers who like this might also enjoy... Graffiti Moon (Cath Crowley)

Warning: sex scenes