Book review: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Lennie plays second clarinet in the school orchestra and has always happily been second fiddle to her charismatic older sister, Bailey. Then Bailey dies suddenly, and Lennie is left at sea without her anchor. Overcome by emotion, Lennie soon finds herself torn between two boys: Bailey's boyfriend, Toby, and Joe, the charming and musically gifted new boy in town. While Toby can't see her without seeing Bailey and Joe sees her only for herself, each offers Lennie something she desperately needs. But ultimately, it's up to Lennie to find her own way toward what she really needs-without Bailey.

I’ve actually been actively seeking out books lately where the characters are dealing with grief; it gives me an idea about how others write and perceive it, which is helpful for Nowhere Fast.  The Sky is Everywhere wasn’t perfect, but I felt like it’s a good example of its genre.

The characters are layered and quirky in the right way, from the main character who leaves poems around town, to the handsome love interest who’s actually fairly awkward and shy, to the grandmother who drags all their worldly possessions out on the lawn to test them for bad luck.  Unfortunately, the characters are also where I felt this book had its biggest flaws.  Lennie continually hoops up with her sister’s boyfriend, Toby, for one.  While feeling out of control of your life is a common symptom of grief, it makes it out like they have no choice but to do those things, when it seems more of a matter of self-control.  The COULD stop themselves, she COULD tell him no.  They just don’t want to.  Toby even seems to do it on purpose at points because he wants Lennie for himself rather than see her with Joe.

There’s also how Joe acts when he sees them kissing.  An entire part of the book revolves around Lennie trying to get him to forgive her.  While it’s understandable he’d feel hurt at someone cheating on him, especially since it’s happened before, I found his reaction a little too dramatic, and like Lennie and Toby’s relationship, it seems to be justified when it shouldn’t be.  He was cheated on once before and suddenly it makes him distrust automatically the moment he thinks it’s happening again.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be with someone whose default trust level is so low, no matter how cute they are or how much they say they love me; it almost borders on an emotionally/mentally abusive relationship, making her worry if certain interactions with other boys will set him off.

Then again, I might just be thinking too hard about this.

Regardless, the writing is beautiful and shows well that the author is a poet first.  Despite the dramatics, the story arc is well laid-out, too, so I’d say this is a book worth reading if you can get past the stated shortcomings.