Irina loves The Sun Is Also A Star!

"Every word from cover to cover is chosen skillfully, to form this “out of the box” story."

“The Sun Is Also A Star” by Nicola Yoon

“There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.”

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance

Recommend it highly if you like: “All The Bright Places” by Jennifer Niven (though a bit more on the positive side), love stories, books written “out of the box”, random facts to broaden your knowledge, bigger meaning.

Hello to you all again. I am back with a review (sooner than expected), but this book was a clear surprise to me from beginning ‘till end and I read it much faster than expected (one evening and one Sunday morning in total).

Why a surprise you may ask? Well I like to read the occasional romance story, most often a single book fitting the YA contemporary genre, especially after finishing epic fantasy series. I mean the type of light and cute story that gives you peace, relaxation and some sense of daily “normal” and puts you back on track with a bit of a romantic vibe trailing you in the next few days. I have read a lot of those books. And I picked up this particular book thinking that it would fit to the stereotype and, yes, I admit because of the science facts (at the end I am just as much a science nerd as one of the main characters). But this book.. it was something different..

Every word from cover to cover is chosen skillfully, to form this “out of the box” story. Yes – a boy meets girl, but that is just about it when it comes to love stories.

The book was honest, awkward, painfully realistic, naïve at some points and mature at others, and above all – a book that everyone who has ever been in love may find himself in. While reading, I couldn’t help but reflect back on past heartbreaks and hopes, current emotions and future dreams. It is the type of book filled with so many beautiful and honest quotes that if you like to write them down (as I must admit - I do) you will realize that you have copied half of the book before giving up.

The story follows two “misfits” in the Big Apple (New York) in the course of one day – a Jamaican girl and Korean boy, both products of immigrant families. Natasha – the ever focused and realistic science nerd, and Daniel – the romantic dreamer who fantasizes of becoming a poet. They meet by random chance or fate at the day holding a great importance for each of them. And slowly, something shifts for both of them.

“I didn't know you this morning, and now I don't remember not knowing you.”

The most surprising thing to me was not their story or the ending or even the truth and honesty to what love actually is. It was the fact that we forget how complex our world is. And that this world is being influenced daily by people we wouldn’t even suspect have a say in it. The book offers chapters, dedicated entirely to the bystanders, the 3rd rate characters of the book, the people who by chance meet our main characters. And presents their stories as well..

“Sometimes your world shakes so hard, it's difficult to imagine that everyone else isn't feeling it too.”

Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes their worlds are shaken by something else and they are struggling with their daily fights. But nevertheless – this book constantly reminds you to remember that they are here too.

And at the end of the book one can’t help but feel sense.. not about love or their life in general, but something else, something bigger that goes out of our small worlds, something that connects us to the other small worlds of other people and brings us closer to the stars and the universe. And the sun, which is also a star. 

Definitely 5 out of 5 crosses!